Stories like this are why I subscribe to the Washington Post:
BLETCHLEY, England — A founding father of the modern computer, Alan Turing devised a machine that unraveled the enigma of Nazi codes and aided the defeat of Adolf Hitler. Convicted of homosexuality after World War II and sentenced to chemical castration, Turing — an avid fan of the film “Snow White” — was found dead in 1954 from cyanide poisoning, a bitten apple by his bedside.
More than half a century after his apparent suicide and following global strides in gay rights, a movement is cresting to reboot the record of the British mathematician’s short but luminous life.
Responding to a campaign by laureates such as Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, the British Parliament is moving toward granting Turing a posthumous pardon. The act would recognize the humiliation of one of computer science’s leading intellects who, after being sentenced by a British court to forced treatment with female hormones, became impotent and budded breasts before being found dead by his housekeeper in a lonely room near Manchester. Some academics are even calling for a reopening of the inquest that quickly declared his death self-inflicted, despite the lack of a suicide note.
The push comes amid a new swell of international attention for a man who scholars say made conceptual breakthroughs that laid the groundwork for everything from mainframes to iPhones. The recent rush of tributes include new books on his life, Turing-inspired computer conventions and the rediscovery of his lesser-known works exploring topics such as linguistic philosophy and the search for mathematical proof of the human soul. The fresh accolades are propelling a wronged war hero, scholars say, to his rightful place in history…
Yet the campaign to pardon Turing’s 1952 conviction — which came after he acknowledged having a same-sex relationship and declared he saw nothing wrong with it — is also igniting a debate over the tricky business of rewriting history.
Opponents argue that what’s done is done and that a pardon could spark an avalanche of petitions from families of other deceased convicts whose punishments in their day now seem barbaric. Still others say the parliamentary proposal does not go far enough. If Turing is pardoned, why not the writer Oscar Wilde, the actor John Gielgud and the thousands of other less-notable Britons once punished for the love that dare not speak its name?…
Well, why not?
Nobody reputable is arguing that persecuting homosexuals was a good idea. Is there a better use for “history” than understanding — and, to the degree possible, rectifying — our mistakes?
JPL
So is this the football thread?
J.Ty
I first learned about Turing as a geeky closeted high school math student. Didn’t really know about the personal aspects of his life at ALL until he showed up in Cryptonomicon and I decided to do some more research. What a brilliant man; what a fate.
Glad to see there’s been so much emphasis on his work and life lately.
raven
“The Graveyard of the Atlantic refers to the coastal region of the Outer Banks that contain the remains of hundreds of ships that were sunk due to war, piracy or weather. The museum’s exhibits feature many artifacts recovered from shipwrecks, including a German Enigma machine from the German submarine U-85 that was sunk in 1942.” If the fishin is blown out you can go see it!
JPL
@J.Ty: My comment was not based on Turing, who was genius.
Keith G
@raven: I got home from work so I haven’t done any scrolling…How is your pup, Bodhi?
Yatsuno
I know very few who denigrate Turing for his sexuality today. In fact, his discoveries have propelled computing into a well-studied science that has changed the modern world and really still is. All the posthumous pardon will do is make some folks feel better about the wrongs Turing experienced. At the end of the day, he is still dead but his legacy has exceeded him.
bk
Columnists like Jennifer Rubin are why I don’t.
Schlemizel
@JPL:
Well, it is about homosexuality so football would be an important part of that.
