10.Ostracism in Ancient Athens
Some of the earliest known examples of canceled people date back over two thousand years. In the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks used to practice ostracism, where evildoers were sent into exile by popular vote. Cleisthenes, the “father of Athenian democracy,” is considered to have created the punishment. Every year, the people of Athens were asked if they wanted to exclude someone. If they voted in favor, they would meet in the public agora to hold elections. Under the watchful eye of the council, the citizens would engrave the name of the person they wanted thrown out of the city onto a fragment of broken pottery. Each fragment was known as “ostrakon”, from which the word ostracism was born. The fragments were collected in an urn and counted. At least 6000 votes in total were needed for the process to be valid. Athenian officials then sorted the fragments into piles, and whoever received the most votes was banished from the city. They were given ten days to prepare and warned that they would be killed if they tried to return. The punishment would last for ten years, after which they would be allowed to return to Athens. Records suggest that around thirteen men were ostracized from Athens between 487 and 416 BC. Some of them were pardoned and returned to the city before their full decade, such as Xanthippus and Aristides, who were allowed to return to help fight the Persians in 479 BC One of the most notable people who were expelled of Athens was a renowned politician. Themistocles. It is said that Themistocles’ power went to his head and that he was ostracized to curb his arrogance. As the historian Plutarco explained, ostracism “was not a punishment, but a way to pacify and alleviate that jealousy that delights in humiliating the eminent, exhaling his malice in this deprivation of rights” [1].
9.Michael Servetus, the Theologian burned by protestants for Heresy
Born in Spain, Michael Servetus was one of the most controversial religious teachers of the 16th century. He was an outspoken critic of the Church who developed his own theories on the Holy Trinity and astrology. But his ideas outraged both Catholics and Protestants and he was forced to publish them in secret. Like people today who dare to disagree with public opinion, Servetus was showered with hatred. But the theologian’s fate was far more severe than a finger slap on the wrist or a bicycle lock on the head. When a French inquisitor discovered his letters, Servetus was accused of heresy, forcing him to flee. He escaped from Catholic France and ended up in Calvinist Geneva where, in 1553, he was captured and burned at the stake for his non-Protestant ideas. [two]
8.The Hollywood Blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist was the cancellation culture of the 1940s and 1950s. During World War II, the United States partnered with the communist Soviet Union to fight the National Socialists. But after the war ended, anti-communist views began to spread throughout the states. People feared that the pro-Soviets were infiltrating the American media to push for global socialism, and it became such a furor that Hollywood began to ban workers who were rumored to have far-left political views. In 1947, the HUAC began to investigate the influence of communism in the film industry. Ten workers who refused to testify before the committee were fired from their jobs and each served a short jail sentence. The HUAC continued its paranoid investigation during the 1950s, blacklisting workers they suspected of subversion, but perhaps the HUAC had ulterior motives. In the 1940s, attorney Wendell Willkie demonstrated that certain American politicians were using communist paranoia as a tactic to attack Jews. Although they claimed to be motivated by patriotism, Willkie showed that some researchers seemed much more interested in starting an anti-Semitic witch hunt in Hollywood. How the worm has become! [3]
7.Percy Julian, the Black Chemist Scrubbed from History
For years, people tried to erase Percy Julian’s legacy. The Alabama-born chemist faced multiple setbacks throughout his life due to the color of his skin. Despite the fact that his pioneering work saved the lives of many people, Julian remains a relatively unknown figure in American history. Educated at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, in 1923 he became the first African American to earn a master’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University. However, Harvard refused to allow him to study for a doctorate on racial grounds, so he completed his doctorate in Vienna. Julian then returned to the United States and tried to pursue a career in academia, but again racial prejudice prevented him from progressing. So he moved into the corporate world, where he pioneered new uses for soy chemicals. A chemist helped produce fire retardant foam in fire extinguishers and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers during World War II. He also found a way to create artificial hormones. Due to his research, ridiculously expensive drugs suddenly became affordable for millions of people. Julian’s job meant he could move his family to a wealthy Illinois suburb, but many of his white neighbors looked down on them. They faced multiple attacks, including arson and someone bombing his house, but Julian and his wife refused to move. When he died of liver cancer, at age 76, he was a millionaire. [4]
6.Lise Meitner, the Female Nuclear Physicist Pushed Out and Persecuted
