Great podcast episode from Friday (it is free to listen to, no subscription necessary)
TL:DR - there was a movement to rename the Webb telescope based on the claim that Webb had been a rampant homophobe who was responsible for ferreting out gay men and getting them fired.
A straight Black physicist had been a big Webb fan and wanted to learn more about what his hero had done.
What he found was that Webb had not done anything.
He was working for various government agencies when other people outed gays, but he was never involved in any of that. What's more, he was active in recruiting Black scientists to work at NASA's Huntsville, AL facility at a time when racists tried to stop that.
So Black guy publishes an article laying this all out. Figures he's done his good deed.
But no..... "Queer Black Jewish" academic with big Twitter following starts pushing back on him, saying that Webb should have known about homophobia and actively stood up to it and denounced it. Starts smear campaign against Black physicist
NYT at least brings in historians talking about "presentism" and pointing out how absurd Queer Black Jewish woman's claims are especially in light of the political climate at the time and the 1940s view of homosexuality.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 22, 2023 11:48 PM |
NYT article that goes into more detail
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 21, 2023 2:51 PM |
Yeah I've seen this cunt all over twitter. She's a physics professor but doesn't even actually do any physics, she just writes articles talking about how physics is racist.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 21, 2023 2:56 PM |
This "if you have a platform and aren't actively calling out systems of oppression 24/7, you're just as bad as the oppressors" mentality is already tedious in the present time, imagine projecting that decades into the past and blaming people for not speaking up at the time.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 21, 2023 3:00 PM |
Seriously R3
And where do we draw the line.
I keep waiting for them to demand we rename Washington DC since GW himself was a slaveowner and did not speak out against slave owners.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 21, 2023 4:05 PM |
She's "Queer Black Jewish" but married to a man.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 21, 2023 10:01 PM |
That was such a sad moment for space science. Culture wars ruins everything.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 21, 2023 10:17 PM |
R5 please tell me it’s a white man
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 22, 2023 10:35 PM |
A white JEWISH man R7
Which, as per Datalounge's bigots, may make him not-quite-white
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 22, 2023 11:48 PM |
