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- "In the fifties there were signs of an intellectual elite in two of the oldest Southern states, but the war came and uprooted it before it was established. Since then it has not shown itself. From that time on, the nation's blood was democratically mixed with that of the Negro, and intelligence sank rather than rose. Cohabition with the blacks was foisted upon the people. Inhumanity stole them away from Africa where they belong, and democracy transformed them into civilized citizens against the entire order of nature. They have leaped over all the intermediate stages from voracious rat eater to Yankee. Now they are used as preachers, barbers, waiters, and sons-in-law. They have all the rights of a white man and take all the liberties of a black. A Negro is and will remain a Negro. If he shaves a man, he grabs him by the nose as his own blessed grandfather grabbed a crocodile leg along the Nile ; if he serves a meal, he sticks his shiny thumb into the soup all the way up to his elbow. There is no use in rebuking him for his slightly uncivilized manner of doing things. If you are not rudely answered back, the African democrat will at least tell you in an insulted voice to "mind your own business!" And then you have to hold your tongue ; the discussion is at end. Still, if you are sitting there with two big fists, and right on your side, then you swallow your food with little appetite. Of course, it would be another matter if you had expressly ordered soup with thumbs.The Negroes are and will remain Negroes, a nascent human form from the tropics, creatures with entrails in their heads, rudimentary organs on the body of white society. Instead of founding an intellectual elite, America has established a mulatto studfarm ; therefore one might be justified in seeking an intellectual elite in countries where there are greater chances for its existence than America."(K. Hamsun, From the Intellectual Life of Modern America)In his book [From the Intellectual Life of Modern America], expanding upon the two lectures delivered before the students in Copenhagen in 1889, Hamsun first berated the patriotism of Americans. No sooner did the bewildered European encounter the bustle and informality of the port of New York when he was treated to a parade, likely as not of war veterans. Americans showed hostility toward those who disagreed with them. Proud of their inventions, they thought that everything new originated in the United States. They were ignorant of affairs outside their country. The public school, extolled by some as an ideal, limited the study of geography and history strictly to America. In place of state-church influence in the classroom there was a religious orthodoxy that manifested itself in morning prayers, hymn singing, and Bible reading.Hamsun, sensitive to the treatment of aliens, observed that the Yankees called all Scandinavians Swedes. Congress was considering new immigration restrictions, for no good reason. There was plenty of land, and more laborers were needed. The only foreigners who commanded respect were the British. The power of the money aristocracy was strong, even in American journalism. Newspapers reflected American culture with stark realism. They were cluttered with this and that, including local news and sensational stories. They dealt seriously with politics only every fourth year. Hamsun found them unintelligent and uninteresting.Conceptions of freedom were not as simon-pure as Norwegian journals represented them to be. Editors in the homeland should see this at first hand. Freedom was lacking in many ways. Let a newspaper print an error about Congress and it was punished. An author who showed signs of European influence was silenced. Emile Zola’s works were banned because of their alleged immorality. Little children were working in factories under conditions no better than those of slavery..In the matter of political theory, the ordinary American thought only of dynamite when he heard the word "anarchism." In the hanging of the Haymarket demonstrators the American-vaunted democracy and freedom proved as [187] autocratic as any medieval despotism. An author who favored monarchy over republicanism would be run out of the country. To disavow any of George Washington’s principles invited exile or execution. American freedom was freedom en masse, not freedom for the individual. The bomb thrower in the Haymarket riot of May 4, 1886, was not identified. But because five policemen were killed and two wounded, five anarchists were condemned to death and two were sentenced to life imprisonment. An eye for an eye! Practical American justice! Albert Parsons wasn’t even present at the Haymarket meeting. To cap it all, a monument was raised, not to the spokesmen of the downtrodden, but to the fallen police.In Hamsun’s opinion, no better illustration could be found to describe the American system of justice than the Haymarket case. People mainly of Europe’s lowest type (referring no doubt to unenlightened immigrants) condemned to death some of America’s most intelligent men, simply because intelligence was not understood by the howling mob. The Police Gazette was allowed to go through the mails, but not an anarchist paper. One could escape punishment for murder, political corruption, and swindling, but for proclaiming an unwelcome social philosophy the extreme penalty had to be paid. Yankees considered it smart to get away with a swindle. In the absence of extradition laws between Canada and the United States, crooked bank employees escaped into the dominion. Newspapers played up the successful criminal. Crime was coarse and baseless, seldom having an economic motive. More often the criminal simply wanted luxury in the way of fine clothing or elegant dining.Speaking of the public schools, Hamsun admitted that because America was a new country, composed of many nationalities, it represented an experiment in democracy on a vast scale. But he concluded that the great republic was a culture borrower nevertheless, and as rootless as were the fathers and grandfathers when they forsook Europe. It would be unnatural for Americans to be an enlightened lot. They had emigrated for economic reasons, and by the time they had achieved