# PBS - Finding Your Roots - Ben Affleck embarrasment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293 "2015-04-22T15:42:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/41 "2015-04-23T11:22:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > We’ll probably never know her real story, but it’s entirely possible I’m descended from a whore or pickpocket or a horse thief! I’m reminded of the Armstrong and Miller spoof of “Who Do You Think You Are?” which is worth a watch. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/42 "2015-04-23T11:24:04Z")
I haven’t watched the series in a long time, but it seems like whenever they interview the black celebrities, they uncover a whole heap of slave owning-ancestors. So far, none of them have flung themselves off of any bridges. This is a prime example of the Streisand effect. If Affleck had just shrugged it off, we wouldn’t even be talking about it. ---
**Author:** ![soonerblue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soonerblue/32/3302_2.png) [@soonerblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soonerblue)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/43 "2015-04-23T12:41:39Z")
Interesting thread. Hopefully I’m not going too far off topic, but maybe it depends on your view of genetics, how strongly you believe that certain traits can be inherited. For example - a genealogy-freak cousin traced/documented one side of our family back to 1600’s in England where they were shipbuilders, even building the ship they used to sail to America. To this day most of the ones on that side of the family make a living working with wood … carpentry, cabinetry, furniture, etc. Also, it reminds me of a PBS documentary I saw about a genetic study with monkeys. Among others, scientists isolated a “mothering gene.” The monkey mothers without it ignored their young, other mothers came to the rescue and fed the starving baby. I remember thinking how that could explain the behavior of certain “bad” human mothers I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/44 "2015-04-23T13:14:47Z")
_Finding Your Roots_ is obviously Genealogy Lite, although I enjoy it. I’m pretty damn liberal but Affleck has always impressed me as a lightweight; slightly tacky behavior but I’m hardly offended. (How many other celebrities’ “facts” were suppressed–that _didn’t_ show up in purloined e-mails?) I signed on to [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) (also Genealogy Lite) but have come to many dead ends. As I suspected; Irish records cost more, many were burnt up in the Civil War & I’d rather save the International Ancestry money for a trip. One line goes father back in this country. Originating in Ireland, as well: County Antrim; the grandmother who raised me always claimed Scotch-Irish blood. However, I’d _really_ like to ask her about my grandfather’s\* first\* wife–who I discovered on Ancestry. And about her sister who disappeared–but was married to my grandfather’s half brother. That teetotalling lady with the Broadman Hymnal in her big purse apparently had an “interesting” youth… There _might_ be an ancestor who fought in the Revolution & the War of 1812. But records that old require validation & I’m not that interested in joining the DAR… ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/45 "2015-04-23T15:35:01Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Meh. It’s just the Usual Suspects dropping in to leave a turd of an opinion. > [@BlankSlate](#): > > I don’t blame Affleck for being embarrassed. If he was a conservative, he could take pride in his slave-owning ancestors. I agree with **jayjay**. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/46 "2015-04-23T15:41:06Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > This isn’t a news program, it’s not journalism, it’s entertainment and it’s done with the cooperation of the celebrity being featured. They give them all kinds of access to dig into their family’s past and if something embarrassing comes up it shouldn’t be a big deal to leave some of those things out per the featured person’s request. Exactly. This is an entertainment show not a news show. The producers have no obligation to the public to release information. This is no different than a celebrity appearing on a talk show and asking the interviewer before hand not to raise some embarrassing topic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/47 "2015-04-23T15:50:17Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I envisioned a commercial with a sad-sack looking individual glumly saying: “I got on [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) and found…nothing. Nobody in my family tree ever did anything interesting. I come from a long line of boring losers…” “Turns out I’m a blood relative of _Benjamin Franklin!_ No, not that one; different guy.” ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/48 "2015-04-23T15:58:53Z")
I wonder how folks would feel if Ben was trying to suppress an embarrassing photo of way back when of him being fat or morbidly obese? To be fair, I don’t think Ben’s commited the crime of the century. Just that this little event has more than meets the eye at first glance. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/49 "2015-04-23T16:26:03Z")
