Ross Noble claims some writers are coruscating in their condemnation of the Clearances, seeing the process as an early version of "ethnic cleansing". However, Noble believes this approach over-simplifies the issues involved. Under the economic and social ideas of the several centuries involved, landowners and employers were generally callous about the "lower orders", (exemplified by the 1843 fictional character of Ebenezer Scrooge) and these modern terms such as "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" reflect new sensitivities and social perspectives, which in this case would not apply, as most of the landlords were fellow Scotsmen.