Its hard to imagine how any of my fellow Brits can look at this positively.
During the man's life he was treated disgracefully when he should have been a hero, and now somehow putting the face of Alan Turing on a bank note makes things better?
Let a lone a bank note that 90% of the population will never see or use.
I am not a brit, but as far as I am concerned, they admitted that they were injust, they reversed the conviction, and now acknowledge him for his contributions.
The problem as I see it, is that it feels disingenuous.
There are many still suffering similar attitudes in the UK, and the health service is still dealing with issues of identity and sexuality in the wrong ways based on those I know who've experienced it and from what I've seen/read.
Don't get me wrong, things are improving, and putting Turing on a bank note will bring discussion, but I don't believe for a second that this is the goal, it's a PR stunt (for lack of a better term). Just because Turing is in the past doesn't mean it should be forgotten though and more effort needs to be made not just to apologise but to condemn the behaviour from others.
Anyway, I'm just having a discussion, I think my point was that standalone, Alan Turing on a bank note is great, but I don't think I can look at it in isolation without thinking/discussing how it's not quite good enough. I hope that makes sense since I'm struggling to articulate my meaning.
We have lots of issues with that where I live. But our current politicians are not even willing to make gestures in that direction.
So in my mind was that they (uk politicians) were at least
doing something, even if its mostly just a gesture.
The current government aren't personally responsible for what was done to him 70 years ago. The man was a hero, and the story of his life and treatment was important in my life. If this raises awareness of his contribution and the appalling way he was abused, and broadcasts to the world that the establishment today is firmly committed that such things must not happen again, I think that's a good thing.
On the other hand, meanwhile children are being given hormone treatments with permanent consequences at the insistence of health professionals, only to regret it when it's too late. Maybe we've not learned as much as we thought. Still, whatever you think of that controversy, and there are definitely multiple sides to it, Turing is the perfect figure to act as a catalyst for public debate. We've still got a lot of these issues to work out.
I agree, inviting debate is a good thing, I'm not convinced though that the lesson _has_ been learned, as you say, hormone treatments, but also and the way identity crises are being handled shows were not quite there yet.
There's also the tangential issue that it's the £50. I haven't seen a £50 in about 20 years. It's hard to spark debate once the talk of the note being issued is over, when the overwhelming majority of the population will never see one.
For the non-brits here; most everyday establishments won't accept £50 notes due to risk of forgery. The £20 is the largest day-to-day use note here, we don't have a £100 either, £50 is the largest.
Or they do nothing? What exactly do you want? Most people I've spoken to in tech view it positively. But I guess people have to moan about everything these days.
Rather than asking your "people in tech" whose opinions are entirely irrelevant to the point of Turing's persecution, try asking people from demographics that continue to be persecuted purely because of _who_ they are.
An assurance that this won't happen again would be a good start, along with some material attempts to right a wrong (I don't know what or how that looks I'm just discussing).
I already saw the apology, but "sorry" is meaningless. Actions speak louder than words and all that.
I know gay people who have been beaten up by strangers merely for walking down the street holding hands, this disgraceful behaviour continues to be a huge issue, and more needs to be done to combat it, that can start with the government taking more firm action to combat such hate crimes.
During the man's life he was treated disgracefully when he should have been a hero, and now somehow putting the face of Alan Turing on a bank note makes things better?
Let a lone a bank note that 90% of the population will never see or use.