The Whiteheads on Disagreeable Jews
“The Jews,” said he, “as a race, are probably the most able of any in existence. Now when a gifted person is charming and uses his exceptional ability generously, he is a paragon and people adore him; but in the same way, if a person with unusual ability is disagreeable, his ability makes him just so much the more disagreeable, and thus the disagreeable individuals in that race are the more conspicuous.”
“They are not one bit more disagreeable than the Anglo-Saxons,” said Mrs. Whitehead. “Having been brought up in
(Lucien Price, Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, XXIII, September 10, 1941, Pg. 179-80)
-atgate231
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
were the Jews in Brittany then? I’m so curious for the historical context of this piece.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Yho,
Good question. There seems to have been Jews living there on and off until the early modern period – and during the war as well (this conversation took place in 1941). But I don’t know about the turn of the century which would have been when Mrs. Whitehead was raised there. But it may be that although Jews did live in Brittany there was no real cosmopolitan Jewish presence there..
I understand her statement (though she may not have meant it so) as highlighting his argument – that is, that since the Anglo-Saxons are not more disagreeable than the Jews it must be that their peculiar negative image is because of their extraordinary ability…
See here for Jews in Medieval Brittany:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1488&letter=B