Come see us in Arlington, Virginia on October 29th!
https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/186960
Culture war drama hits a new low when a podcasting convention issues an apology for letting Ben Shapiro show up and… actually, that’s about it. Then, Jesse Singal regales us with the story of the American Historical Association’s president, James H. Sweet, and how his attack on presentism got him canceled. Thankfully, Katie Herzog intervenes to soothe us with some nice drawings of dinosaurs and – no, nevermind, turns out there’s drama here, too: paleoartist and behavioral geneticist Emily Willoughby has been exposed for sending black elementary schoolers to jail. Somehow.
Ben Shapiro causes a firestorm by standing, also breathing
Coverage in Reason
https://reason.com/2022/08/25/ben-shapiro-podcast-movement-harm-done-twitter/
Sweet’s credentials (Jesse forgot to mention he’s the president of the AHA)
https://history.wisc.edu/people/sweet-james/
His article in question
https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2022/is-history-history-identity-politics-and-teleologies-of-the-present
The AHA’s tweet of the article, which likely kicked things off
Twitter doing what it does best
Dr. Matthieu Chapman @matthieuchapman
"Why do all these black and brown people keep writing things that disagree with my white supremacist view of history?"
American Historical Association @AHAhistorians
How do historians undertake their chosen profession with integrity in an era of unrelenting presentism? asks AHA president James H. Sweet in #AHAPerspectives. https://t.co/v87fCG2BeA
9:23 PM · Aug 17, 2022
28 Reposts · 113 Likes
Terry Bouton @TerryBoutonHist
Just to be clear. The leading US history org responds to book bannings, teacher firings, curriculum censoring, & SC rulings that badly misuse history by telling scholars to retreat to obscure subject matter with no contemporary relevance to avoid the appearance of "presentism."
American Historical Association @AHAhistorians
How do historians undertake their chosen profession with integrity in an era of unrelenting presentism? asks AHA president James H. Sweet in #AHAPerspectives. https://t.co/v87fCG2BeA
8:32 PM · Aug 17, 2022
78 Reposts · 309 Likes
The Tattooed Prof’s response to Sweet’s piece
https://thetattooedprof.com/2022/08/19/on-presentism-and-history-or-were-doing-this-again-are-we/
The World Socialist Web Site jumps in
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/24/ogzj-a24.html
Phil Magness also comes to the defense of Sweet’s essay
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2022/08/22/the_suicide_of_the_american_historical_association_577652.html
Some paleo art, to cleanse the palate
http://www.charlesrknight.com/Gallery/Knight/Prehistoric/AMNH/Leaping_Laelops.jpg
http://21essays.blogspot.com/2012/03/kongs-debt-to-charles-r-knight.html
Surprise! Not even paleo art is free of drama
https://www.vice.com/en/article/vvb8kj/why-paleontologists-get-riled-up-over-this-heretical-pterosaur-concept-art
Paleo artist Emily Willoughby has some works on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Word-Human-Reason-Perspective/dp/1629016381
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Painting-Dinosaurs-Using-Science/dp/1785009559/
She also has some on FurAffinity (SFW, astoundingly)
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/3856285/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/5274416/
Prehistorica_CM’s attack on Willoughby
Prehistorica (Christian M.) @Prehistorica_CM
Let me say this carefully. IQ is a pseudoscientific myth, and the “research” she is involved in directly contributes to inequality and actively harms disadvantaged people.
She also believes that things such as aggression, political predisposition, and “misconduct” are heritable.
8:01 PM · Aug 11, 2022
204 Reposts · 1.67K Likes
Zoologist Derren Nash’s subsequent disavowal of Willoughby
Over recent days, palaeoartist Emily Willoughby has been accused of being associated with race science and its attendant political positions. For that reason I cannot, from hereon, have any association with Emily or her work. I will not be engaging in discussion on this matter.
9:10 AM · Aug 17, 2022
90 Reposts · 1.13K Likes
DinoDJ accuses Willougby of promoting eugenics and racism
Let’s make one thing clear, the situation with Emily Willoughby here is not just “Twitter drama” that slips away after a day or two, it’s VERY serious with VERY heavy real world implications, don’t forget it. It doesn’t just go away. absolutely nothing about this is okay
2:42 PM · Aug 15, 2022
91 Reposts · 448 Likes
History illustrator Midiaou Diallo ties Willougby to the foundations of white supremacy
Midiaou Diallo ☭ 🇬🇳(COMMISSIONS OPEN) @Midiaou7
This is the type of research that incarcerates Black people, as early as elementary school, setting them up for the school to prison pipeline. This is ultimately a major component of White Supremacy at a basic level
Prehistorica (Christian M.) @Prehistorica_CM
By now a lot of you are aware, but for anyone in the dark, paleoartist Emily Willoughby is involved in “research” that is directly tied to eugenics, racism, and classism.
She also believes, or is at least indifferent to, the myth that intelligence has a racial component. https://t.co/dBQmpsbvQi
9:55 PM · Aug 11, 2022
192 Reposts · 711 Likes
Willoughby’s drawing for Everyone Draw Mohammed Day
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/957957987673186344/1011361260463460432/unknown.png
PEN America Charlie Hebdo insanity https://pen.org/pen-receives-letter-from-members-about-charlie-hebdo-award/
University of Washington trans study comes to bizarre conclusion, unsupported by its own data
https://mynorthwest.com/3602854/rantz-despite-concerning-trans-study-uw-kept-quiet-because-of-positive-coverage/
Jesse’s original article critiquing the study
Image: Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur - stock illustration via Getty
