Censoring the far away past

[Spindrift]

Are we supposed to be putting down this guy because he's ashamed that one of his ancestors kept slaves? Granted the shame isn't really his to bear - our society has this stupid habit of letting things parents and other forebears have done influence our thoughts about a person - but there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't be able to completely disown the memories of ancestors we disapprove of, if such is our wont.

Especially when it comes to shows like "Finding Your Roots", which takes a person's entire family history and focuses on only one or two very interesting individuals anyway. It's not some kind of scandal to ask that the one or two relatives picked to concentrate on were people who had some kind of positive influence, rather than That One Guy Who Owned Slaves so that you have to spend this entire hour long show being mopey and contrite and having to explain how horrible you feel because someone who died generations before you were born was a complete sack of crap.

No we are putting him down for trying to cover it up and him ignoring the Streisand Effect. If he hadn't asked them to not go into it, there wouldn't be any discussion of it and it wouldn't be as widely known. Not that anyone really cares anyway.

According to the article several other celebrities had slave owner ancestors and it didn't make much news, if any, because they didn't try to hide it. They may or may not have been ashamed but that's irrelevant and I don't think they spent the entire show being mopey and contrite and explain how horrible they feel.

It really doesn't have much to do with slave owner ancestors, that's just the mcguffin for this particular case of the Streisand Effect.

 

[Checkmite]

The Streisand Effect was not a reasonable expectation in this instance. It was a private request made some time ago, which the public is only now aware of due to a foreign extortion hack that hadn't even targeted Affleck. In order for the Striesand Effect to be invoked Affleck would have had to tell the public directly to ignore the uncomfortable ancestor or not watch the show.



Asking the show not to focus on a certain family member isn't a "cover-up". For one thing, the term suggests malfeasance. If the show was an independent biography documentary that Affleck leaned on, or the show compromised by featuring the family member in question but omitting the fact that he was a slave-owner, that might merit derision - on Affleck in the first case, on the producers in the latter case.

 

[The Nimble Pianist]

He should've used the folks at FamilyTree.com instead.

 

[Eddie Dane]

What the hell?

I have literal card-carrying Nazi's in the history my extended family. And we don't care.

People hide friggin' slave owners?

 

[Belz...]

Is it that? Or is that he assumed that people would, and thus tried to conceal it? It's like he thinks he's important or interesting enough for people to care about.

But why ? Who gives a **** ? I couldn't care less if he was related to the worst monster in history. He isn't him, but since people find it 'interesting" so I don't blame him for trying to hide it.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Does anyone want to know how lame my home county is?


This lame.

More on the HUGE story here.

The best part of the first page is the stuff under SIMILAR ARTICLES. I would love to see their similarity algorithm!

Search for missing man off Peggys Cove hindered by swells

'Flat Najim' project sees Cape Breton boy travel the world virtually

Dementia support and education program getting reduced funding

Dog of homeless man, beaten in brutal attack, up for adoption

The second one is simply wonderful in its smalltownitide.

A few days earlier, on April 11, a man who resembled Affleck was spotted buying a pair of hiking-type boots at Spinner’s Men’s Wear on Charlotte Street in Sydney.

The man apparently did not leave his name and paid for the boots with American cash.

Canada, eh? I'm proud. PROUD I tell ya to be lame.

 

[Mike!]

I bet somewhere in my family history there's a guy who ********** goats or something. What am I supposed to do about it?

This is the same idea, just on a much larger scale.

The Streisand Effect, once again, turns a minor little bit of disagreeableness into a full-blown scandal! When will celebrities learn?

As for The Nightly Show episode, I enjoyed it very much, particularly the bit with the ghost. Very good episode overall. (Except for John Legend's wife on the panel. She's quite nice to look at, but what was coming out of her mouth a few times put a taint on that.)

Were they a famous goat ******? Or if the goat was famous, I bet that'd make a difference.

 

[Beerina]

Nonsense. Those are nonhereditary titles earned by various cultural luminaries. Dame Ngaio Marsh got it for her work in the theatre, Dame Agatha Christie got it for writing, and Dame Judi Dench got it by defeating the Queen in unarmed combat in the dojo. Matt Damon could never defeat the Queen, one blow from her tentacles would smash his hollow, birdlike bones to splinters. Were he actually one of Dame Judi Dench's starspawn he might survive that fight, but it's very unlikely.

And if he could inherit it, he'd be Sir, IIRC, as that is the male equivalent -- it's the rank of Knight. Assuming it can pass to a non-Britt.

Speaking of which, what happened to Thatcher's kid now that she's moved on? IIRC she had the next level up, Lady, and it was hereditary, as is customary for former PMs. But he was an idiot and an ass and tried to overthrow an African country?

Like her kid was Roger from American Dad.

 

[jimbob]

And if he could inherit it, he'd be Sir, IIRC, as that is the male equivalent -- it's the rank of Knight. Assuming it can pass to a non-Britt.

Speaking of which, what happened to Thatcher's kid now that she's moved on? IIRC she had the next level up, Lady, and it was hereditary, as is customary for former PMs. But he was an idiot and an ass and tried to overthrow an African country?

Like her kid was Roger from American Dad.

He also managed to get lost in the Paris Dakar rally

Further evidence for his idiocy.

Although his sister tries hard to make him seem good.

 

[The Atheist]

Apparently, actor Ben Affleck requested that a PBS special censor the fact that some distant ancestor owned slaves.

Hey, my distant ancestors were *********** slaves!

Lovely irony that Mr Emphatically Anti-Racist Affleck is trying to hide his ancestors' past.

The sensible thing to do would be to use it as a means of showing that even entrenched attitudes can be changed.

Hey! Maybe we can throw out all the history books to ensure that no black kid is ever taught that his ancestors were slaves owned by white people. Pretty embarrassing if you're a black kid in USA with the surname Washington, Clay or Henry. It's almost certain your ancestors were slaves.