I am guessing that naming the gene after him is a sort of sarcastic rejoinder - a bit like naming a line of meridian after a flat earther?
I get it but there are dozens of not hundreds of people who have put in decades of work each to discover and enhance our understanding of this gene and its medical links - they would be better candidates. Or perhaps they could choose to name it.
But celebrating a fraud and "fake news" founder ... even sarcastically does not sit right with me.
Happily I saw a dog turd on the street a while back - we could name that after Wakefield. Perhaps put it on Google maps.
It would be more than that.
Wakefield is a guiding light name in the anti-vacc community. This would severely water down the effectiveness of his name...
And especially in todays search engine driven world of "self education" that could be amazingly effective.
That was the angle I was going for, yes. And I agree, it’s not great to name the finding after something negative, but I don’t know how better to keep that kind of evil in the minds of the general population. I want to illuminate this like I want to illuminate other historical evils such as Fascism and Communism.
I get it but there are dozens of not hundreds of people who have put in decades of work each to discover and enhance our understanding of this gene and its medical links - they would be better candidates. Or perhaps they could choose to name it.
But celebrating a fraud and "fake news" founder ... even sarcastically does not sit right with me.
Happily I saw a dog turd on the street a while back - we could name that after Wakefield. Perhaps put it on Google maps.