Re: The actualfax $10 bill.

[eldabe]

(x-posted to facebook.)

Listen, Hamilton was a great person and all and it should have be Jackson yanked off a bill, this is true.

But if you let every cool guy stay on things instead of taking opportunities to replace them with women, we'll just...never have women on things. There are LOTS of awesome guys in history. There are also lots of women. You simply will never get to the women if you spend all time time talking about how awesome the men were, ok?

Added for LJ/DW: And I GET being in a fandom. I GET being obsessed with a thing. I even get being in problematic fandoms that don't always jive with the politics and aspirations I have for the real world. But...really. If Hamilton fans keep Hamilton on the $10, we are missing a big opportunity that won't come by for years. (Because that's how long it takes the mint do anything, apparently.)

I know this really needs to be posted on tumblr, where the fans are going nuts about this particular issue, but naaaah. I like it here.

Comments

[eldabe]

Yes, but also no? We (people on the ground) treat this all fairly interchangeably (it's just a bill, they're all the same) but from the mint's perspective, years of work and tons of money go into each one. They cycling function between bills probably keeps costs down (because it's not all being done at once) while carefully cycling old currency out of the economy and cycling new currency in.

Now, it you want to argue for a mass overhaul, I suspect Congress is the place to go. (Hahahahahahaaaaa *wipe tear*) But as an internal mint system to keep money safe from counterfeiting while also replacing the worn-out and torn bills, this system doesn't seem artificial in the sense of building barriers. It's really well made for the priorities of the mint. Who probably care very little who is on the money, all things considered. (It is artificial as in man-made. So is capitalism!)

In conclusion: Congress; probably the only power that can enact widespread change on this one. But considering the fact that the penny is literally wasting American millions of dollars a year to keep in circulation and they have done nothing about it, I doubt it's the best way to go.

[batyatoon]

... okay, it's an artificial barrier in that the mint has set up this schedule for reasons that have nothing to do with why anyone's face is on the money instead of anyone else's, but it's not artificial in that those reasons are actually practical and have to do with making sure our money continues to function as money.

Which, come to think of it, is almost certainly what the real Hamilton would have considered important. Possibly even more important than making sure his face stays on the ten.