I don't have a dog in this fight (and maybe no other single poster but you does either), BUT: this absurd quote comes from a fringe journal that shuttered nearly 20 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Traitor_(publication) So, not sure, but it looks like whoever dug up the quote was just looking for clicks or views or something. I know several very intelligent Germans, even in the academy itself, who feel just like you do about DEI. Like it boils their blood! I'm kind of interested in that strong cultural signal and not judging it. Other Europeans I know don't in general have such a strong take about DEI. Any ideas on why? Or maybe I'm far off base.
It's directly quoted and endorsed in Harvard Magazine: https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2002/09/abolish-the-white-race-html As to the German thing - I don't know. What I do know is that my generation in Germany was brought up to treat everyone the same - be "colour blind" - honestly, the topic of "race" never played a role for me until I studied in the US at age 23. I was amazed that I had to fill out forms stating my race - I thought that in itself was weird and "racist" - my instinct was - why am I being asked? doesn't that cement racial differences rather than help overcoming them? understand that, as Germans, we had a special responsibility to ensure that "never again" would the Jewish people be discriminated against or worse - we were taught about our country's history and how it was possible that educated people could turn into monsters, or into people not preventing monstrous mass murder from happening. not classify humans as "oppressors" and "oppressed" - we were taught history with the goal of NOT classifying people by race or religion. And for Germans who aren't Nazis or anti-semitic leftists, it would be unfathomable to view Jews as "oppressors", as seems to now be the majority opinion in US colleges. I was shocked when I was in the US and we watched the OJ Simpson trial at UH Law Center. To me, it was obvious without any doubt that he had committed the murders. And yet, when the verdict was televised, my black fellow law students celebrated. It was inexplicable to me as I knew they were intelligent enough to also know he had done it. At the same time, I was also confronted with actual racism of a white person against black people for the first time. A guy we played soccer with who was perfectly nice to me made very racist remarks when he saw a white girl with a black guy on campus. I could not believe it and thought he was joking. I also met a foreign exchange student (I think a Fulbright student like me) from Eastern Europe who somehow ended up at TSU and was like one of the few white people there. He told me about racism by black people he experienced, which however got "better" when they learned he was not from the US - at that point, they said "well, ok, your ancestors weren't our ancestors' oppressors then" or something like that. To me, "DEI" is reverse racism. And reverse racism is racism. Replacing discrimination of one race by discrimination of another race is wrong. I think "critical race theory" is evil at its core. Its deeply racist and discriminatory, and infused with other harmful ideologies such as communism. Skin colour, sexual preference, religious affiliation (as long as it's just spiritual beliefs) etc. should simply not matter at all in how people are treated. It would be much better to have a society where there is equality of opportunity, not attempts at forcing equality of outcome. And I could imagine that other Germans who were brought up in my generation could feel similarly about this.
We have not done the "Treat everyone equally" ever - so why should we trust that will happen? It is already illegal to have race be a factor but it is.... DD
Thanks for taking the time for this thoughtful message. I understand you standing on the principles #1A and #1B above -- completely moral and noble. I wish more Americans, from all sides, understood #1B. But so many people stupidly think something anomalous happened in Germany starting 100 years ago, but I don't think that's true. Humans can collectively do awful things and have done so many many times. That could easily happen here from the left or right. We agree completely on #2 (and I think a lot, but not all, Americans agree on #2). The question is how to get there. School integration, by the data, was a positive step and it was not color blind. Affirmative action hiring and admissions were, at least for a while, by the data, positive steps in combating the uneven playing field. We do have fairly militant members now of both sides. Just how I hate that people can make cable news or internet careers based on making viewers / readers angry for profit, I also hate that people can build careers on both sides of the DEI debate. When you let someone make their livelihood on a difficult social topic, there is a built in incentive for conflict and escalation (IMHO). I think what Germans and other non-Americans don't understand is the deep history of cultural bias. You've seen some examples, like the white dude commenting on the interracial couple, but when you grow up here, with your eyes open, you see it more pervasively, and some of us want to make more progress on that. The difference in how I was treated in school as a white guy and how my black friends were treated in school was pretty notable. I always got the benefit of the doubt from the system (K-12 and college both), and they sometimes did not. If we all failed a test, I was usually told "you can do better," and they were often told they weren't cut out for science. That kind of thing is what people call "institutional" and just saying "this should not exist" (which most people have been saying for a long time) doesn't seem to fix it. The problem with your (principled, IMO) stance is that you do often (at least on this BBS) end up siding with a few people who really live in a far-right camp and appear to want to keep an unequal, white-empowered system churning as long as they can. They don't mind unequal schooling, unequal opportunities and unequal opportunity for people with dark skin, based on all evidence. They just mind if anyone calls attention to the imbalance. Cheers. EDIT: You may appreciate this. When Einstein moved from Germany to the US (basically, with a couple of stops in between), he looked at the racial situation in early-20th-century America with some bewilderment and said it would take 100 or more years to fix the deeply entrenched inequality. Some of us sadly agree with that and don't want to wash our hands of it, pretending the system can fly right on its own. That said, we are coming up the 100 year anniversary of his transition to America too.
From some Asian friends who lived in Berlin for a few years, I hear German cops are pretty racist. According to NPR, there is plenty of racism over there with aspiring politicians of foreign descent getting death threats, etc. Maybe Jews are "white washing" German racism guilt? Given the point #1B you refer to from his post. You'd think Fulbright students who were taught that group think can make people do horrendous/sh*tty things and it starts by propogandists normalizing sh*tty ideas ought to be capable of figuring out that systemic racism is a thing that can't/won't be eradicated without loud educational campaign (bordering on measured indoctrination); and they wouldn't fall prey to the indoctrination campaigns run by the opposite camp of said systemic racism argument trying to destabilize our country. Maybe you are right and there is some sort of germanic tribal gene that causes their blood "to boil" over various tribal issues. Like why is communism bad - Marxism that originated it was the most humane thing ever. Can't these people appreciate a bit of finer details in an issue. Everything is black and white to them apparently. DEI must DIE?! WHY?! Because some nobody said something controversial in some obscure paper?! Or because Elon Crazy Musk says so?!
As long as those Jews are not gay they are the new Floridian DEI people... I went to a reformist synagogue sabath service once - they were like lgbtq celebration of some sort. Not sure Desantis really means what he says. Then again, he seems only smart enough to be mini-me version of Trump. PS. Harvard doesn't "endorse" destroying white people/race - its magazine is reviewing a controversial book.
