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Arthur de Gobineau

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Racist

The Resume

    (July 14, 1816-October 13, 1882)
    Born in Ville d'Avray, France
    Birth name was Joseph-Arthur de Gobineau
    French diplomat and author
    Wrote 'An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races' (1855)
    Popularized the idea of an Aryan master race

Why he might be annoying:

    He hated democracy and was a staunch royalist.
    He claimed the white race was superior to all others.
    He declared 'Adam is the originator of our white species' and that blacks and Asians had separate origins.
    He predicted widespread racial mixing would be the downfall of civilization.
    His former mentor Alexis de Tocqueville called his ideas on race 'The theory of a horse trader rather than that of a statesman.'
    His ideas were largely ignored in France, but caught on in Germany after Richard Wagner's widow Cosima had his works translated, because she felt his Aryan supremacism meshed with the Nordic mythology of Richard's operas.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He had a successful career as a diplomat.
    He described Jews as 'a free, strong, and intelligent people.'
    The Nazis edited out those sorts of passages when they reprinted his works.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 35 Votes: 57.14% Annoying