WHITNEY-L Archives

Archiver > WHITNEY > 2002-09 > 1031624032


From: "Bill Whitney" <>
Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Not So Great Whitney
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 20:13:52 -0600
References: <41200291934744830@earthlink.net>


Dear Merry

According to H.L. Mencken's Dictionary of Quotations, that may be a very
ancient saying.

He attributes this to Seneca:
"He who boasts of his descent praises another" (50 A.D.)

And some other interesting ones:

"People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their
ancestors"
Edmund Burke 1790

"I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors"
Benjamin Franklin 1798

"Happy the man who thinks of his ancestors with pride, who likes to tell of
their deeds and greatness,
and rejoices to feel himself linked to their goodly chain."
J. W. Goethe 1787

"A mule always boasts that its ancestors were horses"
GERMAN PROVERB

"A man's ancestry is a positive property to him. How much not only of acres,
but of his constitution,
his temper, his conduct, character and nature he may inherit from some
progenitor ten times removed!"
E.G. Bulwer-Lytton 1849

"Our ancestors are very good kind of folks; but they are the last people I
should choose to have a visiting acquaintance with."
R.B. Sheridan 1775




----- Original Message -----
From: "Merry Whitney" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 9:47 PM
Subject: RE: [WHITNEY-L] Not So Great Whitney


> Yes, I remember well my father's admonishments (as a kid, I think I may
> have had a tendency to brag a bit), that there were some giants among the
> Whitney lines but that "we had some 'hoss' thieves back there, too." Now,
> what is that Bartlett's quote? "It is good to be well descended, but the
> glory belongs to our ancestors?" Something like that.
>
> I don't know anything about the (late) Whitney gentleman that the Southern
> Poverty Law Center's article castigates, and he doesn't sound like anyone
> I'd care to spend time listening to; on the other hand, I do know a little
> bit about the Southern Poverty Law Center, and quite frankly, "Ditto."
>
> Merry
>
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: karl h schwerin <>
> > To: <>
> > Date: 09/08/02 5:17:46 PM
> > Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Not So Great Whitney
> >
> > Recently there have been numerous posts to the list documenting
> > distinguished and accomplished Whitneys. I have no doubt that 99.5 per
> > cent of Whitneys are individuals of whom we can be proud, but once in
> > awhile there does seem to be a blot on the Whitney name. Nonetheless,
> > history doesn't always happen the way we'd like it to. So,in the
> > interests of historic completeness, I'm posting the following item about
> > an extremely racist Whitney. The item appeared in the Summer 2002 issue
> > of "The Southern Poverty Law Center's INTELLIGENCE REPORT" (p. 5).
> >
> > And yes, I did mention this "scientist" in my presentation at the WRG
> > Reunion, but only because another member had given me his name. I must
> > admit that all I knew about him was that he was "a psychologist,
educator
> > and geneticist," and didn't inquire further about his research or
> > publications.
> >
> >
> > "Academic Racism
> > "Death of a 'Truth-Telling Gentlemen'
> >
> > "The radical right lost one of its favorite race scientists when
> > 62-year-old Glayde Whitney died in Florida on Jan. 9.
> > "Whitney was a regular contributor to __American Renaissance__, a
> > racist magazine emphasizing IQ studies and eugenics, and an active
member
> > the (sic) Council of Conservative Citizens, the reincarnation of the
White
> > Citizens Councils formed in the 1950s to resist desegregation of
Southern
> > schools. He also taught psychology at Florida State University for more
> > than 31 years, researching the genetic mechanisms underlying behavior.
> > His main finding was that science supposedly 'proves' that blacks are
> > generally less intelligent than whites.
> > "Whitney gained national notoriety when he wrote a fawning
> > introduction to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's 1999
book, --__My
> > Awakening__. Whitney concluded that Duke had relied on 'good science'
in
> > contending that blacks should be separated from whites. He called Duke
a
> > 'seeker of truth' not unlike some of history's greatest thinkers,
> > including 'Socrates and Isaac Newton.'
> > "'One of his honest truths,' Whitney wrote of Duke, is that
> > 'racial egalitarianism is the scientific equivalent of the flat-earth
> > theory.'
> > "In lieu of flowers, Whitney's family asked that donations be sent
> > to the Charles Martel Society, the self-described 'intellectual home of
> > Western nationalism.' The recently created society puts out a slick,
> > academic-looking journal called __The Occidental Quarterly__, edited by
> > William H. Regnery II, the reclusive Chicago millionaire who is heir to
> > the Regnery publishing fortune. The second issue, published soon after
> > Whitney's death, ends with a lengthy book review by Whitney in which
he-no
> > irony intended-picks apart a thesis that 'smacks of ideology more than
> > science.'
> > "Whitney's children, Timothy and Scott, asked that 'ole Doc' be
> > remembered as 'the double-gun toting, intellectual, un-conforming,
> > truth-telling gentleman that he is, was, and always will be.'"
> >
> >
> >
> > Karl Schwerin SnailMail: Dept. of Anthropology
> > Univ. of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131
> > e-mail:
> >
> > Cultural anthropology...is valuable because it is constantly
rediscovering
> > the normal. Edward Sapir (1949:151)
>
>
>
> --- Merry Whitney
> ---
> --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
>
>
>
>

This thread: