Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 21:05:12 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: MT: Re: Goldhagen 



So my sneers at "French" philosophy are neo-racist? Incidentally I disavow
any general contempt or dislike for the French. Paris is one of my
favorite cities. But recent French philosophy is for the birds. I think
James H's remarks about "German irrationalism" are in the same vein. All
of us here honor, among other Germans, one Karl Marx and his pal Engels.

--Justin

On Thu, 20 Nov 1997, Jukka Laari wrote:

> Yes, it's bizarre. 
> 
> > This is bizarre. I've heard of author's resentment of bad publicity, but
> > going to court seems a bit extreme. 
> > (...) 
> > I wouldn't call G a "racist": he doesn't think Germans are a "race" 
> 
> Justin, I called him 'neo-racist'. I don't mean that the 'race' is 
> issue here, but an effort to label one particular group, or 'nation'. 
> I've wondered recently why it's so important to refer to 
> 'nationality'. For example, our James Heartfield (from thaxis) has 
> written in his reviews in Living Marxism few times about 'German 
> irrationalists' (Nietzsche and Heildegger for him) without any 
> logical reason even to refer them (not to mention that there was 
> any argument concerning them). But when such an expression appears 
> four times in one review we can call such repetition systematic. That 
> makes me wonder the function of such an expression. What is the aim? 
> I have collected other such phrases - all combining some notion of 
> 'nation' or 'culture' with a pejorative concept. Recently someone 
> said that it works like racist discourse, though references to 'race' 
> have been replaced by national or cultural references. I call such a 
> phenomenon neo-racism as long as I find a better term. 
> 
> Jukka L