Re: assumptions ?

After reading a couple of messages by Gordon Hale, I have to agree with
Louis Proyect. This list urgently needs a moderator. Until when do we have
to be bothered by these racist/Eurocentric inputs? I am sure there are tons
of lists out there that would be more fruitfull for Hale's dicussions. For
those who would argue for being open to different views, I would say; don't
worry, the members of this list are already introduced to these 'genius'
ideas via different hegemonic sources/powers of information.

Caner Dogan

-----Original Message-----
From: wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu]On
Behalf Of Louis Proyect
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2001 5:53 PM
To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: assumptions ?


On Sat, 29 Dec 2001 12:07:08 EST, GRHaleJr@cs.com wrote:
>The title of the book is: The Albert N'Yanza,
>Great Basin of the Nile And Explorations of the
>Nile Sources, by Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A.,
>F.R.G.S., Gold Medallist of the Royal
>Geographical Society.
>
>It is available online from:
><http://www.booksonline.com/BookDisplay..cfm?Book
>Num=17895>
>
>Live long and prosper, and thanks for your
>response.
>
>
>Gordon Hale

Hale, what is a racist punk like you doing on the World Systems
Network? Did the local branch of the KKK assign you? This mailing
list is dedicated to a theory that, among other things, attacks
Eurocentrism root and branch. Meanwhile, you dredge up the racist
ravings of a Victorian "explorer" who helped his masters figure out
how to carve up Africa, starting with the Sudan. This is from Alan
Moorehead's "White Nile". Since Moorehead's book is intended to
flatter scum like Baker, Colonel Gordon, Richard Burton et al, one
wonders how disgusting Baker truly was. I certainly understand what
makes such a racist attractive to somebody like yourself.

Moorehead:

Probably nothing more monstrous or cruel than this traffic had
happened in history, for it was more highly organized than the
slaving in Tanganyika. Baker records the terrible facts with a
juridical calm which is very effective; and yet, like Burton, and
unlike Speke, he did not really take to Africans and he was no blind
believer in immediate emancipation. 'However we may condemn the
horrible system of slavery,' he wrote, 'the results of emancipation
have proved that the negro does not appreciate the blessings of
freedom, nor does he show the slightest feelings of gratitude to the
hand that broke the rivets of his fetters.' Baker had a theory that
Africans were not and could not ever be equal to white men. The most
he would concede was that in childhood the negro 'might be in
advance, in intellectual quickness, of the white child of a similar
age, but the mind does not expand—it promises fruit, but does not
ripen. . . .'

Elsewhere he attacks the Africans for the savagery and brutality of
their tribal customs. 'Charming people, these poor blacks, as they
are termed by English sympathizers,' he exclaims when a Nuer chief
'exhibited his wife's back and arms covered with jagged scars ... he
was quite proud of having clawed his wife like a wild beast.' And
again: 'Polygamy is, of course, the general custom; the number of a
man's wives depending entirely upon his wealth, precisely as would
the number of his horses in England. There is no such thing as love
in these countries . . . everything is practical, without a particle
of romance. Women are so far appreciated as they are valuable
animals. I am afraid this practical state of affairs will be a strong
barrier to missionary enterprise.'


--
Louis Proyect, lnp3@panix.com on 12/29/2001

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