I’m playing armchair psychologist here, but I think Ben Affleck’s coverup tells us a lot about his view of the world and his personal insecurity. I suspect that he feels southerners were racist bastards when their ancestors were slaveowners and are still backwards racists today. Perhaps he implicitly believes that there is some link between the people southerners are now and the people they descended from. Thus, he can conveniently dismiss southern conservatives as a class because they are all southern racists descended from slaveowning degenerates. But that convenient characterization disappears when he realizes he is not so different from the people he mentally dismisses. Perhaps, with this revelation, he has figured out that he shouldn’t marginalize a group of people just because of who their parents or grandparents are. Interestingly, it’s similar to the lesson of slavery, which is that people shouldn’t be marginalized because their parents were African, or were themselves slaves. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/50 "2015-04-23T16:36:40Z")
Bingo ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/51 "2015-04-23T16:38:05Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I agree with **jayjay**. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Help is available. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/52 "2015-04-23T16:41:03Z")
I recently found out Doorhinge, Jayjay and myself share a common ancestor. Everybody involved is embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/53 "2015-04-23T16:45:57Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Can I assume that the show didn’t reference Affleck’s performance in Gigli, either? 😃 Just think, in 200 years there will be someone who’s embarrassed he’s related to that performance. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/54 "2015-04-23T17:08:43Z")
goodness and badness just like noses are genetic inheritances. he just didn’t want to call attention to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/55 "2015-04-23T17:23:01Z")
Someone I once spoke with who did genealogy research for money said people were best pleased if they found two types of people in their ancestry - [ol][li]Royalty, or[/li][li]someone who was burned as a witch.[/ol]“My grandfather’s grandfather owned slaves” probably isn’t as interesting. [/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/56 "2015-04-23T17:33:05Z")
One has to wonder how this would have played out if some famous southern politician had found this out and did a bit of a power play to keep it suppressed. ---
**Author:** ![soonerblue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soonerblue/32/3302_2.png) [@soonerblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soonerblue)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/57 "2015-04-24T00:09:07Z")
Affleck is an actor, creative people are often anxious and filled with self-doubt … even Meryl Streep. A difficult journey in life is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a damn what other people think. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/58 "2015-04-24T02:58:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > At a cocktail party or Junior League Key Party or whatever not bringing up slave owning ancestors would be a perfectly reasonable request, but if you agreed to go on a show that was specifically to talk about your ancestors, it would seem a fair point to bring up. > > I choose not to bring it up quite frequently even when it is relevant, such as when (and this is fairly frequently) I meet a black person with the same unusual surname and from the same small geographic area as my mother or one of my grandparents. “Oh really? My grandparents were Rawlinsons from Dutch Bend, Alabama, maybe your family and mine were… um… worked together and lived very near each other!” The point I was making is, telling someone in any circumstance leads naturally to an _‘and?’_ thought in the recipient. I assume Ben was assured beforehand if anything unsavory turned up he had the right to privacy. I assume he never thought it was possible anyway. But either way, he doesn’t owe you anything. People calling him a coward are schmucks. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/59 "2015-04-24T03:14:14Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I wonder how folks would feel if Ben was trying to suppress an embarrassing photo of way back when of him being fat or morbidly obese? > > To be fair, I don’t think Ben’s commited the crime of the century. Just that this little event has more than meets the eye at first glance. Unless he’s been outspoken against being fat or obese, why would I care? There’s literally nothing here. When you have to pull out armchair psychology in order to find something wrong with what someone did, you’re basically saying it was okay. I probably wouldn’t want to broadcast to the world something shameful about my ancestors. Not because it reflects badly on me or that I think it would reflect badly on anyone else. But because I wouldn’t want to talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293/60 "2015-04-24T04:12:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Unless he’s been outspoken against being fat or obese, why would I care? > it. Think about it a bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-finding-your-roots-ben-affleck-embarrasment/718293.md?page=4)