Posted on December 10, 2018

Who Created the Modern World?

Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, December 10, 2018

Julian von Abele is the latest target of media attack after he was caught on video at Columbia University saying that whites created the modern world.

The Columbia student appears drunk, and the encounter allegedly started when he approached a group of non-white students. There is an uncorroborated allegation that Mr. von Abele “physically grabbed one of the others and asked if black women like to date white men.”

It is important to note what the video does not contain. Even Mr. von Abele indignantly denies hating other people and simply states that he loves his own people. Indeed, he frames his love for whites as part of a love for all people, arguing that whites have “saved” people all over the globe and created the modern world. The most offensive thing he said is, arguably, “I love white people, we are the best.” This is like the declarations of harmless pride people make about their football teams.

In contrast, the person who posted the video says, “Twitter do your thing,” meaning “circulate this video everywhere and ruin this guy’s life forever.” Others can be heard urging Julian von Abele to “say that one more time,” so there could be no doubt about what he was saying. The plan was clearly to rouse a digital lynch mob. Despite their endless claims of suffering, the non-white students knew the media and everyone in power would join the mob.

That’s exactly what happened:

The school has also issued an official response. It “unequivocally denounce[s]” the “painful language” of this “deeply disturbing incident,” which is now “under investigation.” It announced there will be an “open reflection space” Monday night hosted by Multicultural Affairs, with “additional areas of support” forthcoming. There are also promises of “individual support” from “our on-call team.” Columbia is clearly preparing for students to be emotionally devastated by one drunk student. Whites, of course, have to put up with far worse every day from their professors. And if Mr. von Abele’s language is so “painful,” why did students choose to broadcast it on the internet?

Students want firm measures. Alfredo Dominguez said that “you can have arguments all you want about free speech and people being entitled to say what they want,” but suggested “when that bubbles [into] assaulting black or brown people with that and then stalking them . . . you’re getting into levels of hate crime and your speech being directly related to violence.” He also demanded more diversity programming because “they’ve been here for a year and a half and are still thinking about people this way.”

None of this is to say Julian von Abele did nothing wrong. If he grabbed one of the other students, that may be a crime, but almost no one seems to be worried about what he may have done. Everyone is frothing over what he said, with media coverage in outlets such as The Hill focusing entirely on his supposedly “racist language.”

But why is Mr. von Abele’s drunken rambling worse than many events sponsored by Columbia? In 2016, the school held a “Students of Color Leadership Retreat” from which whites were banned. In 2013, an annual production of The Vagina Monologues kept out white women. Many of the organizations demanding punishment for Julian von Abele are race-based organizations, such as the Black Student Organization and the Student Organization of Latinxs.

Also, his main point — that whites created the modern world — is true. Charles Murray’s Human Accomplishment identified 4,002 people who contributed to human progress mostly through scientific advances. He found that 80 percent of them grew up in the “European Core,” with borders defined by Napes, Marseilles, the western border of Dorset County in England, a point a few miles above Glasgow, the northern tip of Denmark, and a point a few miles east of the city that used to be Breslau in German Silesia. Non-whites are vanishingly few in this chronicle of accomplishment. Julian von Abele’s boast about white people saving millions of lives is unquestionably true. Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug alone saved tens of millions through high-yield farming that brought about the “green revolution.”

Julian von Abele studies quantum physics and is the author of two books, Physics Reforged: The New Theory of Parallel Universes, Hidden Dimensions, and the Fringes of Reality and Time and the Multiverse: Selected Writings on Novel Physical Theories. In other words, he is attending Columbia to study real science, unlike many of his critics. Unfortunately, because of his boorish behavior, he may never have a career. White advocates should learn a lesson: We must always maintain the highest possible standards of conduct and demeanor.

There is another lesson to be learned. The national media, powerful student organizations, and Columbia are not condemning Mr. von Abele for being drunk or boorish.  They condemn him because he defended white people. Though he may owe an apology for how he said it and whatever else he may have done, Mr. von Abele should not apologize for what he said. One student’s drunken rant contains more historical truth about who created the modern world than all the scholarly papers written in every multicultural studies department put together.

At a time when higher education in the West has been all but destroyed, one must find truth where one can. In vino veritas.