• 0 Posts
  • 63 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: July 9th, 2023
  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtoAsk Science@lemmy.world•Has there ever been anything originally dismissed as pseudoscience that was later proven to be legit?English
    36·
    25 days ago

    An interesting detail of this story that I only learned recently was that the core ideas of Wegener’s theory were in fact generally more well-received by European geologists, with prominent advocates even in the 1920s. It was primarily North American geologists who mocked him and dismissed the theory upon its 1925 American publication, and this may have been partly due to the English translation (from the 1922 German 3rd edition of his book) having a “tone” of stilted presumption and dogmatism that utilitarian translations of German sometimes have.

    That tone might explain why the theory (and Wegener himself) was smacked down with such prejudice by American geologists. In particular, we have a talk given by Charles Schuchert at the 1926 Symposium on Continental Drift hosted by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in which he mischaracterized Wegener’s theory as a facile observation of coastline similarity. In fact, Wegener based his argument on deep-sea continental slopes, where edges could be shown to fit more closely, but he didn’t defend himself at the symposium (perhaps again due to the language barrier). So unfortunately the misunderstanding of continental drift persisted in tangential American geology circles until the 1958 theory of plate tectonics took over while European geologists generally accepted the core ideas early on.

  • Septimaeus@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Trump sure seems pissed off over the Obamas’ DNC jabs
    61·
    27 days ago

    I hear you. To be clear I wasn’t accusing the new user of ill-intent, certainly not of racism, or even implicit bias. As you said, Obama is commonly regarded as a world-class orator, so it’s just true, and also would bother the tangerine palpatine who speaks in crayon.

    It is merely insensitive, and likely due to a lack of awareness, which is why throwing a flag right away is preferred, especially in a forum where black people are less well represented (for now).

    As to why it is insensitive: while it’s usually meant as a compliment, noting that a black person is well-spoken — especially when using the word “articulate” — happens to summon a long history of people being surprised that black people can speak so well. And while this example of racial insensitivity isn’t as well-known in popular culture as, say, blackface, it is not at all obscure. The links I posted above are a tiny sample of the articles, books, and memes pertaining to the subject.

    In other words, simply using the phrase “articulate black man” unironically is enough to strongly suggest the author is oblivious to the fact. And judging by all the downvotes on my comment (and now throughout my comment history lol) I’m guessing many others in this forum are oblivious to it as well.

    So I threw a flag, partly to make the user aware of the insensitivity, partly because I suspected many others in this forum might be similarly unaware, but mainly because I’d prefer this place be welcoming to everyone.