Re: Against "Diversity"

["George N. Schmidt" <Csubstance@AOL.COM>]

In a message dated 9/5/01 5:04:39 PM, mkluznik@HOTMAIL.COM writes:

<< She
said all major religions are accorded full recognition except to Islam.
I don't know much about the Czech Republic, but I found the guide's comments
interesting.  I believe that the Czech Republic sees itself as a bulwark for
Christendom having stopped the hordes of Asia from invading the rest of
Europe, although Poland played a part in that too. >>

Two Substance staff members just spent a year teaching ESL in Prague and
travelling around that part of Europe. Last night, they were discussing how
shocked they were to find the intensity of racism (anti-black variety) and
anti-Semitism among the educated people with whom they worked regularly.

They gave examples. Any takers as to how far we can generalize about this? It
was fair for me to warn one colleague here a few years ago that the reason
his calculus students might be giving him a hard time was that the majority
of them were Polish and he was American (but Jewish).

More than a decade ago, I had a similar experience because of my "Jewish"
accent (I was raised in the Newark area in New Jersey). One student in my
division at Amundsen High School was a real pain in the ass until one day he
came up to me and said, "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell us you weren't a Jew.
You sounded like a Jew..."

These problems are deep, and still embedded in some of the most interesting
post-Communist societies there. Let's not ignore them.

George Schmidt

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