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| A beetle named after Adolf Hitler (!) Credit: Michael Munich |
This is the kind of BS that makes me wanna vote Trump or something...
I´m not entirely surprised that this happens, tbh, but I kind of hoped that the conservative character of scientific names (they are *supposed* to be unchangable) would stop the Wokies in this particular case.
But naaah, apparently not. That being said, if these are the new rules...well...a number of organisms are named after Greta Thunberg. I´m sure Israelis and Jews might find *that* offensive. Just as offensive as name a living creature after, say, Hitler or Mussolini. Let´s see if somebody is brave enough to mount a challenge!
Holy Cow! You'd think it was obvious at the time of naming. So erythrina means red and caffra means unbeliever and/or a South African slur against black persons. So it's an African coral tree.
ReplyDeleteThe *official* tree of Los Angeles, CA. Figure out that one!
I don´t think "kaffer" was necessarily a racist slur during the 19th century. At least not always. For instance, Jules Verne wrote a novel set in South Africa, and he calls one of the characters "a very handsome Kaffer". At the time, I think Kaffer simply meant Zulu. But yes, later it became an extreme racist slur, more extreme than the word nigger in the United States!
DeleteThe problem with changing scientific names is that it will lead to chaos. The whole point of such names is to stop chaos. There is apparently already a lot of chaos in plant names, so why compound it? And who is to deem what is offensive anyway? Sure, nobody likes Hitler, but there will be *many* greyzone cases...
DeleteMen Greta Thunberg är ju inte antisemit. Anti-sionistiska judar, eller diaspora-judar likgiltiga för Israel, torde inte reagera.
ReplyDeleteErik R
Nä, men sionistiska judar (majoriteten) torde göra det, om man startade en liten kampanj om saken...
DeleteDet finns oerhört många judar i världen. Finns det verkligen någon undersökning som visar att majoriteten av dessa är sionister? De flesta kanske, i likhet med de flesta från andra etniska grupper, (både majoritets- och minoritetsgrupper) inte offentligt och aktivt agerar ut sina åsikter.
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