Wednesday, November 7, 2018

741: Racism, Anti-intellectualism and Business...

The more you study the 20th century, the more you can see, that the present political situation in the US and its president aren't new at all.
   
It has deep roots in the 20th century. My general impression of the situation is, 
  
that the base of the current president of the US is strongly supported by mainly white voters to some extend with a religious twist. 
   
I also believe that the appearance of a black two terms president must have been hard to swallow for a large group of white voters.
   
And that brings us back to 1923, Princeton University, when C.C. Brigham (1880 - 1943) published "A Study of American Intelligence".
   
He was a professor of psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology and pioneer in the field of psychometrics.
  
What we today would call plain racist ideas, were in those days not shortsighted convictions of the man in the street.
   
We are presented with scientific conclusions, based on real research. Around 1923 this wasn't racism at all,
  
- QUOTE-  According to all evidence available, then, American intelligence is declining, 
  
and will proceed with an accelerating rate as the racial admixture becomes more and more extensive. 
  
The decline of American intelligence will be more rapid than the decline of the intelligence of European national groups, 
  
owing to the presence here of the negro. 
  
These are the plain, if somewhat ugly, facts that our study shows. 
  
The deterioration of American intelligence is not inevitable, however, if public action can be aroused to prevent it. 
  
There is no reason why legal steps should not be taken which would insure a continuously progressive upward evolution."(pg. 198) -END QUOTE-
  
This is just a more sophisticated way of saying that we should stop all immigrants at the border, because they are lowlives, potential rapists and criminals.
  
These scientific conclusions were rewarded in 1924 with the Immigration Restriction Act. 
  
It limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. 
   
Another echo from the past we hear from Hiram Wesley Evans (1881 – 1966). He was the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist group, from 1922 to 1939.

Richard Hofstadter quotes him in his book "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" (1963)

According to Evans, the most important political issue at the time, that is 1923, was the struggle between the "mass of Americans descended from the pioneers"  and the " intellectually corrupted liberalism ". 
  
-QUOTE- 'We are a movement of ordinary people, who are culturally and intellectually very weak and have no trained leaders. 
  
We demand and expect that the power will once again be in the hands of the average citizens of the old tribe 
  
who do not know much about culture or are overly sophisticated, but who are completely unspoiled and have not become un-American ..." -END QUOTE-
   
This sounds almost the same as cleaning out the swamp of that political establishment in Washington.

And finally Warren Harding's campaign slogan to become elected president in 1920: “Less government in business and more business in government.”, 
   
to which his successor, Clavin Coolidge, added around 1923: "After all, the chief business of the American people is business."
     
Sounds like  a big arms deal with Saudi-Arabia to me :-)

Nothing new under the sun, it seems :-)
  
Thank you for your attention again...



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- a nice entrance to many free (academic) libraries -
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The Discussion

[13:23] herman Bergson: Nothing new under the sun, it seems :-)
[13:23] herman Bergson: .
[13:23] :: Thank you for your attention again...
[13:23] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): yep
[13:24] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): crazy as it seems
[13:24] CB Axel: That's so stupid. More genetic diversity is better.
[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:24] CB Axel: The smartest dogs tend to be mutts.
[13:24] herman Bergson: Yes....I was surprised myself to see this resemblance
[13:25] herman Bergson: mutts? What are those? CB
[13:25] CB Axel: Sorry. Mixed breeds.
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well if anything thet will get dumber and dumber with trump as president cause he says nothing of value, just blurts mumbo jombo FAKE NEWS bla bla
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and so
[13:25] CB Axel: Not purebreds.
[13:25] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and the klan and similar groups are increasing 'in power
[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): Obama at least had something in his head
[13:26] herman Bergson: again Gemma?
[13:26] CB Axel: That less government in business helped lead to the great depression, too.
[13:26] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): very true
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ok
[13:26] herman Bergson: Like the less government led to the 2008 crisis
[13:26] CB Axel: Yep
[13:26] herman Bergson: Due to the deregulation actions of Thatcher and Reagan
[13:27] CB Axel: Capitalism is fine as long as there are some regulations keeping capitalists from turning into monsters.
[13:27] Anuska (anuska.loon) is offline.
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): letting raudy banks and companies go on without any regulation or insight creates catastrophes like this for sure
[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the entire world echonomy crashed, even almost all companies at moment where i live whent out if buisness
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): everything stopped
[13:28] herman Bergson: So it seems history is repeating itself
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): what saved me was that i work in a nisch industry (golf course equipment)
[13:29] herman Bergson: The early 1920s were a period of great material prosperity for people....
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): so we were not very affected
[13:29] herman Bergson: No Bejiita...the rich werent affected ...they kept on playing golf :-))
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:29] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): seems so
[13:29] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): haha
[13:30] CB Axel: Crashed. Sorry.
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): i have my work left after 2008 crash ayway
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but dam what a mess it was
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): a sad mess
[13:30] herman Bergson: Let's hope it won't happen again
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed
[13:31] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): market is scary right now too
[13:31] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): there was a door company who had built an all new factory nearby, they went out of buisness days after the crash
[13:31] herman Bergson: Yes Gemma...
[13:31] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): the tariffs are starting to show what is happening for real
[13:32] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): to what trump says is going to happen
[13:32] herman Bergson: And it hurts the US the most it seems
[13:32] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): of course he started it
[13:32] CB Axel: The only good thing I can say about the tariffs is that mostly it's hurting Trump voters.
[13:33] CB Axel: people who work for a living.
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): we hope
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): so some will wake up!
[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ah
[13:33] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): but they don't
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): as it is now trump as usual blame the media and call these warnings fake news
[13:34] herman Bergson: Well...I'll take a week off and enjoy a vacation next week
[13:34] CB Axel: I've heard interviews with some farmers who are rethinking their votes for Trump.
[13:34] herman Bergson: and after that the vote is near
[13:34] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ahha
[13:34] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): time change
[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hope no more bombig attempts
[13:34] herman Bergson: Next week no class Gemma :-)
[13:34] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): i figured
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): good time for a vacation
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): oki
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa time change
[13:35] herman Bergson: It is going to be cold on the island but we don't mind :-)
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ok
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): even though all the people who got bombs yesterday were enemies of trump
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate) GIGGLES!!
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ...LOL...
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): he is blaming the press
[13:35] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): media i should say
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): it starts getting really cold here too and ow they say we immediately should put winter tires on cause will be snow stom in Sweden this weekend as i get it
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): and we are getting a strong  wet noreaster
[13:36] CB Axel: We had snow already last week but only a few flakes.
[13:36] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): a stay home weekend
[13:36] CB Axel: It didn't stick at all.
[13:37] herman Bergson: Maybe Januari we might have some snow here....
[13:37] CB Axel: Do the canals freeze?
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): ah well
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): sometimes CB
[13:37] herman Bergson: So I'll  thank you all and dismiss class  so that you can prepare for winter ^_^
[13:37] CB Axel: °͜°
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako):
[13:37] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): thank you so much
[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): nice again
[13:38] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): ..knitting a shawl......
[13:38] Gemma (gemma.cleanslate): i see you bought some new students

[13:38] CB Axel: Thank you, Herman. I hope you enjoy your little holiday. ;)