Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
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Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#2Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time, and being a great scientist does not necessarily coincide with general wisdom.
I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#3Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time, and being a great scientist does not necessarily coincide with general wisdom. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time...
Thats why they put it between quotes I guess, and I guess for the extra clicks.
I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
Also this. That is the reason I shared this article.
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#4Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time, and being a great scientist does not necessarily coincide with general wisdom. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
This is also addressed in the original article:
> Rosenkranz told the Guardian that although views like Einstein’s were prevalent at the time, they were not universal. “That’s usually the reaction I get – ‘we have to understand, he was of the zeitgeist, part of the time’ – but I think I tried here and there to give a broader context. There were other views out there, more tolerant views,” he said.
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#5Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time, and being a great scientist does not necessarily coincide with general wisdom. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time... Thats why they put it between quotes I guess, and I guess for the extra clicks. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things. Also this. That is the reason I shared this article.
That is a way of looking at it. Another perspective is that any attempt to deify a real human being is bound to be nonsensical, and we should always be wary of the complex human nature behind a carefully constructed "public figure".
At least hopefully nobody will somehow look at this as an excuse for their own racist agenda (i.e. look, such a greatly respected person has also been so racist, why can't I?). The simplistic attempt to instill one-dimensional interpretations of personalities in the public consciousness has to stop, and hopefully both the educational institutions and the media can always remind people of the complexities of every individual. Though this seems to be a tall order at least for now.
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time... Thats why they put it between quotes I guess, and I guess for the extra clicks. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things. Also this. That is the reason I shared this article.
That is a way of looking at it. Another perspective is that any attempt to deify a real human being is bound to be nonsensical, and we should always be wary of the complex human nature behind a carefully constructed "public figure". At least hopefully nobody will somehow look at this as an excuse for their own racist agenda (i.e. look, such a greatly respected person has also been so racist, why can't I?). The simpli…
I am not sure why this has been downvoted. Will somebody care to explain?
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#7I think if Einstein were alive today he would see his words and repent to them. Especially in light of other things he has said like: "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.". Though this had nothing to do with race he understood something in those times that many others didn't in regards to human nature.
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#8These comments, particularly those about toilet habits don't really look too different from the comments I was reading 5 years about about the behaviour of Chinese tourists, so I'm not sure what to think about this.
If you took a contemporary Chinese sophisticate and transported him or her back to 1920s China, what would his or her comments be like?
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#9After your death all of your life's browser history, every facebook/youtube/reddit/HN/myspace/etc comment and submission you ever wrote, every photo you ever took, every off-hand remark you ever made in the presence of a smartphone with facebook installed .. will be published for all of the world to read and judge.
Better get that road rage under wraps!
Re: Einstein's travel diaries reveal attitudes towards people he met in Asia
#10Why is it so "shocking"? Discussing racial differences was more common in his time, and being a great scientist does not necessarily coincide with general wisdom. I hope this story will help people realize that we should not ban the work of people who have said problematic things.
This is also addressed in the original article: > Rosenkranz told the Guardian that although views like Einstein’s were prevalent at the time, they were not universal. “That’s usually the reaction I get – ‘we have to understand, he was of the zeitgeist, part of the time’ – but I think I tried here and there to give a broader context. There were other views out there, more tolerant views,” he said.
Einstein was a great physicist, but I’m not looking to him for moral guidance. If he was awful for his time that would be sad, but if he’s merely average, I don’t see why we’d care.