John Derbyshire

Last updated

John Derbyshire
JohnDerbyshire1.jpg
June 2001
Born (1945-06-03) 3 June 1945 (age 78)
Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma mater University College London,
University of London
Occupation(s)Computer programmer, journalist, political commentator
Website JohnDerbyshire.com

John Derbyshire (born 3 June 1945) is a British-born American journalist, political commentator, and computer programmer. He was noted for being one of the last paleoconservatives at the National Review , [1] [2] until he was fired in 2012 for writing an article for Taki's Magazine that was widely viewed as racist. [3] Since 2012 he has written for white nationalist website VDARE. [2] [4]

Contents

In the article that caused his firing, Derbyshire suggested that white and East Asian parents should talk to their children about the threats posed to their safety by black people. He also recommended that parents tell their children not to live in predominantly black communities. [3] He included the line "If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date." [3]

He has also written for the New English Review . His columns cover political-cultural topics, including immigration, China, history, mathematics, and race. [5] [6] Derbyshire's 1996 novel about Chinese-American immigrants, Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream , was a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year". [7] His 2004 non-fiction book Prime Obsession won the Mathematical Association of America's inaugural Euler Book Prize. [8] A political book, We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism , was released in September 2009. [9]

Early life

Derbyshire attended the Northampton School for Boys and graduated from University College London, of the University of London, where he studied mathematics. Before turning to writing full-time, he worked on Wall Street as a computer programmer.

Career

National Review

Derbyshire worked as a writer at National Review until he was terminated in 2012 because of an article published in Taki's Magazine that was widely perceived as racist. [10] [11]

Derbyshire began writing for the far-right website VDARE in May 2012. [2] [4] In his first column for the website, Derbyshire wrote "White supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements History has come up with." [4]

Mathematics

Derbyshire's book Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics was first published in hardcover in 2003 and then paperback in 2004. It focuses on the Riemann hypothesis, one of the Millennium Problems. [12] The book is aimed, as Derbyshire puts it in his prologue, "at the intelligent and curious but nonmathematical reader ..."

Prime Obsession explores such topics as complex numbers, field theory, the prime number theorem, the zeta function, the harmonic series, and others. The biographical sections give relevant information about the lives of mathematicians who worked in these areas, including Euler, Gauss, Lejeune Dirichlet, Lobachevsky, Chebyshev, Vallée-Poussin, Hadamard, as well as Riemann himself.[ citation needed ]

In 2006, Joseph Henry Press published another Derbyshire book of popular mathematics: Unknown Quantity: A Real And Imaginary History of Algebra.[ citation needed ]

Role in Way of the Dragon

Derbyshire had an uncredited role in Way of the Dragon (released in the United States as Return of the Dragon), a 1972 martial arts film directed by, and starring, Bruce Lee. [13] Of landing the part, Derbyshire said: "The casting director had obviously just trawled around the low-class guesthouses for unemployed foreigners of a sufficiently thuggish appearance." [14]

Views

Derbyshire writes in general from a small government conservative perspective. He notably ridiculed George W. Bush's "itty-bitty tax cut, paid for by dumping a slew of federal debt on your children and grandchildren," [15] derided Bush as too sure of his religious convictions and for his "rich-kid-ness". [16] He has noted that small-government conservatism is unlikely to ever take hold in the United States (although he is personally sympathetic to it), called for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq (but favoured the invasion), opposed market reforms or any other changes in Social Security, supported legal access to abortion, supported euthanasia in a fairly wide range of circumstances, and suggested that he might (in a time of international crisis) vote for Hillary Clinton as president. [17] Derbyshire wrote about American schooling in his book We Are Doomed , "Education is a vast sea of lies, waste, corruption, crackpot theorizing, and careerist log-rolling." He further argued that people "had better brace ourselves for the catastrophe" coming as a result. [18]

Derbyshire once argued that America would be better off if women did not have the right to vote. [19] In 2005, in a monthly column containing a series of miscellaneous musings, he controversially stated that women's physical attractiveness peaks between ages 15 and 20. [20] [21]

Derbyshire was one of the inaugural speakers at the Mencken Club, a far-right club formed by Paul Gottfried and Richard B. Spencer, and has spoken at the group several additional times. The Mencken Club has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist organization. [22] [23]

Conflicts with National Review

Derbyshire differed from other writers at National Review magazine on many subjects. For example, Derbyshire supported Michael Schiavo's position in the Terri Schiavo case. Derbyshire's views on the Schiavo case attracted criticism from colleagues such as Ramesh Ponnuru. [24] The Derbyshire–Ponnuru dispute arose again over Ponnuru's 2006 book The Party of Death . Derbyshire reviewed the book harshly in the New English Review, [25] and Ponnuru replied on National Review Online. [26]