a degree of financial security they had lost the incentive to learn. Nor was the quality of education commensurate with the heavy costs of the public school system. The curriculum ignored Europe. The teaching schedule was often disregarded. Teachers told stories, but seldom dwelt long upon the abstract. True, American schools excelled in arithmetic and American history and geography, but arithmetic was turned to selfish and practical use in a materialistic society. Before a Yankee boy was very old, he know how to cheat a streetcar conductor! History dealt mainly with American war heroes. While the schools were not confessional, or related to the church, teachers nevertheless were inclined to draw morals from the subject matter rather than stay with the facts.In free-swinging style the young Hamsun also let fly, though more mildly, at church life in America, which was very active. Minneapolis had no less than 146 congregations of various denominations. Copenhagen, with about the same population, had only 29. American churches were well equipped, even ornate. Sermons had no more intellectual stimulus than in Norway, but were superior to the Norwegian in their combination of logic, down-to-earth speech, and practical illustrations. On Sunday evenings Hamsun sometimes chose church in preference to the theater. There he found entertainment (without cigar smoke) in the company of beautiful and well-dressed ladies. There was much social pressure to belong to the church and to contribute, and preachers had great influence in the community. But America’s moral standard was basically monetary, even for church members. In the opinion of Robert G. Ingersoll, the great agnostic and lecturer, religious freedom was limited to those with money.Hamsun proceeded to air his views on American women, who, he declared, had the power. They could practice free love without punishment or stigma. They could easily obtain divorces. Judges heard their pleas sympathetically and almost invariably believed their tales of woe. Without children or perhaps with one or two unwanted offspring, women had time to sit in church. Mothers preferred not to care for their infants personally, but employed nursemaids.Hamsun’s concluding pages gave Yankee culture a rough going over. The American was familiar with English tunes and with formal etiquette, but basically he was still a creature of the prairies. He never became an aristocrat by temperament. In fact, the Civil War was waged to suppress the Southern aristocracy, not to free the slaves. Hamsun quoted Lepel Griffin in an 1884 issue of the Fortmightly Review of London: America was disappointing in its politics, literature, culture, and art, in its natural aspect, its towns, and their people! Hamsun’s last words were a pessimistic reference to America’s "dark sky."
- Here are some bits and pieces on the so-called 'passport nuisance' of the 1920s in America :"The Passport Nuisance" in : Craig Robertson, The Passport in America: The History of a Document (2010), https://books.google.be/books?isbn=0199779899Van: evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com <evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com> namens 'G. H.' g.vdheide@live..nl [evola_as_he_is] <evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com>
Verzonden: donderdag 26 juli 2018 20:06:46
Aan: evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com
Onderwerp: [evola_as_he_is] K. Hamsun on America"In the fifties there were signs of an intellectual elite in two of the oldest Southern states, but the war came and uprooted it before it was established. Since then it has not shown itself. From that time on, the nation's blood was democratically mixed with that of the Negro, and intelligence sank rather than rose. Cohabition with the blacks was foisted upon the people. Inhumanity stole them away from Africa where they belong, and democracy transformed them into civilized citizens against the entire order of nature. They have leaped over all the intermediate stages from voracious rat eater to Yankee. Now they are used as preachers, barbers, waiters, and sons-in-law. They have all the rights of a white man and take all the liberties of a black. A Negro is and will remain a Negro. If he shaves a man, he grabs him by the nose as his own blessed grandfather grabbed a crocodile leg along the Nile ; if he serves a meal, he sticks his shiny thumb into the soup all the way up to his elbow. There is no use in rebuking him for his slightly uncivilized manner of doing things. If you are not rudely answered back, the African democrat will at least tell you in an insulted voice to "mind your own business!" And then you have to hold your tongue ; the discussion is at end. Still, if you are sitting there with two big fists, and right on your side, then you swallow your food with little appetite.. Of course, it would be another matter if you had expressly ordered soup with thumbs.The Negroes are and will remain Negroes, a nascent human form from the tropics, creatures with entrails in their heads, rudimentary organs on the body of white society. Instead of founding an intellectual elite, America has established a mulatto studfarm ; therefore one might be justified in seeking an intellectual elite in countries where there are greater chances for its existence than America."