History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett
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History Courses For Dr. Christopher C. Lovett |
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Updated as of 2 October 05 Today in History: On October 2, 1780, Major John Andrι, a British spy associated with Benedict Arnold, was executed on this day in history. Quote of the Day: "In my view we are much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. This is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys." A senior figure at a military-sponsored think tank as told to James Fallows in "Bush's Lost Year" in The Atlantic Monthly (Oct. 2004) Take the Ann Coulter Quiz Where are you politically? Take the Neocon Quiz and find out. "History is Far too Important to be left to History Professors" Teaching isn't such a novel idea
Bibliography:
History of Disease Contemporary Terrorist Organizations Map of Islamic Terrorist Cells in the U.S.A.
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Mad Science and Anti-SemitismHolocaustFall 2008
The Enlightenment and Emancipation The Enlightenment challenged the Old Order. The Philosophes wanted a society based on reason, not tradition and intolerance. To people like Voltaire it was not what was different between Judaism and Christianity, but what was similar. This would change with the French Revolution.The Revolution and the Persecution of Europes Jews Jews were welcome into the French community. As long as they came as individuals, not as a community. This would have not amounted to much. If so many Jews were willing to move in that direction of rationalism and the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala). A new life was opening for Jews in Western and Eastern Europe.Where Was The Problem? Many Europeans of the conservative persuasion did not oppose social equality. Emancipation applied to Europes Jews. But social equality applied to everyone. This was a slap at the Church that still maintained restrictions on the Jewish community. And would do so again after the Revolution.Napoleon and the Jewish Question Napoleon decided in 1806 decided to solve the problem. He gave Jews the option of accepting French nationality. The question was were you willing to consider France their country and would they defend it. The Jewish community answered in the affirmative. Soon this concept spread by the help of French arms.General Overview The Eighteenth Century in Europe was the age of modern racism. This all happened during the Enlightenment. An Age of Religious Revival, if not, an Age of Religious fervor. People were also seeking Harmony with the Cosmos. The learned thought that everything could be measured. This contributed to the study of Phrenology, the reading of the skull, and Physiognomy, the reading of the face. Combined with the emphasis on the aesthetic were the ingredients for foundations of modern racism. Out of this milieu came the blending of evangelism of the 18th Century combined with the new emphasis on Race that idealized the primitive. Travel made it possible for anthropologists to begin classifying people. Soon Europeans are beautiful, and non-Europeans are not. It was not long before this was applied to Jews.Antoine de Lamarck (1744-1829) His claim to fame was the link of environmental and material factors to the classification of species. Others did too, but Lamarck added the subjective element of the aesthetic element of the species. Georges Louis LeClerc de Buffon (1707-88) included the idea that food, climate, and manners determine race as did customs. Soon racial judgments were being based on middle class morality. Here we see observation replacing critical analysis as a basis for determination of scientific truth.Physiognomy Replaces Analytical Approaches to Anthropology. The leader in this field was Lavanter (1741-1801). He was an Anti-Semite who argued that the Jews slandered Christ. He influenced the work of Sir Walter Scott and some of his ideas can be found in Ivanhoe.Phrenology Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) added a new dimension to the new discipline by adding an emphasis on Phrenology. Phrenology rested on three concepts: 1. The brain was an organ of the mind; 2. The Brain was composed of a variety of organs; and 3. The Brain shaped the skull. Gall, unlike other of his peers, was not hostile to Blacks. Soon Phrenology was to be used to determine racial classification.The Birth of Racial Classifications Soon Anthropologists were making conclusions that that certain characteristics fit specific groups. Carl Gustav Caras believed that Jews had hooked noses. This trend took hold through out the rest of Europe. These views would find a home among German Nazis.The Rise of Scientific Racism Gobineau was not an original thinker, but a synthesizer. He made a name for himself with the publication of his book, Essay on the Inequality of Human Races (1853-55). Everything about Gobineau was fraudulent, since he was never a member of the nobility. He took the title after the death of a relative. His works just amplified his own racism. Still, he based his work on the best scholarishp of his day. As Well as his extensive travels.Gobineau and the Decline of Civilizations He thought that the modern age was one of centralization and confrontation. He also thought that civilizations rose and fell over issues of Race. He stressed that race means everything. He divided the world into three races white, yellow, and black. He was never interested in skull measurements. He believed that the White Race was superior to all others because they were Aryans, since they provided for the elites in India and served as the basis of the Teutons. He felt that the white races favored nobility, freedom, honor, spirituality.What went wrong in Gobineaus World View? He thought that the race was polluted by the bourgeois ideal. Race mixing or Miscegenation contributed he believed. The Aryan ideal was weakened. He also thought the Jews were noble too. While Gobineau was not Anti-Semitic, his ideas were used against the Jews by the end of the nineteenth century. Particularly when Richard Wagner got a hold of them.Richard