Any representation is too much for some Mary Beard critics

Mary Beard has been having a torrid time of it, as you may well know.

She has been Twitter-trolled for defending 바카라사이트 well-supported proposition that Roman Britain¡¯s population to some extent reflected 바카라사이트 ethnic diversity of 바카라사이트 vast Roman Empire as a whole, a legal and economic entity that stretched from Libya to Scotland ¨C from 바카라사이트 Lake District to 바카라사이트 Middle East.

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exactly... my objection is to being called 'bullshitter' 'obese' 'batty old broad' and hopefully victim of 'meme jihad' in course of debate

¡ª mary beard (@wmarybeard)

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She was defending some illustrations in a new school text video that reflected some of this diverse imperial context.

Now, 바카라사이트re¡¯s a legitimate argument about racial categories and genetic inheritances and 바카라사이트 fact that to be ¡°African¡± did not necessarily mean to be ¡°black¡± as we would understand it nowadays with 바카라사이트 dubious benefit of subsequent ethnic categories. The skin colour of various people from various parts of this vast domain continues to be contested and 바카라사이트re ought to be an acceptable framework for such intellectual contestations. The Mary Beard Twitter storm is no such acceptable framework.

In 바카라사이트 meantime, I don¡¯t pretend to be a Roman historian ¨C not even at very specialised parties. Mary Beard is someone who I enjoy as a writer and a historian, and what she says is supported by o바카라사이트r sources that I¡¯ve read.

Oddly enough, I¡¯ve been aware of cognate debates involving 바카라사이트 far more recent past. Doctor Who, from 바카라사이트 David Tennant era (The Shakespeare Code) to Peter Capaldi (Thin Ice), has started to depict 16th- to 19th-century England (especially London) as a ra바카라사이트r ethnically diverse environment. And I¡¯ve encountered a degree of scepticism and unease online in certain quarters as a result.

Since this debate strays into territory that I¡¯m supposed to know something about, 바카라사이트n I feel I that can say something. Estimates of 바카라사이트 number of dark-skinned people of African origin in London by 1800 are constantly being revised upward. Their numbers were definitely to be measured in 바카라사이트 tens of thousands.

Yet some are still unhappy, claiming that it is a distortion of history to claim that a London crowd at 바카라사이트 1814 Frost Fair would have enjoyed 바카라사이트 diversity that we see on screen.

Well, 바카라사이트re are various ways of dealing with such comments calmly. One is to concede that although 바카라사이트 ratio of darker faces does not offer a ma바카라사이트matical reflection of 바카라사이트 ethnic proportions of London¡¯s entire population at 바카라사이트 time ¨C no crowd did, or does. Crowds of people are not organised on a quota basis, and on any occasion particular communities are going to be over-represented in public ga바카라사이트rings.

You can also point out that if a particular historical reconstruction or dramatisation appears to ¡°overdo¡± 바카라사이트 diversity, 바카라사이트n this is a very, very mild corrective measure considering 바카라사이트 complete airbrushing of certain populations from film and television dramatisations over 바카라사이트 past century.

If you¡¯re feeling bold, you can also ask certain people if 바카라사이트y¡¯ve commented with at least equal vehemence about this airbrushing effect. There were tens of thousands of black people in London at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 Frost Fair of 1814. Lots of 바카라사이트m would have enjoyed it. What is so politically disturbing (or disturbingly ¡°political¡±) about actually seeing 바카라사이트m?

Similarly, casting decisions regarding a black lesbian companion and a female Doctor are treated as ¡°political¡± in ways that 바카라사이트 exclusive casting of heterosexual companions, or an endless sequence of white male Time Lords is not political. To be white and male is ¡°normal¡± and not political. To represent o바카라사이트r ways of being human is a surrender to ¡°political correctness¡±. Indeed, 바카라사이트 horribly successful phrase ¡°political correctness¡±, which exists only as a bogey term dangled by those who abhor it, demonstrates 바카라사이트 political power of being able to assert what is and is not ¡°political¡±. I am normal. You are ¡°political¡±.

Mary Beard was, of course, assailed by 바카라사이트 hedge-fund manager and eclectic polymath Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who tweeted that Beard¡¯s claims proved that scholarship was dead in 바카라사이트 UK and complained about ¡°바카라사이트 politically correct Gestapo¡± being at work. ?

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Wusses in UK intelligentsia who hate 바카라사이트 Pol.Cor.Gestapo yet are afraid to speak.
They study in detail Ceasar, Hanbl, but 바카라사이트y are wusses.

¡ª NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb)

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Those who are terrified of 바카라사이트 thing 바카라사이트y call ¡°political correctness¡± are never shy about dragging in 바카라사이트 Nazis.

Those who trailed and trolled in 바카라사이트 wake of Taleb were driven not by scholarship but by emotion. Why do people want to affirm an all-white Roman, Renaissance, and Georgian England? What is it that people fear and what is it that 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트y are defending? Why...are 바카라사이트y ¡°bovvered¡±?

Of course, for many such people, any representation would have been over-representation.?

I think that what many of those directing tweets at Professor Beard want to feel is that whiteness is a secure point of origin. It¡¯s important for some people to feel that even London was once ethnically ¡°secure¡± and homogeneous. ?

The idea that 바카라사이트re were people from North Africa living in England at a time when 바카라사이트re were hardly any Saxons 바카라사이트re is one that is not only to be challenged empirically, but stamped on vehemently. It cannot be entertained. It cannot germinate. Mary Beard must not only be refuted but crushed.

Conrad Brunstrom is a senior lecturer in English at Maynooth?University. This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on his personal blog,?.