h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know whether you folks in the USA are across this one, but the BBC has reported it today. Harvard is to expurgate puritan references from its ceremonial song:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39559232

This is one of a number of occurrences of academic institutions trying to blot out episodes from their past which don't seem to square with modern ethics. Yale is renaming a college founded by a slave trader, and Oxford is taking portraits of old white men off its walls to replace them with those of minorities, like women

So, what say you?

I'm all for educating the folks of today in the rights and wrongs of the past, but I'm not sure that editing it out is the right way. Why not retire the old song and have a completely new one to sing today? Why not tell today's students who the slave traders were and demonstrate how much money they made through the barbaric practice? Why not put the old portraits in a founders gallery, or something?

This is a frequent issue, especially here in the South.

Recently a Houston Elementary school changed it's name. There have been other schools that changed their name from those of Confederate leaders and noted white supremacists. But this recent one was a bit more controversial as the namesake had notably reformed after the War. I don't believe they should have removed his name as he had redeemed himself.

Issues of political correctness like this can be difficult to maneuver. There is a strong backlash to PC culture right now, embodied by the rise of Trump and other conservative figures. And while I'm staunchly liberal and progressive, I don't completely disagree with them.

I am appalled at things like "safe spaces", "micro aggressions", and "trigger warnings" in our colleges and universities especially. Political correctness is swinging too far into areas of censorship and stifling free thought and discussion. People do not have a right to not be offended. And it shouldn't be the responsibility of others to protect another's feelings. Rather than try to restrict people from making offensive statements or broaching sensitive subjects, we should simply promote civility.

The backlash to PC culture is now pushing active discrimination by enacting inane things like "bathroom bills" and "religious freedom" laws that specifically defend individuals "right" to discriminate against people and actions that are against their "deeply held religious beliefs".


I don't know how to strictly define where to draw lines on issues like this. I typically think removing statues of Confederate heroes is wrong, but I fully support removing the Confederate flag from state offices and public schools and universities. I also don't think we should erase or edit history. But I can understand that black people don't want to live on a street named after noted white supremacists.

I 100% support the idea of renaming Calhoun College. John C Calhoun shouldn't have a landfill named for him. He was an eyesore, in more ways than one. Calhoun wasn't just 'an advocate of slavery': he was vice president. And he threatened to pull South Carolina out of the Union. That old chestnut...even the egregious Andrew Jackson couldn't stand him. He said his deepest regret was not having hanged John C Calhoun. Ugly sucker, too:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b23487/

Now, I'm with Baron Grim - the universities are turning into oversensitive offence factories. What happened to vigorous discussion? Hmpf. Those old statues, songs, etc, are just there for target practice.

I say kids should remain stuck with these awful songs, and do what we did - compose parodies, make mock by singing them in a funny voice, and pointing out how silly they are.

'Till the stock of the Puritans die...' That line is a sitting duck.

One of the great teachable history moments in the state of Maryland is its state song, which goes to the tune of 'O Tannenbaum'. It was written during the Civil War, and includes this verse:

'She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb -
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!'

Now, if a teenager can't make mincemeat of *that*, they need to hand in their membership card.

Thanks for that song! You publish in musical form what we chant on the football terraces

And you know who Calhoun reminds me of?

Billy Idol:

http://img.wennermedia.com/social/rs-11150-20130530-billy-idol-624x420-1369932832.jpg

Oh, yeah! They do favour each other, don't they?

I like this game. You supply me with a monster from American history and we'll find the modern-day celeb.

How about Champ Ferguson, notorious Civil War guerrilla and, frankly, serial killer?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Champ_Ferguson_sitting.jpg

Calhoun might be a very distant relative. My surname, Ingram, is a sept of clan Colquhoun. The Americanized version of Colquhoun is Calhoun.

I know the first Ingram in the Americas, and his sons, slave owning plantationers in Virginia before the Revolutionary war. One of the few geneological documents we found was a list of slaves left in a will.


Should I feel ancestral guilt? I don't. I don't feel pride either. I feel very little connection at all to my ancestors.

I do like wearing a kilt and visiting Scotland though.