Wagner and Pan Germanism Gobineaus philosophy reinforced Wagners own views of Race. Soon, Wagners followers spread the ideas of Gobineau far and wide. Soon Gobineaus works were translated from French to German to a wider audience. Soon a Gobineau Society was organized in 1894. Soon the members infiltrated other right-wing groups. The organizer was Ludwig Scheemann who wrote The Germans and the Italian Renaissance. George Mosse, himself a refugee, believed that it was the message of the Bayreuth circle that was the spark of the movement.Metapolitics and Race As Gobineaus ideas found a home in Germany, it blended in with other social movements. Once such idea was the concept of Metapolitics. The concept involved a combination of volk and race. To many conservatives this form of politics was seen as a secular religion. The word was spread by the volksgeist. Anthropology became the vehicle to spread the message.Robert Knox Spreads the Message Knoxs dates were 1798-1862. His main work was Races of Men (1850). He believed that race was everything. He thought that two races were near perfect the Greeks and Saxons. He thought that the Jews were a perversion. He stressed in his book that the Jews lacked any worthy qualities. The Key to Knoxs ideas was the permanence and immutability of race. Two groups worried him Blacks and Jews Blacks in the Empire and Jews on the Continent.James Hunt (1833-69) He founded the Anthropological Society. He admired Knox and spread his ideas. He put racism on scientific basis supported by reliable facts. He, like others, argued that race determines everything. But he argued that prejudices must be rejected. He felt that there were three prejudices against science; 1) religious mania; 2) Obsession with the rights of man; 3) and a belief in equality. His views supported slavery in the American South.General Trends Science reinforced European domination. The use of Social Darwinism, Anthropology, and Eugenics supported the European basis of racism. Soon studies supported these views. The Germans called them Racial and Social Biology. The Darwinian view of survival of the fittest was now applied to Eugenics. Soon Europeans were concerned about weakening the race or as they said, degeneration of the race.Alfred Ploetz He believed that all races were involved in some form of racial mixing. Yet he felt that the Germans were the best. He felt that the Jews were more Aryan than Semitic. He denied that the Jews were a separate race. Some racial biologists would even claim that the Jews were actually superior. Those who felt this way argued that the historic persecution of the Jews made them more likely to survive.Racial Biology wants to be Respectable Racialists believed that degeneration could be avoided by the use of eugenics. Racial Biology made racialism appear respectable. Despite appearing to be respectable, Racial Biologists were driven by myth and irrationalism. Some of these thinkers even attempted to create a genealogy of the human race. In this table of races, Blacks and Jews were on the bottom of the ladder. Soon, they took these ideas to the limit to argue to eliminate the unworthy. Euthanasia and sterilization were part of their proposals for avoiding degeneration.The Key Players Paul Broca (1824-80) argued that mixed racial groups were beneficial to society. J. A. H. Perier Wrote The Races of Europe (1899) and stressed that race and nationality did not coincide. Armand de Quatreges de Breau (1810-92) was anti-German and felt that Jews were part of the dominant racial group. Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) Did a survey of Germany and discovered that there was no clear German type in Germany.Virchows Survey of Germany Germany was nor racially uniform. Blondes/Blue-Eyed types was not typical in Germany. Blondes made up only 31.8% Brunettes composed 14.05% Mixed hair types made up 54.15% Jewish Children were 11% Blonde 42% Dark Hair. 47% Mixed Coloration. How did this stack up with the General German population? As a result of his research he believed that there was no pure race.Impact of Virchows Work His work hardly had any impact at all. The idea of pure races and racial enemies served too many political purposes. He was attacked on the right for being pro-Jewish. To Virchow, race was nothing more than a series of hereditary variations. By this time, science went out the window and was being replaced by myth.The Elements that Defined Racism Science Myth MysteryThe Quest for National Origins National origins were equated with the mystical origins of a nations historical past. By 1870, the issue of racial science divided to now include the mystic origins of racial development. Soon this trend crossed the Atlantic to include the United States. The mythical origins of nationality, especially the issue of racial development, helped solve the problem of social strife.Julius Langbehn Germans were the high mark of racial development, only they could understand good. The Volk, or people, exhibited a life force of their own. He felt that only the Aryans had that life force.Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels He agreed with Langbehn. He wanted to breed a perfect blue-eyed, blonde, super Aryan race. He had a tremendous influence on Hitler of all people as well as other Germans.Paul Anton Botticher, AKA, Paul Anton de Lagarde He believed nothing mattered but the Volk. He argued that Germany needed a new religion that replaced Christianity. He thought that St. Paul as a Jew, perverted Christianity. He also felt that the Germany were too influenced by nature. He stressed that the Jews were the natural enemy of the Volk. Soon he was surpassed by Richard Wagner and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.Houston Stewart Chamberlain He gave the movement a philosophical basis. He is noted for writing The Foundations of the Twentieth Century (1899). He stressed the Germans were linked by their blood. He transformed Christ into a German Profit. The Germans were the savoir of humankind. The true enemy of Germany were the Jews. The defeat of the Jews would revitalize the German spiritual revolution.
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