Taxacom: 'Woke' systematics? No, thank you.

[Douglas Yanega]

On 2/9/22 8:37 AM, TADickinson via Taxacom wrote:
> In my opinion, Mosyakin makes important and valid arguments against 
> employing "...politically motivated censorship and totalitarian 
> cleansing of scientific history, and of the biological nomenclature 
> that reflects that history."

A small correction; what you and Mosyakin are referring to is a 
manifestation of "cancel culture", while "woke" is a separate cultural 
phenomenon. Though the two may intersect, they are not directly linked, 
and a person can easily be part of one cultural phenomenon and not part 
of the other.

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWoke&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cbbaaef339b0f402c2e2608d9ebedae47%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637800230764217637%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=tkCu%2FFZwZzcRlwz3Tw%2B3xRKMSFSzMo20vniaWcyU8A0%3D&reserved=0

https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCancel_culture&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cbbaaef339b0f402c2e2608d9ebedae47%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637800230764217637%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=tgf9rs5%2BEtCMZI9Uq43W%2FVirIJzHAnVm7IB%2FannTghI%3D&reserved=0

Otherwise, while it is potentially a manageable thing for peer review to 
address such concerns going forward, we absolutely cannot retroactively 
remove names that someone, somewhere, finds offensive; there is no 
objective criterion for doing so, because "offensiveness" is an entirely 
subjective thing.

Peace,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
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   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82