Europeans Quotes
“Caucasian” was originally a geographical term that had nothing to do with race. No one knows exactly how it came to be accepted as a racial term or as a color no one knows. Today of course we know that race has no scientific meaning, and that all humans are descended from the same ancestors in Africa. Note that the original “Caucasians” included people of many skin colors and features—from Russians and people from the Baltic to North Africans and the many skin shades of India.
Lawrence was one of the very advanced scientists of his time presaging Darwin on a few issues. But he erroneously believed that character and intellect were heretical capabilities. Intellect has been shown to be an inheritable trait to some extent (50-60 percent), but it is not racial per se. And character as we now know is not inherited.
This quotation is often given by those who believe that nothing has really changed regarding the Arabs and non-Islamic Westerners in the last century. While the support of dictators, Israel and support for that democracy, the artificial Western imposed borders, 9-11, or the Iraq war is often cited as the cause of Arab hostility and murderous aggression, as this quotation demonstrates, the problems and attitudes and behaviors existed long before any of these occurred. The borders were not set until after WWI and all the other causes occurred almost 50 years later, Yet there was still the propensity for fanaticism and violence. Sikes actually was one of those who was to determine the Arab borders, making one of the first “suggested” maps of the area for the English.
Description of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in the 1730’s
The Ndebele were a warrior caste that had captured the land of the Shona and enslaved them. When the whites came there was antipathy to the Ndebele and great fear that they would have to farm and do manual labor, things which they had always required their slaves to do. At the same time the king was a vicious despot who killed many of his subjects at his whim and who was resented even by the Ndebele. The king took poison rather than be captured by the whites. Ironically, the king anticipated the great dissatisfaction of the Ndebele when they could no longer own slaves and had to do their own manual labor.
The English colonial administrators in South Africa and London were appalled at the discrimination against the Black majority practiced by the whites. The white Boers in particular saw them as little more than slaves.
The power structure of England and the English administrators of South Africa were strong advocates of racial equality at the beginning of the 19th century. They insisted on equal administration of law. However the Boer white population could think of nothing more absurd. In a sense the Boers were much like the Southern Whites at the same time. The South African government however could not enforce its equality policies in the rural area – the majority of South Africa at the time. When democracy and self rule came to South Africa, the racially moderating force of the English was minimized and the majority of South Africans wanted a racially segregated society. Apartheid resulted.
In 1900 Argentina was the 4th richest country in the world and had a gross domestic product about the same size as the United States. Misgovernment, ego, delusion, and corruption have impeded their progress since. However, Argentina has had the largest proportion of European ancestry citizens in Latin America. Prejudice being what it was, the European ancestry Latinos perceived themselves better than the descendants of the native Indians or Black slaves. So Argentinians even to this day tend to see themselves as superior to the other Latin nations. And at one point they were amongst the richest countries. Bolivia, in contrast, has the highest proportion of indigenous people and they most of all resent the Argentine attitude of superiority.