AS much as Turing and Wilde deserve a pardon wouldn’t it be nice it Parliament would award posthumous pardons to all convicted under those dark ages law? Name those guys but make it blanket, join the 21st century and admit the sins of the past hoping for a better future
J.Ty
@Yatsuno: I would argue for a blanket pardon for EVERYbody persecuted under those laws, or nobody at all. Turing shouldn’t get to be ‘special’ like that. It feels degrading somehow, like we only care about the gay geniuses.
raven
@Keith G: It was a mixed day. We were up most of the night but this morning he wanted to go on my rounds with me so I took him. He yelped when he jumped in the seat and then on and off most of the morning. I went into his medical history and we had given him rimadyl a year ago and it helped so I gave him a small piece. He seem a little better, still eating, drinkin and all the important functions. He was due for his shot and checkup so we’ll take him in early tomorrow. I did find a floating lump on his ribs but I don’t this that’s what THIS problem is.
thx
Hawes
Next thing you know we’ll be apologizing to the Japanese Americans we put into camps. Sheesh
Schlemizel
@raven:
Let us know, hopefully its something simple and the vet will take care of it tomorrow
Amir Khalid
Come to think of it, a blanket pardon for all men convicted for homosexuality under the law that got Turing might well be a good idea at that. There was never a corresponding law against lesbianism, was there? And you wouldn’t be “expunging” any history in the process. The records would still show a conviction for so-and-so, with the addition that it no longer counted as such.
raven
@Schlemizel: Thanks, I suspect it’s age related. As I look at his records he seems to get something like this right after a new policy year starts and we have to meet a new deductible!
eta, whoo hoo, new year stars 10/14!
Valdivia
I am going to drop here an excellent segment from RadioLab about Turing.
It’s a very good telling of the conviction and how he was treated during and after. really heartbreaking.
I really hope they succeed in the pardon.
Long Tooth
“Well, why not”?
Only one reason occurs to me. Parliament should instead beg the forgiveness of the families of Turning, et.al. (the families of ‘the tortured’).
Why not?
“To black Americans, thanks for taking it all in stride”… a paraphrase of a wisecrack from an episode of Family Guy.
Schlemizel
@Hawes:
Not being snarky, didn’t ‘we’ do that? I thought Congress issued an apology. Back in the 70s I worked for a Nisei whos father owned 1500 acres of almond & peach groves near San Mateo in 1940. He told me that sold them at a loss because there was a deadline for unloading it all and it had to be sold before they could be shipped to the camps. He later fought in the 442, one of the most decorated units of WWII. I asked him why he was not mad & he just looked at me like he didn’t understand the question. I don’t think I could be as forgiving
scav
Might also be evaluated in light of the game-playing, historical revision being attempted by the Russians Tchaikovsky’s sexuality ‘downplayed’ in biopic under Russia’s anti-gay law.
Botsplainer
In my effort to clip the pup’s claws and slicing into the quick, I ended up having to mop the floors and investing $450 into a carpet cleaner to clean all the blood.
A little blood goes an amazingly long way. The wife is super pissed at me, but it will be nice to be able to clean up his tracked in dirt whenever.
J.Ty
@Schlemizel: the regiment with Inouye, right? They were badasses.
raven
@Botsplainer: Corn starch can stop the bleeding.
raven
@J.Ty: That was the only Japanese-American Unit. If you haven’t seen the segment in The War by Burns it’s well worth while. Not only were they bad motherfuckers they were incredible patriots in every sense of the word. Also, Bad Day at Black Rock has some interesting points about them.
shelly
I remember Derek Jacobi played him in a BBC biopic. Pretty heart breaking.
Botsplainer
@raven:
As I’ve learned today. Best part is, I found out that you can walk in to PetSmart and have it done for $9.
shelly
Well, the cliche anyway, is that guys get off on the idea of two women together.
Two men….icky!
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Rectifying is one of those words that sound dirty but isn’t.
Schlemizel
@raven:
Old age is a bitch! My little kitty was 18 & just having a series of little things that kept adding up. So painful to watch, knowing they are suffering pain & discomfort. We all know how it ends but I hope you have many happy years yet before the inevitable.
Lewis CK has a bit that has been haunting me. Giving your kid a puppy is bringing sorrow into your home in 10 years. Its an over simplification and should be balance against the joy but I have not been able to shake that image since I heard that. I hate thinking like this god damn it.
