Posted on 07/09/2013 11:13:34 PM PDT by Perseverando
“Intellectuals and Race“ by Thomas Sowell, Basic Books, 2013, 184 pages, $25.99.
Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is not a newcomer to the theme of intellectuals and race. In his 1985 Marxism: Philosophy and Economics he noted that Karl Marx referred to German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle as a “Jewish n–ger,” based on his “cranial formation” and hair growth. Marx also said that Lassalle’s paternal grandmother or mother was “crossed with a n–ger” and that “the fellow’s importunity is also n–ger-like.”
Sowell’s The Economics and Politics of Race, along other writings from a conservative viewpoint, drew attacks from the left. Columnist Carl Rowan compared Sowell to Vidkun Quisling and NAACP general counsel Thomas Atkins compared Sowell to “house n–gers” on the plantation. Lani Guinier, Clinton nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, even questioned Sowell’s blackness. The Harvard and Columbia grad, who earned a PhD from the University of Chicago, does not generally respond in kind to gratuitous abuse. But he was right, and justified, to say “I don’t need some half-white woman from Martha’s Vineyard telling me about being black.” Sowell also kept on writing thoughtful, well-researched books such as Intellectuals and Race.
Here he shows how supposedly “progressive” intellectuals championed eugenics out of fear of the “inferior” races. For progressive sociologist Edward Ross, black Americans were “several million of an inferior race.” Madison Grant, a progressive activist educated at Yale and Columbia, penned The Passing of the Great Race, which Hitler called his “bible.” Author Jack London, a socialist, held that “the inferior races must undergo destruction, or some humane form of economic slavery is inevitable.”
The hereditary-genetic mania gave way to a more liberal view that emphasized equal treatment regardless of race, color or creed. That approach, in turn, has been hijacked by the
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
Wonder what Karl Marx would have said about his big fan, hussein.
One would have to guess there would be prolific use of the n-word, use of which is now forbidden to Americans.
Thomas Sowell has been holding a lantern for truth and a path out. It is a shame that some won’t open their minds enough to even contemplate the possibilities of stopping the race game.
I read that if a dog has been chained for a long time, that even once the chain is removed, it will still stand there as if chained.
I admire Thomas Sowell, he is a patient man.
He is a great man!
Yes, he is...very much so.
Sowell ping
The word has been put outside the pale of considerate communication, because it has always carried a pejorative, demeaning, prejudicial connotation. Its use is not forbidden to Americans any more than other rude slang. Employing it simply shows a lack of refinement of personal character.
Bullsh*t.
Tell it to Mark Twain, who used the word frequently.
Paging Paula Deen! Paging Paula Deen! Please reply to imardmd1!
I doubt that the term 'nigger' was actually used in 19th century Germany, as seems to be implied. The commonly used 'Neger' on the other hand is not a pejorative.
It was certainly in circulation in 19th Century England where Marx lived.
Yes, it’s possible he picked the term up there.
In any case, I did a little search and it looks like Marx did in fact call Lassalle a ‘jewish n*gger’ in private correspondence with Engels. Seems like he really disliked Lassalle.
The n word is nothing compared to the evil anti-Semitism of Marx. Makes loathesome reading. What a freak he was!
Ping to an article regarding Thomas Sowell and his book Intellectuals and Race.
Thanks for the ping, Gene.
Racism toward blacks is based on evolutionary assumptions.
Racism towards Jews is based on hatred for the Creator.
now forbidden to *white* Americans
Neger or negger. Austrian born Arnold Schwarzenegger for example. Swartz = black in Deutsch.
Perhaps the range of your vocabulary will put you in the same intellectual class as Samuel Clemens?
I’d be enormously flattered if that were true; Mark Twain is one of the towering figures in the entire history of Western letters.
Schwarzenegger is actually a composit of Schwarzen + Egger (not Schwarze + Negger). Egger is a common surname in Austria, Switzerland and southern parts of Germany. ‘Negger’ is not a word in the German language.
It has nothing to do with Blacks, even if ‘schwarz’ is the German term for black and ‘Neger’ a common term for black Africans.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.