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Einstein's travel diaries reveal 'shocking' xenophobia
The Guardian ^ | Tue 12 Jun 2018 | Alison Flood

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 ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: einstein
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To: RedMonqey

bookmark


61 posted on 06/13/2018 8:55:50 PM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: Falconspeed

George Einstein obit

http://obits.nwfdailynews.com/obituaries/nwfdailynews/obituary.aspx?n=george-s-einstein&pid=149674888


62 posted on 06/13/2018 9:00:00 PM PDT by RedMonqey (" Those who turn their arms in for plowshares will be doing the plowing for those who didnÂ’t.")
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To: RedMonqey
So what if they really were “industrious, filthy, obtuse people.” Is there any evidence to the contrary or are they merely assuming that they were not? If there is no evidence to the contrary, how does simply noting the truth make him racist?



And by the way, everybody is racist, so git ovah yo bad self.

63 posted on 06/13/2018 9:02:49 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: Paal Gulli

This is not racism, just observation.
If you were to write down just factual observations of a central african you would be accufsed of racism. Record just factual observation, no supposition, no glossifed social commentary.
You can start with the fact that the average central african has between 20 to 40 active sexual partners. It gets worse from there on.


64 posted on 06/14/2018 3:12:06 AM PDT by .44 Special (Tiamid Buarsh)
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To: Mears

Don’t take offense. I like Asians just fine.

I was replying at approximately the level of dialogue offered by the usually sage Einstein.


65 posted on 06/14/2018 4:57:05 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine ("Married with children.")
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To: RedMonqey

btt


66 posted on 06/14/2018 4:59:17 AM PDT by KSCITYBOY (The media is corrupt)
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To: binreadin
if you read ANYONES’ writings from that time frame or before you will run into lots of material that is now considered insensitive and offensive when it comes to other races and/or classes.

By today's idiotic "standards", the truth is considered insensitive and offensive.

67 posted on 06/14/2018 5:06:29 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: RedMonqey

It seems to me that Einstein was using the vernacular of the time to accurately describe what he saw. Clearly (to the Left) that’s racist.


68 posted on 06/14/2018 5:08:06 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones.)
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To: Vince Ferrer
While it looks odd to a westerner, if you think about it, it is a lot cleaner than sitting on a park bench.

I've traveled through China and Thailand a number of times and it's quite common to see men squatting like this all over. Women as well, but not nearly as much.

I just figured they're used to it since they use squat toilets. It seems to me to be related to how modernized or rural a place is. It was not common in the modern places. I didn't see it in Japan although I never have been to Rural Japan.

69 posted on 06/14/2018 5:12:56 AM PDT by Malsua
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To: RedMonqey
If you are a white male whatever you say or said will be examined under an electron microscope.

If otherwise, free pass.

70 posted on 06/14/2018 5:16:08 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (...the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light...)
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To: RedMonqey
. He is, after all the father of the Atomic bomb.

I thought that was J. Robert Oppenheimer.

And he wants a saucer of milk. :)

71 posted on 06/14/2018 5:16:45 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies!! Or maybe midgets....)
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To: iowamark

+1.


72 posted on 06/14/2018 5:21:48 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (.)
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To: ealgeone
Well, there goes studying the Theory of Relativity.

LOL

73 posted on 07/16/2018 9:44:20 PM PDT by GOPJ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-s1_nfs7f4 STOP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IsingvI_I)
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