Anne Laurie
@Botsplainer: Our local big-box pet store groomers will do a nail trim, usually without an appointment, for around ten bucks.
You could also buy a ‘nail grinder’ (basically a dremel with a special attachment) for under $45… looks like Cole’s favorite petcare company has its own model these days…
raven
@Schlemizel: Fuck that, they are the center of our lives and we’ll do what is best for them. I won’t regret it.
Dr Doom
@Shelly
And now Benedict Cumberbatch is playing him.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/danmartin/heres-the-first-picture-of-benedict-cumberbatch-as-alan-turi
Schlemizel
@J.Ty:
Not just bad ass but crazy-fearless. They felt they had to restore honor to their families. Thats just insane! You treat me like a criminal & _I_ have to prove myself?
Schlemizel
@raven:
I have never seen Bad Day At Black Rock, isn’t it a cowboy movie?
Amir Khalid
@shelly:
The story goes that Queen Victoria couldn’t imagine two women doing such a thing, so she refused to give her assent to the corresponding law against lesbianism.
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
As that manly man (11 on a scale of 1-10) Jesus General always says “women can’t be gay, they do not have little soldiers to put in each others mouths!
Lenny Bruce used to do a hilarious routine about how a guy who wears a pastel colore shirt could be beaten as a fag but a woman with a crew cut wearing a leather jacket could be the head of the Girls Scout troop and nobody would suspect a thing. Homophobia really is a male disease, or it was until recently
Botsplainer
@Anne Laurie:
I’m more than happy to walk in to PetSmart and do it. I had them finish the job I botched – they did great.
Thing is, I got cocky. The first two nails were a breeze, then he got squirmy, and I misanticipated his movement.
I felt really shitty about it – poor little guy yelled to beat the band.
MikeJ
@Schlemizel:
No, not a Western. Spencer Tracey shows up in a small western town after WWII, asking about one of the town’s residents, and it pisses off the locals. Go watch it. I won’t say any more about it. Just watch it.
gogol's wife
@raven:
I hope Bodhi is okay.
We’re struggling to medicate our cat Sasha for hyperthyroid. I hope her numbers look good in a couple of weeks.
JPL
@Dr Doom: That is great casting. That’s for the link.
Schlemizel
@raven:
My babies have given me so much happiness but somehow I am now stuck on the notion that knowing how it will end the joy is bittersweet. Its stupid because thats true for every living thing including me but it is part of the blackness that colors my soul & at the moment I can’t shake it
PurpleGirl
@raven: In the mid 1970s, Japanese were buying real estate in the LA area like crazy, and with cash. They were hated by the Japanese-Americans who were starting to be able to rebuy the buildings and land in and around LA that they had lost during the war. The Japanese from Japan were driving up the prices and making it harder for the J-As to rebuy things. Feelings between “cousins” were raw.
raven
@MikeJ: A one-armed Spencer Tracy. Also:
Spencer Tracy …
John J. Macreedy
Robert Ryan …
Reno Smith
Anne Francis …
Liz Wirth
Dean Jagger …
Tim Horn
Walter Brennan …
Doc Velie
John Ericson ..
Pete Wirth
Ernest Borgnine
Coley Trimble…
Hector David
raven
@Schlemizel: Let it go dawg, don’t let it bring you down!
JPL
@Schlemizel: Splash your face with water every time you feel that way. Enjoy what you have. Miss Moxie had an aggressive cancer and even though I only had a few weeks after she was diagnosed, I never looked at her as though she was going to die. She was alive at that time and that’s all that mattered to me.
Sorry for the rant…
PurpleGirl
@MikeJ: I’ve seen it. Tracey is a badass in that movie. Fired by the passion for justice. Just a badass. Yes, people should see it, if they haven’t.
gogol's wife
@Schlemizel:
But how else would they spend their lives? Think about them, not yourself. (I don’t mean to sound hostile — I have the same thoughts you do, but then I think about what life would be like for them if we didn’t take them in.)
