"sanitizing history" is a great term to describe this phenomenon!! (totally gonna use it in convos now) i think i agree with you that we should accept all of it. trying to erase "the bad" from scientists/artists creates the false impression that people are perfect. i do agree that the US is probably not emotionally mature enough *yet* to internalize such concepts but yea...i do find it incrediblg dumb tht nobel prizes for scientific achievement get revoked if we later find out their nazis. the same way tht colleges remove the names of pedophile donors on their buildings. like yes i agree their name shouldnt be advertised like that but the college DID take the money so like, and society DOES benefit from wtv discovery those scientists made?? it just seems so insincere and performative and thts my peeve with "sanitizing history"
That’s a good point, the timing of the recognition and de-recognition is something I could have covered more on. Additionally, as you alluded to, removing a name from a building doesn’t change the fact that it was there in the first place: now it’s just the building that USED to be named after a problematic person who contributed to human advancement, which doesn’t make the institution look any better in my eyes.
"sanitizing history" is a great term to describe this phenomenon!! (totally gonna use it in convos now) i think i agree with you that we should accept all of it. trying to erase "the bad" from scientists/artists creates the false impression that people are perfect. i do agree that the US is probably not emotionally mature enough *yet* to internalize such concepts but yea...i do find it incrediblg dumb tht nobel prizes for scientific achievement get revoked if we later find out their nazis. the same way tht colleges remove the names of pedophile donors on their buildings. like yes i agree their name shouldnt be advertised like that but the college DID take the money so like, and society DOES benefit from wtv discovery those scientists made?? it just seems so insincere and performative and thts my peeve with "sanitizing history"
That’s a good point, the timing of the recognition and de-recognition is something I could have covered more on. Additionally, as you alluded to, removing a name from a building doesn’t change the fact that it was there in the first place: now it’s just the building that USED to be named after a problematic person who contributed to human advancement, which doesn’t make the institution look any better in my eyes.