Saturday, September 16, 2006


Prof. Dr. Gert Weisskirchen is a stupid Kraut and I want to tell you why. For a start, Kraut is the German word for cabbage and -- perhaps due to their liking for Sauerkraut (sour cabbage) -- it has become a contemptuous term for Germans generally. It was a term much used in two world wars during which Germans killed a lot of people.

In this month's British report on antisemitism, Prof Weisskirchen describes the causes of antisemitism as follows:

"Nationalistic or right-wing populist movements are trying to gain a foothold to varying degrees in all European States. Apart from bringing chauvinistic longings up to date, the common elements in their rationale are the emphasis on authoritarian thinking, the stirring up of resentment towards established parties and the mobilization of right-wing extremist attitudes in the form of xenophobia or even open racism and antisemitism.

A wealth of studies, beginning with the sociological writings of Theodor W. Adorno more than 60 years ago, demonstrate that xenophobia and modern versions of ethnic and racist sentiments with antisemitic prejudices are the most significant features of right-wing extremism and populism. Although they sometimes do without the key trappings of classic Fascism and Nazism, they still make use of its arsenal of discriminatory and denigrating contemptuous prejudices. In accordance with the classic scapegoat mechanism, foreigners are held responsible for whatever social problems exist, such as unemployment and failing social systems, and are disparaged as social parasites who dispute the right of the native population to the country's wealth. As a group they are ostracized as "disruptive factors" who need to be removed. Behind the "new" forms of antisemitism the old core still remains. If preventive measures are not taken to combat antisemitism at its source it will turn into a "social disease" that infests society, gradually eating it up from within and finally destroying it.

So "nationalistic or right-wing populist movements" are the prime source of antisemitism. There is absolutely no mention of Islam or Leftist "antizionism", which are by far the main forms of antisemitism today. Could the fact that the professor is also a socialist member of the German parliament have something to do with that? In his other writings he does occasionally mention Islam and European antizionism but he never mentions that antizionism is mainly Leftist nor does he discuss causes of any form of antisemitism other than "rightist" antisemitism. Apparently the causes of Leftist and Islamic antisemitism either do not exist or must not be examined.

And the amusing thing is that the alleged origins of rightist antisemitism that he mentions derive from one of the most discredited pieces of work in the whole of the social sciences -- the claims about psychological "authoritarianism" by Marxist theoretician Theodor Wiesengrund (aka Adorno). If Prof. Weisskirchen were a chemist, he would still be talking about "phlogiston".

Below are some of the books (not to mention hundreds of academic journal articles -- e.g here) that demolish in various ways the Adorno psychological theories that Prof. Weisskirchen believes in.


Christie, R. & Jahoda, M. (1954) Studies in the scope and method of "The authoritarian personality". Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.


Kirscht, J.P. & Dillehay, R.C. (1967) "Dimensions of authoritarianism: A review of research and theory. Lexington: Univ. Kentucky Press

The Altemeyer book is particularly interesting. Altemeyer rather likes the Adorno theory but he devotes the first half of his book to a comprehensive literature review (up to about 1973) of all the vast body of research on the theory -- and finds that none of all that evidence actually supports the theory!

How stupid do you have to be still to accept such a theory?



The scribble above is the new logo of the British Conservative party. How pathetic can you get? Background here. That the British Tories are now "green" seems to be the only message in it.

Change coming in Sweden? "Astonishing as it seems, it is just possible that on Sunday Swedes will throw out the centre-left Social Democrats who have governed them for all but nine of the past 74 years... But whether the centre-right alliance wins on Sunday or not, there are plenty of signs that the dream has darkened. It is costing too much, and immigration is straining the unspoken contract under which Swedes were happy to pay the Government for what they were confident they would later receive. The young challenger who threatens to topple G”ran Persson from his ten-year premiership is Fredrik Reinfeldt, who has been compared with David Cameron for his success in stitching together a coalition from the demoralised and fractured opposition on the Right. At 41, he would be Sweden's youngest prime minister. But he has been less coy than Cameron about campaigning for lower taxes, as well as for cutting unemployment benefits and demanding results from schools and healthcare. He may have struck a chord. Swedes are fed up with their high tax rates - and loathe the property tax of about 1 per cent of the value of a typical house.

Rare wisdom from a centre-Left government: "The [British] Government has pledged to use legislation to block the imposition of heavy-handed Wall Street-style regulation on the City if the London Stock Exchange is taken over by a foreign buyer. Users of the London market welcomed the promise, by Ed Balls, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, that the Financial Services Authority would be given the statutory right to veto rule changes proposed by recognised exchanges, including the LSE, if these were "disproportionate" in their impact on London. Mr Balls said in Hong Kong: "The Government's interest in this area is specific and clear: to safeguard the light touch and proportionate regulatory regime that has made London a magnet for international business." By contrast, the imposition on Wall Street of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act in response to accounting scandals such as Enron is seen as making it more difficult for New York to attract new issues. Nasdaq, the New York market, has 25.3 per cent of the LSE"

Unilateral moral disarmament: "As I write, it is one week after the Atrocity. And while we prepare for war, we ask ourselves, again and again, two questions: Why? Why would anyone be motivated to commit such a horror? How? How could the most powerful nation on earth let it happen? The answer in both cases is philosophical."

Geniuses get fewer hangovers: "High IQ scores may do more than separate geniuses from those of lesser intelligence, they could also be an indication of how much clever people are likely to suffer from hangovers. New research by Scottish scientists suggests that smart people are less likely to repeatedly experience the excruciating headache, nausea, dry mouth and sensitivity to light and sound that can follow a heavy night out. "The main finding of this study was that higher IQ scores at 11 years of age were associated with a reduced risk of alcohol induced hangovers in middle age," said Dr David Batty of the University of Edinburgh. In a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Dr Batty and his colleagues looked at IQ test scores of 11-year-olds taken in Aberdeen in 1962 and sent questionnaires to them between 2000-2003 asking about their drinking habits. Responses from more than 7000 showed a higher IQ score was associated with a lower prevalence of hangovers."







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