Einstein’s Travel Diaries Reveal His Shockingly Racist Views On Asians

[The SC]

Albert Einstein, whose name has become synonymous with “genius,” is universally revered not only for his intellectual achievements but also for his humanitarian advocacies.

However, the humanist side of the German-born theoretical physicist’s reputation has sparked debate after his private journals detailing his tour of Asia in the 1920s were published.
The controversial travel diaries, translated and published for the first time as a standalone volume by Princeton University Press, reportedly revealed his prejudiced views towards the different races he met in Asia.

His xenophobic and racist judgments were found among his musings on his travels, science, philosophy, and art between October 1922 and March 1923.

According to the Guardian, Einstein described the Chinese to be “industrious, filthy, obtuse people” in one of his notes.

“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,” he wrote.

He also noted the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, before stating that, “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us, the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”

Einstein Papers Project senior editor and assistant director Ze’ev Rosenkranz at the California Institute of Technology, who edited and translated “The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein,” had this to say about the scientist’s private musings:

“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.”

The diaries have been published before in German as part of the 15-volume Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, which included just small supplementary translations into English.

“This is the first time Einstein’s travel diary will be made available to anyone who isn’t a serious Einstein scholar,” a spokesperson for Princeton University Press was quoted as saying.

In one of the passages also referring to the Chinese, Einstein noted that “even those reduced to working like horses never give the impression of conscious suffering. A peculiar herd-like nation [ … ] often more like automatons than people.”

Rosenkranz also noticed “a healthy dose of extreme misogyny” to his xenophobia:
“I noticed how little difference there is between men and women; I don’t understand what kind of fatal attraction Chinese women possess which enthralls the corresponding men to such an extent that they are incapable of defending themselves against the formidable blessing of offspring.”

Einstein described how the locals in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” noting that they “do little, and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.”



Einstein’s observations of the Japanese people are significantly more positive:

“Japanese unostentatious, decent, altogether very appealing. Pure souls as nowhere else among people. One has to love and admire this country,” Einstein praised.
However, he then concluded that the “intellectual needs of this nation seem to be weaker than their artistic ones – natural disposition?”

In his book, Rosenkranz pointed out that Einstein’s views on the alleged intellectual inferiority of the Asian people show a “clear hallmark of racism.”

“Einstein’s diary entries on the biological origin of the alleged intellectual inferiority of the Japanese, Chinese, and Indians are definitely not understated and can be viewed as racist – in these instances, other peoples are portrayed as being biologically inferior, a clear hallmark of racism. The disquieting comment that the Chinese may ‘supplant all other races’ is also most revealing in this regard.

“Here, Einstein perceives a foreign ‘race’ as a threat, which … is one of the characteristics of a racist ideology. Yet the remark that must strike the modern reader as most offensive is his feigning not to understand how Chinese men can find their women sufficiently attractive to have offspring with them. In light of these instances, we must conclude that Einstein did make quite a few racist and dehumanizing comments in the diary, some of which were extremely unpleasant.”

Einstein, who has long been recognized as a humanist icon, has publicly denounced racism, calling it as America’s “worst disease,” which he noted to be “handed down from one generation to the next.”

As a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Princeton, Einstein actively campaigned for the civil rights of African Americans.


https://nextshark.com/einsteins-travel-diaries-reveal-shockingly-racist-views-asians/

 

[rcrmj]

he was partially right to be honest, at that time China was in a total mess, people were miserable and hopeless`````but the miracle is that how much we have changed and keep changing. Hard working, organized, promising and vibrant is what we are now

 

[saltyashell]

His views must be of great shock to the army of chinese followers here.
The bikini analogy fits here , the elephant in the room is his absent views on m......s ?
Deliberately suppressed ?

 

[Tang_BJ]

His views must be of great shock to the army of chinese followers here.
The bikini analogy fits here , the elephant in the room is his absent views on m......s ?
Deliberately suppressed ?

to be honest, Einstein is correct. that is typical Chinese at that time. after the May 4th movement, it was slightly changed, then Maoist really changed Chinese in mind at last.

 

[Feng Leng]

Jews think they are the chosen people and others are lesser than they are by virtue of birth. That's why Jews (Ashkenazi Jewish Americans) are instigating a military conflict between the US and China.

 

[Cybernetics]

Famine and destitute was the result of the canal systems (and other agricultural systems) going into disrepair for about 80 years leading up to Einstein's visit to China. This caused famines and floods killing tens of millions (likely over 100 million) over decades. Disrepair was the direct result of the Opium wars when China was forced to pay large sums of silver out of the government treasuries and the foreigners continued to push opium into China, further siphoning the wealth and life force of the population.

One of the main functions of the state was to maintain the agricultural base of China and the canal system is central to it. Due to foreign imperial powers taking large sums of the national budget, the state over time could no longer maintain the foundation on which agriculture and the population thrives on. The state began to fail in multiple areas but due to the size of the nation, it took decades. To compound, opium was forced onto the Chinese population through war and intimidation. This directly impacted the productivity and mental capabilities of the population, further lowering government revenue needed for canal repairs, modernisation, institutions, and military. This created a vicious downward spiral causing total social decay. Today, no Chinese has sympathy for drug dealers.

Every Chinese knows all too well that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".

 

[Kuru]

That's shocking really . But every woman is beautiful including this Chinese hottie

 

[Nan Yang]

Did not Chinese look down on barbarians in the past.