TG Chicago
This is a non sequitur. The main point isn’t that the punishment was barbaric, it’s that the “crime” wasn’t criminal.
Anybody convicted of homosexuality should be pardoned. If, as a separate matter, they wish to apologize for barbaric punishments, that’s something to consider. But let’s not conflate a convicted murderer who was treated abusively with someone who should never have been convicted of anything in the first place.
gogol's wife
OK, Mnemosyne isn’t here so I just have to say, it’s Spencer TRACY, not Tracey!
raven
@PurpleGirl: Incredible theme for 1955.
SiubhanDuinne
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
Yup. Like matriculating. Or masticating.
raven
@JPL: That was no rant.
Shakezula
Pardon, my ass. Parliament needs to deliver a posthumous groveling apology to Mr. Turing. An acknowledgement that arresting, jailing, institutionalizing and otherwise discriminating against gays and lesbians was wrong wouldn’t hurt no one either.
gogol's wife
@Shakezula:
I agree that everyone should be pardoned. With special mention of Turing, Wilde, Gielgud, etc., etc. Reading about Wilde just breaks my heart (Turing too, of course).
ETA: I see that I don’t seem to be agreeing with you — but I meant to!
JPL
now is the time that I just say f…k….. Miami sucks.. that is all.
JPL
Matt Ryan threw a Tim Tebow pass… He normally doesn’t do that..
Schlemizel
@JPL:
If thats an rant I’m a foaming at the mouth loon! I can understand that at an intelectual level but at an emotional level I have trouble dealing with it. Thanks, I do try & it helps to hear
Schlemizel
@SiubhanDuinne:
My favorite political attack speech of all time came from Mad Magazine:
“My opponent is a known thespian who has been seen masticating in public on many occasions!”
Schlemizel
@gogol’s wife:
wouldn’t it be better if they (and us) had never been born only to know the inevitable and all the heartache between beginning and end? Sorry, if your brain does not work that way (and I sincerely hope it does not) then that probably makes no sense to you. I live much of the time in a very dark place that I pretend does not exist
SiubhanDuinne
@Schlemizel:
“Babs! Have you been neglecting your uvula?”
The Sailor
Nice win, Colts!
Schlemizel
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’ll behoove ya to care for your uvula! Those were some funny folks, I can still hear Gilda say that line
WereBear
“Opponents” can just never admit they are wrong, the jerks.The blanket pardon is an even better idea.
The very thought that someone who helped the entire world win WWII and laid the foundation for the computing revolution was tormented and driven to suicide should have their conscience kicking them in the ‘nads.
Why doesn’t it?
WereBear
@Schlemizel: My brain doesn’t work that way. Because they know joy, and because of them, so do I.
Chris
Define “reputable.”
PurpleGirl
@raven: I know I didn’t see it in a movie theater because I was like 4 years old when it was made. So I saw it on TV, probably one of the afternoon movie shows. It made a strong impression on me about racial prejudice and its consequences. Two other movies that I remember for the impressions about culture and prejudice are Bridge to the Sun (James Shigeta and Carroll Baker) and A Majority of One (Rosalind Russell and Alec Guinness). My parents had no idea of the movies I was watching and what I was learning from them.
PurpleGirl
On topic: I first learned about Alan Turing when I read a couple of books on the history of computing, computers, and IBM. The man was a genius and deserves to have his work recognized and talked about as much as possible.
eemom
@gogol’s wife:
May I say that, based upon the metrics of intelligence and kindness, you are one of the best people commenting on this blog?
(a propos of nothing other than illustrative comments on this thread, random soul searching prompted by the S dude, and the fact that I might die soon due to my back killing me.)
Chris
@MikeJ:
Damn. I just read the Wikipedia summary and now I gotta watch it.
