> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. As Slavic I find this inaccurate and bit offensive :-)
A bit offensive? Why?
Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
41–50 of 308 posts
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#42Relevant to the subject Einstein addresses I strongly recommend the writing of Thomas Sowell.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#43"It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity—and shape our lives accordingly."
Key takeaway, in my opinion, and this extends beyond racial prejudices.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
"More diversity (in neighborhoods, in workplaces, in schools) would certainly help" I'm not so sure. I went to a very diverse and large high school in NJ and what ends up happening is self segregation. All the ethnic groups would mostly end up hanging out with their own types.
That definately happens but is an underlying cause. I'm not sure what it is. I've lived in other countries where this natural segregation does not happen.
I'd be interested in hearing about what countries you're talking about and the percentages of total population that these integrated groups make up.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#45Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mathematical models can be used to argue for a wide range of viewpoints. You could also write a model where people have different innate preferences over the lifestyle they want to lead, and so self-sorting is an unambiguously good thing. I understand that everyone wants "math" to be on their side, but it's not really mathematics that is doing the work here, it's your assumptions.
Did you play with it at all? It's somewhat flawed--for example, boosting the "prejudice" level to > 85% often leads to diverse, if not stable, communities. But I think it demonstrates the concept well. If a community starts out segregated, it takes being actively displeased with the lack of diversity to get it to change, because people, without a reason to move, won't move.
No I didn't. My point was that when you expand or change the model, you open up a whole new range of possibilities. I'm not particularly interested in how the model is parametrized or what parameters lead to what result.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#47> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. As Slavic I find this inaccurate and bit offensive :-)
A bit offensive? Why?
Because there are racial-alike tensions within the Caucasian people, such as Nazi/Jews, West/Slavic, Protestant/Catholic.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#48> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. As Slavic I find this inaccurate and bit offensive :-)
Most people in America would consider a Slavic person white. There is no scientific definition of "white", it is a social construct that has changed to be more inclusive as various groups integrated into American society.
What is weird from my perspective is how the races as concepts still are accepted and used, even though they are ambiguous and deeply problematic. For example those that have the "pleasure" of hearing "but you are white" will understand that there is a scale of whiteness and you've just been graded on that scale.
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#49If this moves you, follow Einstein's logic to today's world and join in the struggle. There are marches today, consider this your invitation!
SF: https://www.facebook.com/events/675598982556580/
Oakland: https://www.facebook.com/events/858052834217501/
NYC: https://www.facebook.com/events/959630214065046/
Boston: https://www.facebook.com/events/1559794327598726/
(and I'm sure there's one near where you live as well)
Re: Einstein: The Negro Question (1946)
#50> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of racial differences. As Slavic I find this inaccurate and bit offensive :-)
A bit offensive? Why?
I don't know the history of it, but it seems likely that Greece waged a lot of war with the (slavic) countries north of it, so their slaves would be predominantly of slavic descent. Slavic people also have a pretty easily discernable look to them, at least many do, so it's not hard to imagine they could be subject to racial discrimination in Greece.