Lise Meitner was a pioneer in nuclear physics. She should have made history as one of the first two people to explain the nuclear fission process. But the Austrian trailblazer was never given the credit that people say she deserved. In 1945, when her collaborator Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize, Meitner’s contribution was sadly overlooked by the judges. In addition to her gender, it was the threat from the Nazi Party that ultimately led to Meitner’s cancellation. When the Hitler regime annexed Austria in 1938, Meitner, of Jewish origin, left Vienna for Stockholm. There, one historian wrote, she was given “lab space but no collaborators, equipment or technical support, not even hers own set of keys from hers. She had to meet with Hahn in secret to continue her work exploring the behavior of uranium. [5]
5.Ignaz Semmelweis, Hand-Washing Pioneer Committed to an Asylum
Ignaz Semmelweis should have been a medical hero, but the pride of his colleagues got in the way. The Hungarian doctor was the first person to advocate for people to wash their hands. During the 1840s, Semmelweis decided to explore the unusually high number of women who die of puerperal fever. He studied two maternity wards at the Vienna General Hospital. One room was run by doctors and medical students; the other was made up of midwives. Semmelweis quickly discovered that the death rate in the first ward was five times higher than in the second ward. But, for a long time, he couldn’t explain the disparity; The key difference, it turned out, was that the doctors were performing autopsies. Semmelweis theorized that the students stuck small pieces of corpses on their hands, which then infected the pregnant women in the room. Of course, we now understand that the disease is transmitted by germs and not by pieces of corpses, but pathogens were hardly understood at the time. On Semmelweis’ orders, medical staff began washing their hands with bleach, and the death rate soon dropped. The Hungarian scientist should have become the founding father of modern hygiene. But he did not. You see, the people at the hospital weren’t impressed by Semmelweis’s discovery. They thought he was making them look guilty of infecting the women in the room. Certain accounts also suggest that Semmelweis was a difficult man to work with. In the end, his companions hit back and threw him out of the hospital. By 1865, he had been sent to an asylum where he was beaten and, in a sad twist of irony, probably died of infection [6].
4.The Victorians and their Wild Cancel Culture
Canceling culture in the 19th century was brutal, far worse than today’s online hoardings. Respected Victorians spent much of their lives trapped in feuds. Some of them put an enormous amount of energy into trying to destroy the reputations of others. Oscar Wilde often clashed with the Marquis of Queensberry, once he publicly called him a “disgusting thing” that “assaulted” the academic world. Supporters of Thomas Edison wanted to cancel his rival George Westinghouse. They tried to make sure that his reputation was always associated with the killing of animals. They used Westinghouse’s invention of alternating current to kill dogs, horses and even an elephant, hoping to smear the businessman, but perhaps the worst was paleontologist Richard Owen. Owen had a long-standing rivalry with fellow dinosaur expert Gideon Mantell. When Mantell took his own life in 1852, Owen somehow got hold of his spine. He had it pickled and exhibited at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. [7]
3.Galileo Galilei, Dared to Disagree with the Church
Galileo Galilei is an eminent figure in scientific history. Although he began studying medicine, he soon changed fields and became an expert in mathematics and physics. Throughout his life, he studied the speed of falling objects, mechanics and pendulums, but aside from his iconic mention in Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Galilei is probably most remembered for his contribution. to astronomy. In 1609, he created a telescope and began studying the Solar System. The Italian professor was one of the first people to suggest that the Earth orbited the Sun. Unfortunately, not content with simply publishing his additions to the already well-established and church-accepted Copernican theory, Galileo declared that he proved the Church and the Bible. wrong. Galilei was found guilty of heresy and died under house arrest at his villa near Florence [8].
2.Cultural Imperialism, the Canceling of Entire Cultures
Most of the time, when people talk about cancellation culture, they mean something that could have an impact on one person or a handful of people. But, as various historians have pointed out, there are numerous examples of entire cultures canceled. [9] European colonizers were known to destroy the cultures of the countries they took. When Britain colonized India, they erased much of the existing heritage and imprinted their cultural dominance. British colonizers often claimed that they were “civilizing” the natives. The same rhetoric was used by German officials who set out to “prussify” the Slavic people of Eastern Europe. It was also reflected by the European empires in their treatment of Native Americans. [10]
1.Alan Turing, the Computer Scientists Persecuted for being a homosexual
London-born Alan Turing is remembered as one of the fathers of modern computing. His work at Bletchley Park played a pivotal role in Britain’s victory during World War II. As part of the Government Code and the School of Ciphers, he used statistics and logic to decode secret Nazi messages sent using the Enigma machines. Historians say his pioneering work saved more military lives than anyone in war history, but Turing had a deep secret. He was gay at a time when homosexuality was forbidden. Under Britain’s oppressive sexuality laws, the great mathematician was sentenced to one year of estrogen injections. British intelligence became suspicious of his work, solely because he was gay. He died of potassium cyanide poisoning in 1954. An investigation found that he had administered the poison himself. [eleven]
