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Comment by transfire | Hacker News Reader

I'll put that one right next to my copy of "Nietzsche as an Aryan and a Scholar".

But seriously, this whole identifying as "Jew" like it were a Dr. Pepper commercial is getting tiresome. When are we going to be happy just being "Human"? Of what I read, Old Dr. E would have liked that title better. And I am 100% certain while he supported the creation of the new Israel in the early days, we wouldn't have been at all happy about what has become of things now.

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The whole premise of the book is looking at some of Einstein's actions through the lens of his Jewish identity and heritage (and also as a philosopher). Which is quite different compared to the prism he's usually viewed through, namely as a scientist.

I don't understand why that bothers you so much. Are you equally bothered when people identify as a 'coder' or 'entrepreneur' as is quite common in this forum?

For me the issue is that Jewish identity is presented as always being good, while Aryan/White/European/Whatever_you_want_to_call_it identity is presented as being evil and racist.

Sure, these things exist at a different granularity, but that doesn't explain why one is ok and the other is evil.

Many of Einstein's actions were driven by the fact that he detected growing anti-Semitism early on. In fact, he relinquished his German citizenship twice because of this, and it was largely his fear and prediction of persecution that brought him to the US.

I don't think it's a question of Good vs Evil, but rather what was happening at that specific point in time - the fact that Jewish Germans were very publicly discriminated against (to the point where Jewish University academics in Germany were forced to hand in their resignation and barred from ever being public servants almost overnight).

Actually, you are right. He didn't at all like the development of Israel and he has expressed it several times in both personal letters and as undersigned.

http://users.physics.harvard.edu/~wilson/HUMANRIGHTS/Einstei...

> I'll put that one right next to my copy of "Nietzsche as an Aryan and a Scholar".

if that Nietzsche book actually focuses on what he was doing specifically for the Aryan cause/goals, then you probably should

Nietzsche was co-opted by his sister (who was a proto-National Socialist) and was strongly misinterpreted. In fact, Nietzsche was strongly anti-German nationalism and anti-Anti-Semitic, which lead to a fallout with his idol, Wagner.

Well, since Jews believe that the quality of being a Jew is inherited from the mother (for the more Orthodox amongst them), regardless of one's degree of adherence to the religion, then identifying as a Jew seems kosher (pun intended).

"As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew"

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