Fowl play: American Ornithological Society announces it’s renaming birds to avoid being racist
What’s considered “racist” seems to be an ever-expanding list. Apparently, that list now includes birds. Yes, birds – the avian creatures with beaks and feathered wings.
Citing an NPR article titled, “These American birds and dozens more will be renamed to remove human monikers,” Stu Burguiere reads:
“Get ready to say goodbye to a lot of familiar bird names, like Anna’s hummingbird, Gambel’s quail, Lewis’s woodpecker, Bewick’s wren, Bullock’s oriole, and more. That’s because the American Ornithological Society has vowed to change the English names of all bird species currently named after people, along with any other bird names deemed offensive or exclusionary. The move comes as part of a broader effort to diversify birding and make it more welcoming to people of all races and backgrounds.”
It’s one thing to reconsider bird names that were coined by John James Audubon, for example, who admittedly “said some bad things,” says Stu.
However, they’re renaming “birds that were named after people that they don't think said anything wrong” because “they're worried that at some point, someone might say that something bad came from these people, so they're wiping out all the names right now,” he explains.
Additionally, “they don’t want the names to sound … too European because that’s exclusionary to other people, who might be like, ‘I was going to get into birding because I've always wanted to take binoculars and look around for birds, but then I heard a European name, so I stopped myself,’” mocks Stu. “There's so many people going through that mental process right now.”
The article also references biologist Erica Nol, who was apparently visiting some salt marshes when she came across a bird called a Wilson’s snipe.
Nol thought to herself, “What a terrible name. … Wilson was the father of modern ornithology in North America, but this bird has so many other evocative characteristics.”
Translation: “That’s a crappy name because … his name sounds too European,” says Stu.
“You’d think you’d want the bird named after the guy who's the founding father of modern ornithology, but apparently no, because he was too white. Whitey does not get a name for a bird,” laughs Stu at the utter absurdity of what’s clearly just another example of virtue-signaling.
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