And now the Audubon Society is changing its name because Audubon owned slaves and took skulls from Indian graves. If we have to work through every prominent, deceased American and his or her sins then it is high time George Washington and all the bigwigs of the American Revolution should be erased from our memories and our history books as well.

Epicurus, were he asked about this cancelling of everything disagreeable, might well have pointed out that we are all sinners who conform to the mores of our places and times. He clearly was uncomfortable about slavery because we welcomed slaves, current and ex, to his home and treated them as equals. But he never cancelled their owners.

One thing is sure: that denouncing now-dead racists and sinners is a boon to the university student of history – fewer people to write essays about, dates to remember and accounts of the doings of highly disagreeable slave traders and the effects they had on local African peoples (many of whom were trading slaves as well, by the way). Let us focus on todays ongoing sins, demonizations and greed.