If you wear a kilt while visiting Scotland, the Post wants pics...

"I don't know whether you folks in the USA are across this one, but the BBC has reported it today. Harvard is to expurgate puritan references from its ceremonial song" [Icy North]

It was in the Boston Globe. A tempest in a teapot, I think.

Dmitri's example of "Northern scum" in Maryland's state song seems ripe for deletion. Why did they keep that verse this long?

Paul, the whole song is like that. It was composed by some rabid Copperhead after the Baltimore riot in 1861.

Periodically, somebody in Maryland tries to change it, but so far, not much enthusiasm unless they get a better song. At least this one's funny.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/editorial/maryland-my-maryland-but-is-it/article_c0fd7c67-529d-55f9-97d6-0d725c1b7119.html

I like this sentence: '"Maryland, My Maryland" is a mosquito preserved in a 150-year-old piece of amber, a mildly informative relic of times past...'

I also like the suggestion that 'Northern scum' refers to Steelers fans...

Personally, I'd like to propose this song for Maryland's state song, even though I know the title, 'Sailing to Philadelphia', would be a deal-breaker. It's about the Mason-Dixon line A87740896, which after all is part of Maryland history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrLdKYRBOEE

I mentioned this in the Useless Facts thread a few weeks ago, and while it's not the State song, Deep in the Heart of Texas was banned from play on BBC airwaves in 1942 during working hours. Can you guess why?

Think about it for a moment before I answer.
Think about the song. Hum it if you don't know the lyrics.

Here are some of the lyrics, if it helps. (hint, the lyrics aren't the reason)

The stars at night - are big and bright
Deep in the heart of Texas.














Give up?


Did you mentally clap along in the middle?

"The stars at night, are big and bright,



Deep in the heart of Texas."


They didn't want war time factory workers to stop their work while clapping along.

Suggestible Brits...

We were just talking over here about Texas, not a common occurrence, let me assure you...

Is 'The Yellow Rose' the state song?

Only recently did they change the name of the local barracks from Sponeck-Kaserne to a nondescript name.

It was just coming to light that Sponeck, whilst probably still the brilliant General and example for young soldiers in some ways, had smudged his copybook in WW2. I could throw an entry together, but not till next week.

However, there will be no cover-up. Why the barracks were originally named after him, and why the name was then taken away, is there for all to see.

It might as well be.

I always thought The Eyes of Texas was officially the state song, but it's not either.
I think most Texans believe it is. For example, this scene from the 1980 B-film, _Roadie_.
http://youtu.be/xcXyYo36Ck0


The official state song of Texas is Texas, Our Texas. To be honest, I've heard the tune but I'd never heard the lyrics before. I think most Texans would be unfamiliar with this song.

http://youtu.be/i5uT3npcDmo





N.B. There is a legend that the Yellow Rose of Texas was a free, mixed race, black house keeper working for Colonel James Morgan here on Galveston Bay. She was taken by Santa Ana and acted as a Texian spy, detaining Santa Ana in his bed as the Texians attacked at the Battle of San Jacinto.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/texas-primer-the-yellow-rose-of-texas/

Other sources claim she was just an innocent caught up in history, and that rather than just disappear after the battle, she got a passport and returned to New York.

http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-was-the-yellow-rose-of-texas

I know which version I prefer.

Always go with the better story, especially in Texas.

TC, I am really looking forward to reading your entry on General von Sponeck. Your post sent me rushing to research him...I find myself agreeing with the Luftwaffe that these things aren't 'black and white'...

I am also very impressed with the general's son, conscientious objector and diplomat who stood up to the Pentagon.

"Eyes of Texas" has the same tune as "I've been working on the railroad." Beethoven seems to have used the tune in the "Eroica" as well.

Matching a celeb to Champ Ferguson is tough.


Footballer Frank Lampard has some of the features,

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/Frank-Lampard-732127.jpg


Champ Ferguson:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Champ_Ferguson_sitting.jpg


I understand both liked to shoot from distance.

Not a bad match. I've always thought Clint Eastwood, a bit.

How about Alferd G Packer, notorious namesake of the University of Colorado's cafeteria?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alferd_Packer.JPG