Re: [cobirds] AOU, Changing bird names

I agree that time will likely reveal this historical rewrite to be a short lived (from a historical perspective) phenomenon.

The practice of excising notable individuals from the historic record goes way back to ancient Egypt where Hatshepsut and Akhenaten (King Tut's father) were but two notable examples from antiquity.  

More recent examples can be found in the French and Russian revolutions.

The historical record is usually recovered in part and the historical rewriting practice deprecated.  

This latest bout of historical cancellation will likely go through the same convulsions as past practices of this type of behavior.

On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 3:28 PM Robert Righter <rorighter@earthlink.net> wrote:

Hi:

I would hope the American Ornithological Union would pause before changing common names of birds that are named after historic ornithologists as that could be divisive . Currently we are living in a period of time where accusations of racism are rampant and consequently we are currently judging past historic figures based on our current definition of how racist they may have been. This is how history becomes distorted and historic individuals unfortunately become misjudged. Let's wait a decade or so and revisit the topic again when hopefully our lenses are clearer, less tainted. Why are we in such the rush to change the common names of birds that have been established for centuries. We all need to take a deep breath or two and wait to see what transpires.

Bob Righter

Denver, CO

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/F5EC9754-69CF-4CD5-A901-9ACC3BA5C169%40earthlink.net.

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAM8jgNg9tLYU-fQszmTVJk0CK3ZmrN3UTj%2BF-PB9RFUKaQ0qug%40mail.gmail.com.