Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum
Byrne Robotics > The John Byrne Forum Page of 2 Next >>
Topic: Einstein a Racist? Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

BBC

Or a man of his time who later saw the error of his thinking?

Back to Top profile | search
 
Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11245
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

A man of his time, and racism isn`t exclusive to white
people as is stated in the article, other races are
racist and xenophobic.

Example, i worked with a black guy, he started going out
with an Indian woman, the abuse and vandalism they got
from heir respective communities was awful.All respect
to them ,it didn`t split them up.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
Michael Sommerville
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 12 April 2010
Location: Canada
Posts: 417
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

People judge through the lens' of today. It is especially hard for younger generations to understand that the racial ignorance did not always come from a place of hate or feelings of superiority. There was less integration and understanding of groups and judgment was made on superficial observations.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Joseph Greathouse
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 19 August 2015
Location: United States
Posts: 588
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Racism can be, and often is unintended. Its our ability to educate ourselves and our humility to admit that we are wrong that allows someone to grow. Einstein had the best of both of those abilities.
Back to Top profile | search
 
James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7581
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 10:17pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

We all like to think we are better than those that came before us & that we could never have held the racist views that they did.

I often get a little scared that were I born in different times, I wouldn’t have known any better, because that’s how people were.

As it is, I know, that as a young boy, I used phrases like
Cheating Arab
Jew nose
Paki

& probably many others that I have forgotten.
So yeah, people looking @ my past will find things that could be used to say I was a racist. & I’m sure they could find them in your history too.

Because we didn’t know any better & we were surrounded by that culture.

Let’s look @ the now & celebrate that we have moved on shall we, without imposing our enlightened position on an unenlightened past. It’s not fair to do so & belittles the progress that has been made


Edited by James Woodcock on 13 June 2018 at 10:18pm
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
Steve De Young
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 01 April 2008
Location: United States
Posts: 3487
Posted: 13 June 2018 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Everyone always thinks that society has finally arrived.  How many things that we all say and do today will be looked back on, 200 years from now, as hopelessly backward and ignorant?
Back to Top profile | search
 
Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11245
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 12:38am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

James, of the phrases you mentioned, i only experienced
the use of `Paki`, as in `I will buy it from the Paki
shop`in the 70`s.
I recall a similar phrase being used by Del Boy in the
BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses in the late 80`s/early
90`s, and being shocked to hear it, as by then it had
died from use.I wonder if it`s excised from the endless
repeats of the show?
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 9:03am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

We are inherently tribal creatures, so racism will always be part of us. Fortunately we also have the ability to overcome our instincts, so racism need not be the overriding thing in our lives. What he wrote in his diary about my race, the Chinese, makes me cringe. But I am not aware of Einstein actually doing things motivated by racist ideas, and I don't think badly of him. Though in these modern times, a thought crime is a practically a hanging offense. 

Edited by Joe Zhang on 14 June 2018 at 9:05am
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
David Teller
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 05 June 2004
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 213
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 10:02am | IP Logged | 9 post reply


What has been interesting to me, is the change in opinion on homosexual slurs. As a boy (and young man) these were thrown around with impunity. Now, they seem to have become far less common and whilst not  regarded as repugnant as racist comments, seem to be heading that way.

I can understand how an older person could feel. Seeing their old language through new eyes could make one reflect on their own bad behaviour from a past when it was not considered as bad.
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne
Avatar
Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132135
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 10:11am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

We seem to have forgotten that many of our common phrases began as slurs against homosexual men. To say that something "sucks" or "blows" for instance.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 12:33pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

I'm heading in a different direction, I know, but I was told off (social media) for using the term wheelchair-bound. Apparently, at least in the UK, it's preferable to say "wheelchair user".

I'm fine with that. But the person did rip me on social media. The fact is, by using the term "wheelchair-bound", I meant zero offense. Sad fact is, I don't know whether anyone would choose to be in a wheelchair, and if a condition means one has to be in one, that is, well, "wheelchair-bound" seemed logical.

I'll respect those who ask that "wheelchair user" be used, but, although this is totally different to what we're discussing here (great topic, by the way), the fact is, sometimes you just don't know what terms are to be used. Obviously, you don't casually drop racial slurs - that's wrong! - but in a world where I can get in trouble for using the term "wheelchair-bound", it shows how difficult things can be at times.
Back to Top profile | search
 
James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Avatar

Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7581
Posted: 14 June 2018 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

My worry is that the terms are changing so fast and I may not know the latest correct terminology.

Some are easy - so Spaz, cripple - they clearly are no longer acceptable - either as a description or an insult, although I have, in unguarded, high adrenaline moments caught myself using spaz to describe myself when I do something wrong.

But is disabled still acceptable? I genuinely don't know. There are now things that I changed to, in order to not be offensive once I understood that it was offensive, but the things I changed to have been changed on offense grounds.

Pretty sure I am causing offence all over the place without meaning to.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 

Page of 2 Next >>
  Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login