[HN Gopher] University moves 70-ton rock off campus after studen...
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       University moves 70-ton rock off campus after student backlash
        
       Author : hncurious
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-08-07 20:38 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nbc15.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nbc15.com)
        
       | enriquto wrote:
       | It is apparently impossible to google search for the actual
       | nickname of the rock. In duckduckgo you can find it easily, which
       | suggests that google forcefully removed the search results that
       | mention that word in many natural searches for it. I'm a bit
       | proficient at google-fu and pages containing the stupid word just
       | do not appear.
       | 
       | I'm not from the USA and I feel ignorant to say anything about
       | the racial issues there. But the technical depth of this thing
       | is, to say the least, curious.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | nimbius wrote:
       | Speaking as a blue collar guy, they missed an excellent
       | opportunity to make 70 tons of racist gravel for backfill or
       | rainwater control
        
       | MeinBlutIstBlau wrote:
       | I wouldn't expect anything less from UW Madison. Overpriced
       | school riding on the coattails of previous generations who
       | actually gave a damn about science.
        
       | doit4thebitties wrote:
       | Rock canceled because it has a nickname.
       | 
       | The color red will be canceled next for being sexist, racist, and
       | antisemitic.
        
       | grawprog wrote:
       | >It was referred to as a derogatory name in a Wisconsin State
       | Journal story in the 1920s
       | 
       | >In a statement released Thursday, the university explained,
       | "[r]emoving the rock as a monument in a prominent location
       | prevents further harm to our community
       | 
       | >Chamberlin Rock, which is believed to be over two billion years
       | old, was described by the university as a large pre-Cambrian-era
       | glacial erratic. It was named for Thomas Chamberlin, a geologist
       | who served as university president from 1887 to 1892
       | 
       | So, a 2 billion year old glacial erratic was removed because some
       | time 100 years ago someone referred to it using a racial
       | slur...and its existence was causing harm.
       | 
       | I can see why people get upset about things like Confederate
       | statues and such...but this, I mean really...come on...it's not
       | like it was officially named after a racial slur, the article
       | doesn't seem to imply there was problems with people today
       | referring to the rock by the racial slur. This just seems so
       | ridiculous at this point.
       | 
       | They are claiming a giant rock causes harm because someone 100
       | years ago used a terrible word to describe it in a journal
       | article.
       | 
       | If you choose to be offended and upset because someone used a
       | word 100 years ago to describe a rock, that's probably on you at
       | that point.
        
         | brenschluss wrote:
         | It's called a name, and names have real meaning, because
         | they're created with social agreements. Paper money, too, is
         | valuable only because we agree to do so.
         | 
         | Ergo,
         | 
         | Saying "all this hullabaloo over a bunch of green paper" about
         | money is... both true in a physical sense and misses the mark
         | in a sociopolitical sense.
         | 
         | Saying "a giant rock causes harm" is both true in the physical
         | sense and misses the mark in a sociopolitical sense.
        
           | grawprog wrote:
           | It's name is Chamberlin Rock. It wasn't given the other name,
           | it was called it one time in a journal article in 1920.
        
           | Overton-Window wrote:
           | Capitulating to the lowest common denominator is a recipe for
           | disaster. The self-anointed who feign outrage over an
           | inanimate object are just chasing power.
        
             | krapp wrote:
             | >The self-anointed who feign outrage over an inanimate
             | object are just chasing power.
             | 
             | What power do you believe the Wisconsin Black Student
             | Union, campus planning committee and Wisconsin Involvement
             | Network (Wunk Sheek) are chasing, and why do you believe it
             | was necessary for them to conspire to pretend to be upset
             | about this inanimate object?
             | 
             | What do you believe this cabal's true end goal is, now that
             | the rock has been moved and nothing stands in their way?
        
           | nullc wrote:
           | So, if someone calls twitter by a racial slur once in the
           | 1920s someone will come and take it away?
           | 
           | You don't say...
        
         | bob33212 wrote:
         | People want to get attention for helping society. This looks
         | like a good option because no one is going to say they really
         | need the rock to stay.
        
           | grawprog wrote:
           | I dunno, geologists might. They can be real passionate about
           | their rocks. Trust me, once you get one of them on the
           | subject of glacial errata, good luck getting them to stop
           | before the next glacier comes.
        
       | fegu wrote:
       | It is difficult to make one's mind up on the matter without
       | knowing what racial slur it was named after. The topic is so
       | heated the article didn't dare mention it.
        
         | oh_sigh wrote:
         | "n****r head". Also a commonly used term in early 20th century
         | America for any large black rock
        
           | polartx wrote:
           | Although I'm color blind, black is one of the few colors I
           | can confidently identify--based on the pictures, this is
           | boulder isn't black?
        
             | MBCook wrote:
             | Nope. It's pretty light in color, basically a light gray.
        
         | krapp wrote:
         | >It is difficult to make one's mind up on the matter without
         | knowing what racial slur it was named after
         | 
         | Why would that matter? A racial slur is a racial slur.
        
       | fourseventy wrote:
       | Now rocks are offensive to people?
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-07 23:02 UTC)