Though Derbyshire broadly agreed with other writers at National Review Online on immigration, he encountered strong opposition from former NRO blogger John Podhoretz, who described Derbyshire's comments on restricting immigration to maintain "ethnic balance" in severe terms: "But maintaining 'ethnic balance' is not fine. It is chillingly, horrifyingly not fine." [27]

Personal life

Derbyshire's has been married to Lynette Rose Derbyshire, a Chinese immigrant, since 1986. [28] The couple were married in the city of Jilin, in Jilin Province, northeast China, and have a daughter and a son. He has lived in Long Island, New York since 1992. [29] In early 2012, he underwent treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. [30]

Published works

He has also written numerous articles for various publications, including National Review , The New Criterion , The American Conservative and The Washington Times .

Derbyshire records a weekly podcast called "Radio Derb," in which he comments on current events. The podcast was hosted on the National Review website before being moved to Taki's Magazine . It is now hosted on VDARE.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riemann zeta function</span> Analytic function in mathematics

The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter ζ (zeta), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernhard Riemann</span> German mathematician (1826–1866)

Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was a German mathematician who made profound contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rigorous formulation of the integral, the Riemann integral, and his work on Fourier series. His contributions to complex analysis include most notably the introduction of Riemann surfaces, breaking new ground in a natural, geometric treatment of complex analysis. His 1859 paper on the prime-counting function, containing the original statement of the Riemann hypothesis, is regarded as a foundational paper of analytic number theory. Through his pioneering contributions to differential geometry, Riemann laid the foundations of the mathematics of general relativity. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H. L. Mencken</span> American journalist and writer (1880–1956)

Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial", also gained him attention. The term Menckenian has entered multiple dictionaries to describe anything of or pertaining to Mencken, including his combative rhetorical and prose style.

<i>National Review</i> American conservative editorial magazine

National Review is an American conservative right-libertarian editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich Lowry, and its editor is Ramesh Ponnuru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Gottfried</span> American political philosopher (born 1941)

Paul Edward Gottfried is an American paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer. He is a former Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is editor-in-chief of the paleoconservative magazine Chronicles. He is an associated scholar at the Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank, and the US correspondent of Nouvelle École, a Nouvelle Droite journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Halmos</span> Hungarian-American mathematician (1916–2006)

Paul Richard Halmos was a Hungarian-born American mathematician and statistician who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, statistics, operator theory, ergodic theory, and functional analysis. He was also recognized as a great mathematical expositor. He has been described as one of The Martians.

VDARE is an American far-right website promoting opposition to immigration to the United States. It is associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and the alt-right. Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia describes VDARE as "one of the most prolific anti-immigration media outlets in the United States" and states that it is "broadly concerned with race issues in the United States". Established in 1999, the website's editor is Peter Brimelow, who once stated that "whites built American culture" and that "it is at risk from non-whites who would seek to change it".

Peter Brimelow is an American white supremacist writer. He is the founder of the website VDARE, an anti-immigration site associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and the alt-right.

John Mordecai Podhoretz is an American writer. He is the editor of Commentary magazine, a columnist for the New York Post, the author of several books on politics, and a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John O'Sullivan (columnist)</span> British journalist

John O'Sullivan, CBE is a British conservative political commentator and journalist. From 1987 to 1988, he was a senior policy writer and speechwriter in 10 Downing Street for Margaret Thatcher when she was British prime minister and remained close to her up to her death.

<i>Prime Obsession</i> Book by John Derbyshire

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics (2003) is a historical book on mathematics by John Derbyshire, detailing the history of the Riemann hypothesis, named for Bernhard Riemann, and some of its applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Sailer</span> American political writer

Steven Ernest Sailer is an American far-right writer and blogger. He is currently a columnist for Taki's Magazine and VDARE, a website associated with white supremacy. Since 2014, his personal blog, iSteve, has appeared in The Unz Review.

Popular mathematics is mathematical presentation aimed at a general audience. Sometimes this is in the form of books which require no mathematical background and in other cases it is in the form of expository articles written by professional mathematicians to reach out to others working in different areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramesh Ponnuru</span> American conservative political pundit and journalist

Ramesh Ponnuru is an American conservative thinker, political pundit, and journalist. He has been a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute since 2012. He is the editor of National Review magazine, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, and a contributing editor to the domestic policy journal National Affairs.

<i>The Music of the Primes</i> Book by Marcus du Sautoy

The Music of the Primes is a 2003 book by Marcus du Sautoy, a professor in mathematics at the University of Oxford, on the history of prime number theory. In particular he examines the Riemann hypothesis, the proof of which would revolutionize our understanding of prime numbers. He traces the prime number theorem back through history, highlighting the work of some of the greatest mathematical minds along the way.

