At 02:23 PM 11/21/97 -0500, Blaut worte
Blaut: >I argue that [Weber's] biological racism must have
>profoundly influenced his theories about world history; I show that he is
>a source of a derivative doctrine that I call "cultural racism" (long-term
>or permanent superiority of European civilization over others...
Schell: Is cultural racism the same as ethnocentrism? Weber's position
that race was in part a cultural construct seems to me to be close to the
position of scholars on the left who deny race is a biological reality.
Most commentaries on Weber (Blaut excepted) make note of Weber's rejection
of the then fashionable "scientific racism." Perhaps that's why Blaut
finds in necessary to invent a new catagory of racism -- it sounds more
inflamatory than ethnocentrism (which is a failing but not, perhaps, a sin).
Blaut:>I quote We#er as saying "here is one case...[of] tangi#le racial
distinctions." Schell twists it into "Weber says it is the ONE CASE."
Schell: I put ONE CASE in caps to emphasize it so that my subsequent
reference to it would not be obscure. I do regret adding "the" by
mistranscription. That sort of thing happens. Blaut, in fact, mistyped
the name of Eric L. Jones as Eric C. Jones when quoting a portion of my
summary of his book and added "(sic)" making his error appear to be mine.
No biggie. [compare Blaut, H-World, 2 May 1997 and Schell, H-World, 15
April 1997].
Blaut: According to Schell, I call him "conservative (enemy of the people) &
>intellectually dishonest. [Blaut, H-World, 19 April 1997]" I don't have
>this exchange archived, #ut I know I didn't say that.
Schell: Don't fret. You can find the material exactly where you directed
the list members to search -- in the H-NET archives.
Blaut: I didn't call him "dishonest or "an enemy of the people." What I did
>say is that he is Eurocentric in the extreme. This #ecomes, for Schell, a
>charge that Schell is "eurocentric (his favorite dismissive for anything or
>anyone he wishes to ignore)." Granted, some of the Schellian shit
>appeared on H-LatAm, not H-World. #ig difference.
Schell: (enemy of the people) is in parenthesis as an interpretation of
Blaut's view of me -- a look into what Barbara Walters would call the
"heart-of-hearts". Some of the phrases Blaut applied to me were "soap-box
oratory-not scholarship" "no review has displayed [schell's] ignorance"
plus repeated accusations of purposeful distortion. [for example, Blaut,
H-World, 2 May 1997]
Blaut:I did NOT urge people to read my #ook. On a few occasions I referred
to >my ook -- #ecause if a complex argument is in print, one cites the
>pulication. Schell may not #e aware of this scholarly convention, or
>perhaps he thinks it too constraining -- he'd rather have these long
>cy#er-de#ates.
Schell: Again I refer anyone interested to Blaut, H-World 24 Mar, 18 Mar,
21 Mar. 1997 in the last Blaut urges "Go and get my book out of the
library." And what, Jim? Use it for a doorstop?