Schlemizel
@WereBear:
Do they? How do we know what they feel? It might all be an act to just make the moments less painful
I have read a couple dozen books & I have tried a dozen techniques and gimmicks, joy is temporal & fleeting, when it quickly passes just the blackness remains.
Whats odd is I don’t think this is normal but it is for me. I don’t expect anyone who does not deal with these thoughts to understand. I don’t want it to be this way but it is despite repeated, concerted, efforts to make it otherwise. I love my animals and it leases me to think they love me & find happiness in our home but I can’t refuse to believe that maybe they don’t like it & would be happier in the wild without us humans
EDIT: sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer. These are the things I bury IRL and it is wrong to dredge them up here
WereBear
@Schlemizel: I’m very sorry to hear that you struggle so. I don’t know what “normal” is but certainly the point of life is enjoyment, as best we can.
It’s my philosophy that in any case, it’s too late now; our ancestors domesticated them, and they are no longer suited to their wild past.
I also believe they are capable of love; and so, joy.
Mike in NC
@raven: I dove on the wreck of U-85 back around 1984, when it was still in impressive shape compared to most. 125 feet down off of Nags Head.
Tom Q
@shelly: It was a BBC filmed version of the Hugh Whitemore play Breaking the Code, which had played in both London and on Broadway in the late 80s. I saw the NY production (with Derek Jacobi); first place I’d ever heard of Turing.
Belafon
A few years ago my oldest son had to do a book report about someone. I suggested he do Turing, which he did. I also got him to cover his entire life, not just his accomplishments, but what happened to him.
Captain Comrade
Two males got in a fight last Thursday. Cops were called. They were part of a larger group, but it was these two, who happened to be gay, who fought. I think it was wrong of the bartender to be laughing about them slapping each other. Usually this bartender is liberal to the point of being a hippy.
raven
@Mike in NC: Too cool. I know a guy here that spent 25 years as a commercial diver out of Hatteras. Many great tales.
Yatsuno
@Captain Comrade: Shit. I was gonna say something then I remembered you’re BoB’s lesser brother. Never mind.
SiubhanDuinne
So, speaking of Derek Jacobi and gay actors and all: has anyone heard about (or even better, seen) the British TV series “Vicious”? (Working title was “Vicious Old Queens,” LOL.) It is a sitcom starring Sir Derek Jacobi and Sir Ian McKellen as a gay couple who have been together for nearly 50 years. I don’t much care how good, or bad, the script is — just the pleasure of seeing those two playing against each other is entertainment enough. Can’t wait until it comes to these shores! I believe it has just been renewed for a second season, so they must be doing something right. I heard Jacobi talking about it a few months ago on a “Bob Edwards Weekend” interview, but apart from that and minimal Internet information, I know nothing about it.
Belafon
@WereBear: Because most of the “thems” aren’t alive.
sharl
@Amir Khalid: Not on topic – is the story about ship husbandry services contractor Leonard Glenn Francis a big thing in Malaysian news media?
I cannot see it becoming big news here in the U.S. – it will likely be shrugged off as ‘business as usual’, I’m guessing – but a bunch of mid-level USN officers are furious about this whole thing. Their fury is not directed so much at Mr. Francis – from the stories those guys have been trading, he’s been notorious among USN 7th Fleet people for a long time for his scams and price-gouging. But they are (quite properly) furious at the Navy commander and NCIS agent who sold out to him.
gogol's wife
@eemom:
Wow — thank you! I like you too!
Who is “the S dude”?
gogol's wife
@eemom:
Oh, I think you mean the commenter S.
gogol's wife
@SiubhanDuinne:
Are you watching “Last Tango in Halifax” with Jacobi and Anne Reid? It’s a real soap opera, but the acting is superb, especially Jacobi. I can’t watch it tonight because I find too much TV the night before school is not productive, and I have to watch Foyle’s War. Which means I’m missing the Hitchcock extravaganza on TCM.
