Skip to main content

Albert Einstein: free thinking and hidebound attitudes

The Guardian view on Albert Einstein: free thinking and hidebound attitudes
Editorial

Albert Einstein’s humanitarian reputation almost matches his scientific stature. From the 1930s onwards he vigorously denounced racism, “a disease of white people”, once observing that “being a Jew myself, perhaps I can understand and empathise with how black people feel as victims of discrimination”. So it is especially shocking to learn of racist and misogynist comments that he made while travelling in Asia in the 1920s. In his newly published diaries from the period, he describes the Chinese as “industrious, filthy, obtuse” and “a peculiar herd-like nation”. Though he praises their modesty and gentleness, he also echoes contemporary warnings that they posed a demographic threat: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”
How could a figure renowned for his empathy and wisdom have written such passages? The answer “seems very relevant in today’s world, in which the hatred of the Other is so rampant in so many places … It seems even Einstein sometimes had a very hard time recognising himself in the face of the other,” the diaries’ editor notes.

Such views were prevalent at the time – but far from universal. Those common prejudices clearly influenced Einstein. A personal evolution may have helped him escape them. But how striking that he could see so little and express such bigotry when he thought so freely in his work, and so energetically challenged prejudice outside it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Trump-Kim 'Historic' Encounter "

The Trump-Kim 'Historic' Encounter " The joint statement of United States(US) President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un at their Singapore Summit on 12 June 2018 characterises the meeting as “historic,” as has the media, repeatedly. But considering that this was the first face-to-face encounter between a US president and a North Korean top leader, the laconic joint statement issued at the end of it left a lot of questions unanswered. The essence of the statement was that Trump committed to provide “security guarantees” to North Korea, and Kim “reaffirmed” his responsibility to “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.” Yes, “reaffirmed,” for Kim did the same—committed to bringing about a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons—at his summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April 2018. The last clause of the third article of the Panmunjom Declaration of 27 April 2018 issued by the leaders of the two Koreas, “confirmed the...

INDIA CHINA RELATION

A Himalayan balancing act     The great Himalayan Divide between India and China was in evidence last week following the  >  Chinese refusal to support India's case  for entry into the  > Nuclear Suppliers Group . While non-entry into the Group is not the end of the world, for India lives to fight another day, of concern is what the Chinese stance implies for the bilateral relationship between the two Asian giants. This is a relationship that has been assiduously tended over the years since the mid-seventies when ambassadorial relations between the two countries were restored at the initiative of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Despite the humiliation suffered in 1962, she famously opined that “we cannot march to Peking” and that normalisation of relations constituted the triumph of maturity over the futility of alienation. Transformation in the 1980s Cut to summertime, the year being 1986. An Indian border patrol on its way to re-establish ...

India's GDP growth to remain strong

Describing South Asia as a global growth hotspot, the World Bank has said India's GDP growth will remain strong at 7.6 percent in 2016 and 7.7 percent in 2017. "In India, GDP growth will remain strong at 7.6 percent in 2016 and 7.7 percent in 2017, supported by expectations of a rebound in agriculture, civil service pay reforms supporting consumption, increasingly positive contributions from exports and a recovery of private investment in the medium term," the World Bank said in its latest report on South Asia Economic Focus released yesterday. "However, India faces the challenge of further accelerating the responsiveness of poverty reduction to growth, promoting inclusion, and extending gains to a broader range of human development outcomes related to health, nutrition, education and gender," said the biannual report. According to the report, South Asia remains a global growth hotspot and has proven resilient to external headwinds such as China's sl...