Episode 129: We Must Fight Against Presentism In Our Analysis Of Nazi Dinosaurs Blocked and Reported

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.
Intro
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/
Presentism
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
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
Nazi Dinosaurs
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
Zoologist Derren Nash’s subsequent disavowal of Willoughby
DinoDJ accuses Willougby of promoting eugenics and racism
History illustrator Midiaou Diallo ties Willougby to the foundations of white supremacy
Willoughby’s drawing for Everyone Draw Mohammed Day
https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/957957987673186344/1011361260463460432/unknown.png
Midiaou’s response to the piece
Someone digging up an old FurAffinity post of hers
Willoughby’s response to the drama
Eric Turkheimer, prominent progressive behavioral geneticist, comes to Willoughby’s defense
Jerry Coyne, blogging at “Why Evolution Is True”, covers the drama
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2022/08/17/the-ignorant-and-misguided-demonization-of-a-behavior-geneticist/
Paleoartist Mark Witton has a very important question about Willoughby’s work
PEN America Charlie Hebdo insanityhttps://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


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