Amir Khalid
@sharl:
Not that I know, but then I never read the shipping news. Glenn Davis Marine Asia is based in Singapore. There’s only a Malaysian angle to the extent that the company’s operations in Malaysian ports like Penang and Port Klang are involved, and the story doesn’t say if they are.
sharl
@Amir Khalid: Thanks. Those port names do apparently come up in the legal complaint, but that document – while public – does not appear to be readily accessible by mere mortals.
JPL
@gogol’s wife: Both Last Tango in Halifax and Foyle’s can be streamed starting tomorrow on Masterpiece online. Last Tango had some great lines and Foyle’s although a little to pat in the first series, sets the stage for interesting developments. I loved the end of the first episode of Foyle’s when he told someone to take care of Frank, the returning vet.
gogol's wife
@JPL:
Okay, maybe I can catch Last Tango tomorrow after work.
SFAW
@sharl:
I have to apologize, but all I could think of, when I read that, was the comment regarding Dr. Samuel Gall: “he majored in animal husbandry, until they caught him at it one day.”
schrodinger's cat
Turing didn’t do anything wrong, what are they pardoning him for, shouldn’t they apologize instead? Not just Turing, how about apologizing to the families of all the gay men who were convicted.
hitchhiker
Instead of recognizing his humiliation, can we at least name the members of that British court? Can we admit that there were people who did this and not pretend that it was just some sort of institutional thing?
sharl
@SFAW: Hah! Actually, from what I’ve been learning about how Leonard Francis operated, that comment kinda-sorta applies.
Schlemizel
@Mike in NC:
Damn, that would be fun. I was in the boat at the Chicago Museum of Technology & Industry and than was very interesting. They have blown it apart so it is easier to get into now & it is not at all like being on a tiny submarine but it is worth seeing anyway. I wish I could dive on a wreck like that one
SFAW
@sharl:
Eewwww!
Faisal
Really, Washington Post?
This is like describing Isaac Newton as “a man who scholars say made conceptual breakthroughs that laid the groundwork for everything from elevators to baseball.”
Why oh why can’t we have a better press corps?
J.Ty
@Faisal: Well, SOME say he more or less invented the computer, and OTHERS say he was a fag, so the answer must be somewhere in the middle.
ETA: +3
fuckwit
Yeah, and while we’re at it, why don’t we issue a formal apology to all the Native American tribes for stealing their land and wiping them out in genocidal proportions, and an apology to African Americans for slavery?
I’m not being the least bit sarcastic. I think we should do both of those things. It’s the right thing to do.
I also have a theory that a lot of the racism that permeates this country (and causes for example guns to be fetishized), is due to GUILT. We should attempt to assuage that guilt by acknowledging what we’ve done and apologizing for it.
In South Africa, they had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that acknowledged the crimes of Apartheid. And I’m pretty sure Australia has formally apologized to the Aboriginals. We should do something similar here.
There’s nothing wrong, or weak, about admitting mistakes or evils, owning that, and apologizing for it. I think the 12-step people call it “making amends” and it’s an essential part of the healing process.
billB
Well Said Fckwit, we should always seek to find higher ground.
That being said, we have laws and social mores for a reason. We can all glorify the Great Man now that he is gone, BUT civilization requires a value system. I ask you to take this test, If we substitute Gay, for Guy who cuts off cat heads, where are you?
These are things that were socially unacceptable in that time. It is all too easy to look back and say someone in authority was wrong, according to your NEW value system.
Hobbes
I know plenty of you will already know this, but this part:
is where the Apple Computer Inc. logo came from.
A rainbow colored apple, with a bite out of it.
Anniecat45
@Amir Khalid:
There is a legend, which may well be true, that there was no law against lesbianism because Queen Victoria refused to sign the legislation. She herself had had a very happy marriage to Prince Albert, missed him desperately when he died, and could not believe that women would want to bother with sex with other women. None of her prime ministers could muster up the moxie to either explain this to her, or tell her she had to sign the bill, so they settled for outlawing homosexuality for me.