Anti-Semitism is byproduct of natural selection, says Long Beach , State prof

[Hope Ehn Dennis Ehn <ehn...>]

I realize that this is off-topic, but no more than the discussion of the
selling of "The Protocols" by bookstores. In some ways, this is even
*scarier*, since the Protocols were at least known by a lot of people to
be forgeries. This guy is presenting his anti-Semitism as rational
academic research, which gives it extra weight, and makes it more
dangerous than the Protocols. 

Even worse, this may be what he's teaching in the classroom, to students
who may not have enough background in history to realize what he's doing. 
I can't help wondering whether he has tenure, and if so, whether he was
granted tenure on the basis of such publications. 

I can't imagine that any respectable academic publisher would publish his
books, but somebody obviously has. (These days, it's not so hard to do it
yourself.) Now that the fuss over the Protocols has died down, maybe
someone should make sure that this guy's publications are properly labeled
at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, if they're available there at all. 

Hope Ehn                     <ehn (at) world(dot)std(dot)com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 14:19:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Varda Ullman Novick

Forwarded by Jack Kolb

We've had our fun with John Mack of Harvard, who supports the idea of
alient abductions. We've kicked around Courtney Brown of Emory University,
who touts remote viewing. Now there's Kevin McDonald of Cal State Long
Beach calling Judaism a Darwinian strategy: 

http://www.newtimesla.com/issues/2000-05-25/faultlines.html

A few excerpted paragraphs:

In his books, MacDonald uses an approach called evolutionary psychology to
argue that Judaism is not merely a religion; it is also a Darwinian
strategy that serves to raise Jewish IQ, and that anti-Semitism can be
understood rationally as a by-product of natural selection. He writes that
Jews have reacted to anti-Semitism by taking over intellectual movements
and attacking Gentile culture to promote Jewish interests. The result, he
warns, is a "present decline of European peoples in the New World." He
also asserts that Jews protect their interests by suppressing criticism of
Judaism, and cites David Irving as an example of a writer whose work has
been suppressed by Jewish groups. 

(...)

Now, MacDonald finds himself immersed in intellectual warfare with his
colleagues. His critics are careful to point out that they believe firmly
in MacDonald's academic freedom, and don't question his right to research
what he wants and to continue teaching at the university. But, says
[History Department Chair] Sievers, professors are determined to make
MacDonald answer for the implications of his theories. 

"Faculty can make him uncomfortable. And I think we've made him very
uncomfortable. And we're not done yet," she says. 

History professor Don Schwartz has been one of the most vocal. "Academic
freedom protects the kind of research that MacDonald is doing. But he's
been asked to explain and defend his ideas, and that's a perfectly
reasonable expectation," he says. No one, Schwartz says, is calling for
some kind of action that would result in MacDonald's censure or expulsion. 

MacDonald complains that asking him to present his views publicly is not
an appropriate thing to ask a tenured professor to do. His theories are
too complicated, he argues, for him to present them orally to an audience
that is likely to be hostile. 

(...)

Others, Fiebert says, complained that MacDonald's books had already passed
peer review, and so it was inappropriate to subject them to further
inquiry. 

(...)

Here's what Culture of Critique predicts, after MacDonald has spent nearly
1,000 pages in his trilogy describing the Jewish "evolutionary strategy," 
which includes denigrating Gentile culture through Jewish-dominated
intellectual movements: 

  "I believe that in the United States we are presently heading down
   a volatile path -- a path that leads to ethnic warfare and to the
   development of collectivist, authoritarian, and racialist enclaves." 

I was especially taken with the ideas that it's 'inappropriate' to ask a
tenured professor to publicly explain and defend his views, and to subject
peer-reviewed books to further scrutiny. 
 
More about McDonald's books and views can be found on his web page
http://www.csulb.edu/~kmacd/

Beth Wolszon

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