The question whether Jews are natural race realists might seem odd to some considering that Jews, since the 1950s, have been at the forefront of promoting the “race is a social construct” myth. In fact, Jews today, following the lead of people like Franz Boas and Israel Ehrenberg (aka Ashley Montagu), have almost single-handedly transformed the social sciences away from Darwinian models toward black-slatist / race-does-not-exist models.
But things were not always this way. Prior to WWII, Jews (and by ‘Jews’ I mean mostly Ashkenazis) were some of the most adamant race realists. Mitchell B. Hart’s 2011 book by Brandeis University Press, Jews and Race: Writings on Identity and Difference, 1880 – 1940 (reviewed here), shows that Jews, prior to WWII, overwhelmingly believed in the reality and importance of racial differences. Even Franz Boas, who later would promote the “race is a social construct” myth, early on believed in the hardwired reality of racial differences.
So what happened? In short, WWII happened, whereafter Jews decided race realism was bad for Jews and began to promote race denialism. Israel Ehrenberg (aka Ashley Montagu) and others even muscled the United Nations into declaring that race isn’t biologically real.
But things aren’t so simple. Although Jews today prescribe race denialism for the West, in Israel they are the ultimate race realists and ethno-nationalists. For instance, not only do Israelis deport and sterilize African immigrants, but they also practice eugenics (in the form of genetic testing of potential mates to avoid hereditary disease). And such a double-standard is the norm among American academics, where anthropologists like Jonathan Marks & Alan Goodman stir up lynch mobs against goys (such as Nicholas Wade) who argue for the general truth of human biodiversity, but they themselves are rather silent on Israel.
Although the acknowledgement of this double-standard a decade ago was limited to the fringes, awareness is becoming more mainstream. For instance, Ann Coulter recently wrote a syndicated op-ed criticizing the casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson for supporting tough immigration laws for Israel but open-borders and amnesty for the USA. And there are hundreds of similar blog posts floating around the web. Twitter is awash with tweets about Israeli ethno-nationalism. Even this week there was a protest in Israel against African immigration, where the Israelis were chanting, “Niggers, go home!,” which gained a lot of attention on Twitter.
My guess is that Jews naturally believe in HBD and naturally are very ethnocentric, but are terrified at the idea of white gentiles believing in HBD and being ethnocentric. But what is important here is the “natural inclination”. If race realism is the natural inclination of Ashkenazis and post-WWII race denialism an aberration, will Jews come back around? Will the adamant ethno-nationalism of Israel force them to once again publicly acknowledge race realism?
Perhaps for some. Others might just go ahead and deny race realism for and denounce Israel. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
Predictions?