Thursday, June 25, 2015

I Don't Know Whose Ancestors They Were, But I Know Whose Ancestors They Are

I've never really understood the whole "who are my ancestors???" thing. Sure it might be of some interest for fun, but it doesn't matter. If I looked into it and discovered one of my ancestors was a serial killer, I'd consider it to be a mildly amusing party anecdote. I don't think it would really reflect on me. Sure slave ownership is a bit different, with the sense that perhaps you'd directly benefited financially from it in some way, but we really aren't responsible for the actions of our ancestors. What's the deal, Batfleck?

PBS said on Wednesday that it was postponing a future season of “Finding Your Roots” after an investigation revealed that the actor Ben Affleck pressured producers into leaving out details about an ancestor of his who owned slaves.

Especially if you voluntarily participate in such a thing...