Reply #102: Wow.

[Withywindle]

I saw this story on another blog last night and followed the links and read the comments (wish I hadn't) and the same bizarre thing kept coming up.


"I think it's most likely they buried him as a woman to INSULT him."


Really? So many people's thoughts go to that right away? First off, there's the assumption that treating a man as a woman in any way has always been a terrible insult in all cultures everywhere. (And what does that assumption say about the person who holds it?)

Yes, the headline and the writing is sensationalist. This is all too common in reporting about interesting new developments in the physical sciences as well as the social sciences. We should be used to it and be able to filter through it by now. What the actual researchers in the article said is, as Bluenorthwest pointed out, "Based on the evidence we have now and what we think we know about this culture already, we think this is the most likely conclusion..." Hardly a sensationalist claim--unless you think the possible existence of evidence of some kind of GLBT person acknowledged as such in his/her culture is in itself a very extraordinary and far-fetched claim.

I don't think it's necessarily far-fetched. We'll probably never know for 100% sure if that's the case here or not. Might have just been a straight guy who really loved to cook. But wow, the kneejerk angry reactions in the modern world are a fascinating anthropological phenomenon to observe in their own right. (No wonder some people prefer to study old bones.)