Crossbow
08-30-2010, 05:57 PM
German banker under attack for saying Jews are genetically unique (http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-memphis/german-banker-under-attack-for-saying-jews-are-genetically-unique)
Leaders of the Jewish community in Germany have erupted in outrage and indignation at comments stating that Jews are genetically unique. The man who has drawn the most recent bout of ire from the Jewish community and accusations of ‘racism’ and ‘anti-Semtism’ is Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the board for the German Bundesbank.
Mr. Sarrazin’s remarks resulting in the outrage were made during an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt. According to The Local.de, Sarrazin explained the question to which he was responding was about ‘genetic identity’. In response to the question, Sarrazin said, ‘All Jews share a certain gene. Basques (Spanish separatists) have particular genes that distinguishes them from others.’
Mr. Sarrazin has been under heavy fire recently because of his book Deutschland schafft sich ab (‘Germany does away with itself’), which, according to The Daily Mail, which details the demographic change in Germany resulting from a massive influx of Muslim Turks. The book argues that due to the influx of uneducated immigrants coupled with steadily declining birthrates among native Germans, the IQ of Germany is diminishing, and that the German State has a duty to improve the education of immigrants.
However, the part of the book that receives the most attention is that immigrants are uneducated, a declaration that, while statistically true, is heavily tabooed in not just Germany but Europe. He has been called a ‘statist’ by the German right (which in America would likely qualify as ‘moderate’) and a ‘racist’ by German leftists. All of this could lead one to speculate that a lot of people in Germany have been waiting for Mr. Sarrazin to slip up.
Germany has severe punishments for people expressing ‘racist’ comments, largely as a result of residual guilt written into the Federal German Constitution by the victorious Allied forces after World War II. As a result, no one has made any effort to defend Mr. Sarrazin, and even Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel called the comments ‘stupid and pointless.’
The question stands, however, is Mr. Sarrazin wrong? Does the Jewish community have reason to be outraged at the suggestion that they are genetically unique? According to Gérard Lucotte and F. David of Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology (CEABH) in Paris, France, the answer is ‘no’.
In the journal Human Biology, Volume 64, Issue 5, Messrs. Lucotte and David published an article ‘Y-chromosome-specific haplotypes of Jews detected by probes 49f and 49a.’ The article is a report on their study of a sample of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews (the two most prominent Jewish communities in Europe). The study, which focused on specific genetic haplotypes found that ‘only seven haplotypes were found in Jews, three… being the most widespread,’ and, further, that ‘haplotype distribution in the European non-Jewish population is different.’
Nevertheless, according to the secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephen Kramer, declared ‘Whoever tries to define Jews by their genetic make up succumbs to racism.’ Monsieur Lucotte might find this declaration surprising and perhaps unfounded, as would the sixteen scientists of Jewish, Chinese, Hispanic, and other backgrounds who contributed to a similar study for the American Society of Human Genetics.
It also surprised a number of residents of Memphis. One Cordova man remarked that he felt the outrage had far less to do with a genuine feeling of offense than with simply desire for attention. ‘It’s typical—everyone does it from union bosses to the ACLU; when you want media attention, feign outrage, offense, or violation of civil rights and you’ll find yourself all over the news for weeks.’
A Germantown resident had a different theory; ‘this banker is already an unpopular guy; most likely because he’s sharing a lot that’s true that the government doesn’t want the public to hear because it’ll hurt their reputation with the immigrants—who they probably rely on for votes, just like Obama in this country.’
Leaders of the Jewish community in Germany have erupted in outrage and indignation at comments stating that Jews are genetically unique. The man who has drawn the most recent bout of ire from the Jewish community and accusations of ‘racism’ and ‘anti-Semtism’ is Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the board for the German Bundesbank.
Mr. Sarrazin’s remarks resulting in the outrage were made during an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt. According to The Local.de, Sarrazin explained the question to which he was responding was about ‘genetic identity’. In response to the question, Sarrazin said, ‘All Jews share a certain gene. Basques (Spanish separatists) have particular genes that distinguishes them from others.’
Mr. Sarrazin has been under heavy fire recently because of his book Deutschland schafft sich ab (‘Germany does away with itself’), which, according to The Daily Mail, which details the demographic change in Germany resulting from a massive influx of Muslim Turks. The book argues that due to the influx of uneducated immigrants coupled with steadily declining birthrates among native Germans, the IQ of Germany is diminishing, and that the German State has a duty to improve the education of immigrants.
However, the part of the book that receives the most attention is that immigrants are uneducated, a declaration that, while statistically true, is heavily tabooed in not just Germany but Europe. He has been called a ‘statist’ by the German right (which in America would likely qualify as ‘moderate’) and a ‘racist’ by German leftists. All of this could lead one to speculate that a lot of people in Germany have been waiting for Mr. Sarrazin to slip up.
Germany has severe punishments for people expressing ‘racist’ comments, largely as a result of residual guilt written into the Federal German Constitution by the victorious Allied forces after World War II. As a result, no one has made any effort to defend Mr. Sarrazin, and even Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel called the comments ‘stupid and pointless.’
The question stands, however, is Mr. Sarrazin wrong? Does the Jewish community have reason to be outraged at the suggestion that they are genetically unique? According to Gérard Lucotte and F. David of Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology (CEABH) in Paris, France, the answer is ‘no’.
In the journal Human Biology, Volume 64, Issue 5, Messrs. Lucotte and David published an article ‘Y-chromosome-specific haplotypes of Jews detected by probes 49f and 49a.’ The article is a report on their study of a sample of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews (the two most prominent Jewish communities in Europe). The study, which focused on specific genetic haplotypes found that ‘only seven haplotypes were found in Jews, three… being the most widespread,’ and, further, that ‘haplotype distribution in the European non-Jewish population is different.’
Nevertheless, according to the secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephen Kramer, declared ‘Whoever tries to define Jews by their genetic make up succumbs to racism.’ Monsieur Lucotte might find this declaration surprising and perhaps unfounded, as would the sixteen scientists of Jewish, Chinese, Hispanic, and other backgrounds who contributed to a similar study for the American Society of Human Genetics.
It also surprised a number of residents of Memphis. One Cordova man remarked that he felt the outrage had far less to do with a genuine feeling of offense than with simply desire for attention. ‘It’s typical—everyone does it from union bosses to the ACLU; when you want media attention, feign outrage, offense, or violation of civil rights and you’ll find yourself all over the news for weeks.’
A Germantown resident had a different theory; ‘this banker is already an unpopular guy; most likely because he’s sharing a lot that’s true that the government doesn’t want the public to hear because it’ll hurt their reputation with the immigrants—who they probably rely on for votes, just like Obama in this country.’