Taxacom: Removals of offending scientific names

Fri Jun 23 17:22:31 CDT 2023

 There are interesting complications with Mike's example of the N-word. For one thing, people use it all the time without raising an eyebrow, providing that they are black people talking about each other, in a non derogatory way. It would seem, however, that a white person, by virtue of their skin colour,is not allowed to use the term, regardless of their intentions. So certain terms can only be used by certain groups in society, without being considered offensive. The other thing is that grammatical variants of the N-word are commonplace in taxonomy (and elsewhere). The epithets niger and nigra just mean black. Presumably the country of Nigeria is named for the skin colour of its indigenous people. There is a hilarious clip on YouTube where a young white American guy reacts to an episode of the 1970s British comedy Fawlty Towers. Out of the blue, in the middle of the episode, the characters start talking about ni66ers. The young guy reacting doesn't say anything, but the uncomfortable and somewhat panicked look on his face is priceless!
Anyway, my point , once again, is that offensiveness is subjective and relative to geography and race, whereas taxonomy is (more or less) objective and global in scope. Hence, I doubt very much whether it is possible to sanitize taxonomy from everything that anybody might find offensive.
Stephen    On Friday, 23 June 2023 at 04:42:46 am NZST, Michael A. Ivie via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:  

 Let us remember that offensive names, images and words can have value as 
warnings and instructive historical lessons.  How many would have missed 
an important lesson if the statute of Ozymandias had been removed?  
Doesn't the name Anophtalmus hitleri Scheibel 1937 remind us of the 
popularity of the horrible man in the German speaking world at one 
time?  Doesn't that give us the lesson to think about who we support 
today?  Doesn't the original text of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a 
Mockingbird give insight into the world experienced by our ancestors, 
both oppressed and oppressor? Isn't it instructive to understand that 
your ancestors behaved in a despicable way?  Is there harm or value in 
that realization?  I am all for the descendants of Nazis and 
slaveholders being embarrassed about it.  That embarrassment hopefully 
will inspire them to be better people than their ancestors.

And does it not give humanity, dignity and respect to those who endured 
under such disrespect and cruelty to acknowledge how deeply embedded it 
was in even everyday speech?  Doesn't it bring pride in understanding 
what they went through and still maintained their humanity and endured?  
Horror, revulsion and sorrow are appropriate responses, and should be 
embraced as such.  To avoid that is to diminish the sacrifice and 
suffering of those who were victims.

There is a line after which these things can't continue -- no new 
statues of Hitler, and the old statues of Jefferson Davis go to museums, 
not the public square.  Use of the N-word should be immediately shamed 
and called out today anytime it is not in an historical context that is 
used to educate.  But, their existence is important.

At what point do we stop if we start down the path.  The Lampyridae 
genus Chegueveria was named by a Russian entomologist. Che was a hero to 
many and a demon to many others.  Is this name OK or not?  Does it bring 
pain to the ancestors to those he murdered?  Probably, but also joy to 
those he liberated.  Which one wins?  It is just a name, a moniker, the 
taxon does not take on characteristics of others with the same name.  
Even worse, the name was applied to a species from Puerto Rico, where 
Che never went and was not involved.  So, it is historically ignorant as 
well.  Can we ban names for being stupid?

Eventually we will get to names that some just consider rude or 
inappropriate in polite company.  Clitoria Linneaus or Orchis Linneaus 
come to mind.  Do they have to go?

And, what about specimen labels?  Many, many labels on specimens have 
place names that would not be used today, but they are historic 
documents and must be quoted verbatim.  This is uncomfortable, and we 
should be glad for the reflective moment that uncomfortableness brings.  
It shows growth and allows for reflection.

Before I get the "old white man has no standing" I counter with being 
raised in a visible religious minority that was subject to derogatory 
names, derision, lies and slander, as well as discrimination.  I had to 
see my mother called derogatory names because of her dress and beliefs.  
While I "passed" and left that community, it is still painful to hear 
statements by people who do not know my background.  And, as a disabled 
person, I know, hear and endure slurs and microaggressions in my daily 
life.  But, sticks and stones....

Each and every historic name that offends is a teaching moment when it 
is used.  This is not totally a bad thing.  It allows examination of our 
history, warts and all.  Sugar coating and covering up that horrible 
things happened by making references go away is not compatible with 
facing them and making sure they never return.  Nor does their use 
equate with glorifying evil.  The people who do that are beyond our reach.

Mike

On 6/22/2023 8:49 AM, Frank T. Krell via Taxacom wrote:
> **External Sender**
>
> Nerdy, elitist gender agreement? Me thinking follow grammar being not so badly. But that's just me 😊, coming from a language well organized by grammar.
> If you don't want gender agreement, create specific names as nouns in apposition, like abba, beccaloni, boris. And you are right, names are just labels.
> I have recently seen a manuscript, hopefully soon to be published, that finds that naming after celebrities helps much with the visibility of taxonomy. This is important in these times where only things get recognized and supported that people are talking about.
> Names are always a reflection of the time in which they were created. Eradicating history is counterproductive. We need to be reminded of these villains of the past, as often as possible.
> Frank
>
>
> Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell
>
> Senior Curator of Entomology, Editor-in-Chief
> Commissioner and Councillor, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
> Department of Zoology
> Denver Museum of Nature & Science
> 2001 Colorado Blvd
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> Phone 303.370.8244
> Fax 303.331.6492
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> Bugs: They’re bigger, they’re better, they’re buggier than ever! It’s all about precision flight, swarm intelligence and mind control in the world of “Bugs," the exhibition. Marvel at their adaptive genius and see if you can match their brilliance.
>
>
> Bugs: Son más grandes, mejores y más increíbles que nunca. En la exhibición "Bugs" todo gira en torno al vuelo de precisión, la inteligencia en grupo y el control mental. ¡Descubre lo genios que son!
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of George Beccaloni via Taxacom
> Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2023 5:11 AM
> To: Michael Heads <m.j.heads at gmail.com>
> Cc: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: Taxacom: Removals of offending scientific names
>
> Names are just labels - there is no need to understand them. IMHO they
> should be unchanging, and the nerdy, elitist requirements of the Code
> relating to gender agreement should be scrapped as they make tracking names
> difficult in our modern computerised world.
>
> George
> ****************************************************************************
> *Dr George Beccaloni FLS*
> *Director, Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project*
>
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> ****************************************************************************
>
>
> On Thu, 22 Jun 2023 at 11:58, Michael Heads via Taxacom <
> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
>
>> Abba is a good name for a genus - short, memorable...  I'm grateful that
>> the 19th century taxonomists who named most of the genera in many groups
>> *didn't* use the names of contemporary pop groups, pet politicians and
>> other cultural ephemera. If they had, the names would now be
>> meaningless, and we instead we can write with future users in mind. But
>> preferences like this should not be law!
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> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for about 36 years, 1987-2023.
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> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for about 36 years, 1987-2023.

-- 
__________________________________________________

Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.

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Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity and admiring alliteration for about 36 years, 1987-2023.