Properly Subversive
I am not a bird watcher. I am a human watcher and that brings me to the same place today: Offensive Bird Names. The American Ornithological Society – and I promise you I am not making this up – has announced that it will rename all species of birds honoring people.
Why? The New York Times explained it this way:
Bird names derived from people can be harmful, exclusive and detract from “the focus, appreciation or consideration of the birds themselves.” For example, the Audubon Shearwater will drop “Audubon” because John Janes Audubon was a slave owner and opposed abolition. And the Scott’s Oriole will drop “Scott” because U.S. Civil War general Winfield Scott was in charge of the Army’s 1838 relocation of indigenous peoples, commonly known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Nevada has a lot of birds. And while Nevadans usually don’t lead the charge on the latest cultural sensitivities, there may be a clutch or two of nesting progressives in Reno and Las Vegas who might be all-in for making bird names more sensitive and inclusive.
I have two suggestions.
No. 1: Nevada’s sky is full of Finches. One of them is called, I am sorry to report, the House Finch. This seems like such an unnecessary and cruel reminder that many people, through no fault of their own, don’t have a house. Instead, ironically enough, they live unhoused in parks like finches. Rubbing salt into the wound of this social injustice? I am just asking.
No. 2: The White Crowned Sparrow. You can find them all over the state, especially in casino pool areas, pecking at scraps of left-behind food. If you look closely, however, you will note that their heads are not white. They are white and black. Why did the bird namers of old focus on the whites of their heads and not the black? I’m suspicious. Can we get a little equity here?
SAVING REDWOODS
This seems counter-intuitive to me. Environmental groups are suing the National Park Service for as the San Francisco Chronicle reports “embarking upon a colossal effort to replant six groves of giant sequoias that burned in wildfires in California’s southern Sierra Nevada, an endeavor that park officials say is necessary to ensure a future for the climate-threatened trees.”
Conservation groups contend the charred landscape is “wilderness” and therefore humans may not intervene. I don’t know, does this seem weird to you, too?
WHAT I’M WATCHING
– HULU is streaming “A Murder At The End Of The World.” It is piecemealing the episodes. About four or five episodes are available now. It stars Emma-Louise Corrin, who you will remember as Princess Diana in “The Crown,” as a gen-x detective.
– The first part of Season 5 of “The Crown” is out. It is riveting.
– I caught the movie “Napoleon.” Meh. That’s about all I have to say about it. But don’t skip it in the theaters because of me. You are cheating yourself if you wait for it to come to little screen.
– The final episode of Season 11 of “The Great British Baking Show” will be out this week. I don’t know why that show is so addictive to me, but it is. Give it a try. And remember, for star judge Paul Hollywood, everything is underbaked.
ONE MORE THING
– The “Paradox of Tolerance” is solved if you think of tolerance not as an expectation, but as a contract. Those who do not abide by the contract are not protected by it.
That’ll do for this week. Until next time, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority.
“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick, a Nevada Hall of Fame journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the enhancement and preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.
