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this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
102 points (89.2% liked)
science
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just science related topics. please contribute
note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry
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He was "stubborn and uncompromising", which makes him "antagonistic", therefore a colonialist and racist. That's a pretty low bar. I don't think it makes sense to define racism in a way that makes all 19th century naturalists racist.
You could have also picked the dude that desecrated indigenous graves to do phrenology.
Edit: Jesus Christ you left out that this dude was a literal colonizer in New Zealand. He was an officer in a militia during the New Zealand Wars.
He was also a committee member of The New Zealand Company, which existed to systemically colonize New Zealand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Swainson#New_Zealand_estate
So maybe it is slightly misleading to say he was labeled racist for being “antagonistic”??
Admittedly, I only checked this one article. I think it's hard to judge how evil he really was. Either way, not a hill I'm going to die on.