This post is on the BDSM Activism web board.
| Thu 10 Sep 09, 10:16 PM EroticNightmares UK(BN), 5 yrs  |
For those that were aware of the petition for an apology from the government, the Prime Minister has just released a statement agreeing that the treatment of Alan Turing was indeed, crap. http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571 For those that DON'T know - in short, Alan Turing was the father of computers and computer science and he was also gay when it was illegal in the UK. His work helped break the German 'enigma' codes in WW2, however he was convicted of 'gross indecency' after admitting sexual relations with a man and chemically castrated, he took his life 2 years after that.
Now, if the government could apply the same level of sense with their big brother state we would be getting somewhere... EDIT: Apologies if it might be in the wrong section, but it goes to show an online petition *can* work! Edited Thu 10 Sep 09, 10:19 PM by EroticNightmares | |||
| 10 Sep 09, 10:33 PM Fourfiveone UK, 7 yrs |
I was quite pleased to see it. However, this bit:
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| 10 Sep 09, 10:43 PM misfit UK, 3 yrs  |
Alan Turing was a genius. There are enough little reminders in Manchester, which must be unusual for a Londoner to receive such treatment. It was a travesty that he was prosecuted in the early 50's which led to him taking his own life. I know different times but it does not make it right. It is thanks to Alan Turing that Andrew Wiles managed his amazing mathematical feat. Turing was a trail blazer and his work is wide ranging across many disciplines from Mathematics, IT, Management Science and Accountancy to name but a few. M
Space travels in my blood. And there ain't nothing I can do about it. | |||
| 10 Sep 09, 10:57 PM Elan2007 UK(B), 5 yrs |
A brilliant man! - But let's not forget his massive contribution to breaking the enigma code. The irony should not be lost that he makes such a significant contribution to defeating totalitarianism - and then he is not tolerated by his own establishment! | |||
| 10 Sep 09, 11:02 PM misfit UK, 3 yrs |
Yes agreed he designed the amazing bombe. M Space travels in my blood. And there ain't nothing I can do about it. | |||
| 11 Sep 09, 3:08 AM emark UK, 9 yrs |
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| 11 Sep 09, 10:45 PM maupassant UK, 2 yrs |
Hm 'Totalitarianism' now there is a conjecture from the Cold War years ... Surely Turing was assassinated .. His
mother for one never believed he would have committed suicide... If Gordon was sincere in his apology he surely would have ordered a full public inquiry into the circumstances of his death....Perhaps either here or in the US there is still a paper trail, or if he was killed by some maverick operative in a state of full cold war moral panick , there may be people still alive who are
cogniscent of what actually happened....
Edited 11 Sep 09, 10:46 PM by maupassant | |||
| 11 Sep 09, 10:51 PM MisterAndy UK(SS), 4 yrs |
The worst hypocrisy about the treatment of Alan Turing, was that in that period, their was a famous politician(Labour) Tom Driberg who was openly gay and who's activities were covered up by the establishment,especially the Daily Express owner Lord Beaverbrook,who employed Driberg as a gossip columist. Alan Turing was a victim of a hypocritical and intolerant establishment. Youth's a mask and it don't last. Live it long and live it fast.(The Killing of Georgie by Rod Stewart) | |||
| 11 Sep 09, 11:06 PM maupassant UK, 2 yrs |
That is a very good point about Driberg, but I repeat Turing was victimised not because he was gay but because he was perceived to be a security risk .. his own work made him so . Even writing about GCHQ in the 1970s saw a Time Out journalist on a fast track to the notorious ABC trial of the 1970s... He was killed because of his knowledge base. | |||
| 11 Sep 09, 11:30 PM BadWulf UK(TA), 6 yrs |
Long overdue if slightly pathetic coming from a nonentity like Brown, Especially since he lumps it in with a general right on attack at period views on homosexuals generally in a quest for votes rather than displaying any personal understanding of the debt we actually owe all at Bletchly (and indeed SOE) and Turing in particular. I must admit I have never been personally convinced by the suicide verdict. Both the Americans and the English had cause to fear his blackmail. But since they are not likely to apologise for his assassination ,not much more we could expect I guess. Incidentally The Andrew Hodges book "Alan Turing: the Enigma" ,ISBN 0-09-911641-3 is well worth investing in. A truly extraordinary, wonderful, eccentric and mistreated genius. - Wulfy My, what sharp teeth I have. Edited 12 Sep 09, 12:43 AM by BadWulf | |||
| 11 Sep 09, 11:50 PM maupassant UK, 2 yrs |
Difficult to imagine a greater contrast to the bumbling pompous Brown than the sheer elegance of Turing's mind .. I think this is case of what wherof one cannot speak it would be better to remain silent... Browns aplogy seems like a final insult... have lost the link but the paper Turing read before the London Mathematical Society in 1936 is a measure of genius .. It is out there , coming to a universalt turing machine near you
Edited 12 Sep 09, 12:01 AM by maupassant |