(K. Hamsun, From the Intellectual Life of Modern America)In his book [From the Intellectual Life of Modern America], expanding upon the two lectures delivered before the students in Copenhagen in 1889, Hamsun first berated the patriotism of Americans. No sooner did the bewildered European encounter the bustle and informality of the port of New York when he was treated to a parade, likely as not of war veterans. Americans showed hostility toward those who disagreed with them. Proud of their inventions, they thought that everything new originated in the United States. They were ignorant of affairs outside their country. The public school, extolled by some as an ideal, limited the study of geography and history strictly to America. In place of state-church influence in the classroom there was a religious orthodoxy that manifested itself in morning prayers, hymn singing, and Bible reading.Hamsun, sensitive to the treatment of aliens, observed that the Yankees called all Scandinavians Swedes. Congress was considering new immigration restrictions, for no good reason. There was plenty of land, and more laborers were needed. The only foreigners who commanded respect were the British. The power of the money aristocracy was strong, even in American journalism. Newspapers reflected American culture with stark realism. They were cluttered with this and that, including local news and sensational stories. They dealt seriously with politics only every fourth year. Hamsun found them unintelligent and uninteresting.Conceptions of freedom were not as simon-pure as Norwegian journals represented them to be. Editors in the homeland should see this at first hand.. Freedom was lacking in many ways. Let a newspaper print an error about Congress and it was punished. An author who showed signs of European influence was silenced. Emile Zola’s works were banned because of their alleged immorality. Little children were working in factories under conditions no better than those of slavery..In the matter of political theory, the ordinary American thought only of dynamite when he heard the word "anarchism." In the hanging of the Haymarket demonstrators the American-vaunted democracy and freedom proved as [187] autocratic as any medieval despotism. An author who favored monarchy over republicanism would be run out of the country. To disavow any of George Washington’s principles invited exile or execution. American freedom was freedom en masse, not freedom for the individual. The bomb thrower in the Haymarket riot of May 4, 1886, was not identified. But because five policemen were killed and two wounded, five anarchists were condemned to death and two were sentenced to life imprisonment. An eye for an eye! Practical American justice! Albert Parsons wasn’t even present at the Haymarket meeting. To cap it all, a monument was raised, not to the spokesmen of the downtrodden, but to the fallen police.In Hamsun’s opinion, no better illustration could be found to describe the American system of justice than the Haymarket case. People mainly of Europe’s lowest type (referring no doubt to unenlightened immigrants) condemned to death some of America’s most intelligent men, simply because intelligence was not understood by the howling mob. The Police Gazette was allowed to go through the mails, but not an anarchist paper. One could escape punishment for murder, political corruption, and swindling, but for proclaiming an unwelcome social philosophy the extreme penalty had to be paid. Yankees considered it smart to get away with a swindle. In the absence of extradition laws between Canada and the United States, crooked bank employees escaped into the dominion. Newspapers played up the successful criminal. Crime was coarse and baseless, seldom having an economic motive. More often the criminal simply wanted luxury in the way of fine clothing or elegant dining.Speaking of the public schools, Hamsun admitted that because America was a new country, composed of many nationalities, it represented an experiment in democracy on a vast scale. But he concluded that the great republic was a culture borrower nevertheless, and as rootless as were the fathers and grandfathers when they forsook Europe. It would be unnatural for Americans to be an enlightened lot. They had emigrated for economic reasons, and by the time they had achieved a degree of financial security they had lost the incentive to learn. Nor was the quality of education commensurate with the heavy costs of the public school system. The curriculum ignored Europe. The teaching schedule was often disregarded. Teachers told stories, but seldom dwelt long upon the abstract. True, American schools excelled in arithmetic and American history and geography, but arithmetic was turned to selfish and practical use in a materialistic society. Before a Yankee boy was very old, he know how to cheat a streetcar conductor! History dealt mainly with American war heroes. While the schools were not confessional, or related to the church, teachers nevertheless were inclined to draw morals from the subject matter rather than stay with the facts.In free-swinging style the young Hamsun also let fly, though more mildly, at church life in America, which was very active. Minneapolis had no less than 146 congregations of various denominations. Copenhagen, with about the same population, had only 29. American churches were well equipped, even ornate. Sermons had no more intellectual stimulus than in Norway, but were superior to the Norwegian in their combination of logic, down-to-earth speech, and practical illustrations.. On Sunday evenings Hamsun sometimes chose church in preference to the theater. There he found entertainment (without cigar smoke) in the company of beautiful and well-dressed ladies. There was much social pressure to belong to the church and to contribute, and preachers had great influence in the community. But America’s moral standard was basically monetary, even for church members. In the opinion of Robert G. Ingersoll, the great agnostic and lecturer, religious freedom was limited to those with money.Hamsun proceeded to air his views on American women, who, he declared, had the power. They could practice free love without punishment or stigma. They could easily obtain divorces. Judges heard their pleas sympathetically and almost invariably believed their tales of woe. Without children or perhaps with one or two unwanted offspring, women had time to sit in church. Mothers preferred not to care for their infants personally, but employed nursemaids.Hamsun’s concluding pages gave Yankee culture a rough going over. The American was familiar with English tunes and with formal etiquette, but basically he was still a creature of the prairies. He never became an aristocrat by temperament. In fact, the Civil War was waged to suppress the Southern aristocracy, not to free the slaves. Hamsun quoted Lepel Griffin in an 1884 issue of the Fortmightly Review of London: America was disappointing in its politics, literature, culture, and art, in its natural aspect, its towns, and their people! Hamsun’s last words were a pessimistic reference to America’s "dark sky."
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