Posted on 06/13/2018 4:19:06 PM PDT by RedMonqey
The publication of Albert Einstein’s private diaries detailing his tour of Asia in the 1920s reveals the theoretical physicist and humanitarian icon’s racist attitudes to the people he met on his travels, particularly the Chinese. Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries see the scientist musing on his travels, science, philosophy and art. In China, the man who famously once described racism as “a disease of white people” describes the “industrious, filthy, obtuse people” he observes. He notes how the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.” After earlier writing of the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he goes on to say: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.” Ze’ev Rosenkranz, senior editor and assistant director of the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology, said: “I think a lot of comments strike us as pretty unpleasant – what he says about the Chinese in particular. “They’re kind of in contrast to the public image of the great humanitarian icon. I think it’s quite a shock to read those and contrast them with his more public statements. They’re more off guard, he didn’t intend them for publication.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
He doesn’t sound as bad as some of the Abe Lincoln quotes I’ve seen.
I wonder how they dressed before the Mao suit.
B. White people are filthy and obtuse.
Which of these sweeping generalizations would a lib find to be courageously insightful?
read THE PEARL.
Or was it THE GOOD EARTH BY PEARL BUCK?
Even today, Han Chinese tend to look down on non-Han Chinese in much the same way as Einstein did.
The "racist" cartoons of Bugs Bunny in the 40's would likely result in criminal charges today, especially in the UK if the target group were Muslims instead of Japanese.
I forgot all about that book. I never did read it. That would be interesting.
From Einstein’s quote about Chinese women, it’s clear he never caught “yellow fever “
And if you really want to read some hateful stuff check out what the Chinese and Japanese had to say about each other.
Oh lordy,not that “yellow fever” thing again.
I have a wonderful Asian DIL and that expression is demeaning.
.
I guess it would be too much to ask for people to find out if the statement is correct.
Now the words "spiritless and look obtuse" I can object to, since how would he know what a random Chinese person on the street is thinking. But when people travel they often describe the differences between people, and this is certainly one of the noticeable differences in a Chinese city.
While it looks odd to a westerner, if you think about it, it is a lot cleaner than sitting on a park bench. The only part of them touching the ground is the bottom of their shoes, just like when they are walking.
Did he ever travel to sub-Saharan Africa? Would love to read his observations on that.
Yes, and not to be forgotten, the author of half of those books, Kunta Kinte himself.
I don’t know. Doesn’t that mean he believed in moral relativism?
In other words, he was put off by the crudeness, the dirt, the laziness, the ick factor. Oh! The horror! We’re all supposed to embrace and revel in the foreign cultures, no matter how repulsive. (Can you tell I’m a xenophobe?)
Don’t be so touchy. I’m sure your dil would be just as wonderful, if she weren’t Asian. My dil is Lebanese. She is awesome!, but I really don’t think it has anything to do with her ethnicity.
“It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races.”
The Einstein myth continues, because the facts are not widely know. His first wife, Helen, wrote his papers for ten years and then used his Nobel money to purchase property in Burbank, CA. Einstein had a new woman every weekend and settled down with Elsa, his niece. The person was illogical and immoral.
Unlike Albert, George Einstein succeeded in Berkeley and worked with real geniuses, such as Ernst Lawrence, Hermann Oberth and Werher von Braun. Wow. Berkeley lead the way with the cyclotron, the space industry, the computer industry and the making of Ronald Reagan.
Yes, Einstein was a man of his times, just like men like Lee, Jackson, Jefferson, Washington and numerous other historic figures our leftist snowflakes are too sensitive to learn about or have their statues marr their presences with their mere existence, whether in the history books or an actual statues.
One can learn from history without erasing history.
Funny thing, Einstein’s opinion many many years ago resemble the vistas my cousin who travel on business in these exotic lands and matches her present day opinion of the same.
The Third world is a filthy, backward place.
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