Joseph Henry Press (JHP) is an American publisher which is an imprint of the National Academies Press, publisher for the United States National Academy of Sciences. The imprint is named after American scientist Joseph Henry.

<i>The Party of Death</i>

The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life is a book authored by Ramesh Ponnuru. The hardcover edition, published by Regnery Publishing, was released on April 24, 2006 and consists of 320 pages. Controversially titled, the work is an exposition on such right to life issues as abortion and euthanasia, concentrating on the United States Democratic Party's shift from anti-abortion to abortion rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henryk Iwaniec</span> Polish-American mathematician (born 1947)

Henryk Iwaniec is a Polish-American mathematician, and since 1987 a professor at Rutgers University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Polish Academy of Sciences. He has made important contributions to analytic and algebraic number theory as well as harmonic analysis. He is the recipient of Cole Prize (2002), Steele Prize (2011), and Shaw Prize (2015).

Taki's Magazine, called Takimag for short, is an online magazine of politics and culture published by the Greek paleoconservative commentator and socialite Taki Theodoracopulos and edited by his daughter Mandolyna Theodoracopulos. It has published articles by far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes and the white supremacist Jared Taylor; the white supremacist Richard Spencer was an early Taki's editor.

The Euler Book Prize is an award named after Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) and given annually at the Joint Mathematics Meetings by the Mathematical Association of America to an outstanding book in mathematics that is likely to improve the public view of the field.

References

  1. ↑ "Re: Paleocons On Immigration". National Review . 19 March 2003. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Matthews, Dylan (6 May 2016). "Paleoconservatism, the movement that explains Donald Trump, explained". Vox. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Byers, Dylan (7 April 2012). "National Review fires John Derbyshire". POLITICO. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 "VDARE". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 5 April 2023. White supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements History has come up with. There have of course been some blots on the record, but I don't see how it can be denied that net-net, white Europeans have made a better job of running fair and stable societies than has any other group.
  5. ↑ "John Derbyshire archive". National Review Online. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  6. ↑ "Articles by John Derbyshire at New English Review". New English Review. Archived from the original on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  7. ↑ "Notable Books of the Year 1996". The New York Times. 8 December 1996. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  8. ↑ "The Mathematical Association of America's Euler Book Prize". MAA Online. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  9. ↑ Nagle, Angela (2017). Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right. John Hunt Publishing. Right wing voices that claim to have been purged from the conservative movement, like Peter Brimelow and John Derbyshire, have formed part of the alt-right.
  10. ↑ Lowry, Rich (7 April 2012). "Parting Ways". National Review Online . Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Davidson Sorkin, Amy (9 April 2012). "Why the National Review Fired John Derbyshire". The New Yorker . New York City. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  12. ↑ S. W. Graham. "Read This: Prime Obsession". The Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
  13. ↑ "Twelve questions for John Derbyshire". The Economist. 18 July 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
  14. ↑ John Derbyshire (15 October 2003). "Thug (Uncredited)". National Review. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  15. ↑ John Derbyshire (10 May 2005). "Twilight of Conservatism". National Review Online. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  16. ↑ John Derbyshire (5 July 2006). "Gone, but Not Forgotten". National Review Online. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  17. ↑ John Derbyshire (24 June 2005). "Just Got Back From The Windy City ..." National Review Online. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  18. ↑ Derbyshire, John (7 July 2011). "The Credentialed Society". National Review. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  19. ↑ Shakir, Faiz (30 September 2009). "National Review's John Derbyshire: Women Should Not Have The Right To Vote". web.archive.org. ThinkProgress.org. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  20. ↑ "Northeast Asia heating up?". National Review Online. 30 November 2005. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  21. ↑ "John Derbyshire fired over racism, but what about his sexualization of 15-year-old girls?". Hugo Schwyzer. 8 April 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  22. ↑ Hartzell, Stephanie L. (2018). "Alt-White: Conceptualizing the "Alt-Right" as a Rhetorical Bridge between White Nationalism and Mainstream Public Discourse" (PDF). Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric . 8 (1/2): 6–18. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  23. ↑ Piggott, Stephen (4 November 2016). "White Nationalists to Gather in Baltimore for the Ninth Annual H.L. Mencken Club Conference". HateWatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  24. ↑ Ramesh Ponnuru (23 March 2005). "Contra Derbyshire". National Review. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  25. ↑ John Derbyshire (June 2006). "A Frigid and Pitiless Dogma". New English Review. Archived from the original on 15 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  26. ↑ Ponnuru, Ramesh (7 June 2006). "Unreason John Derbyshire vs. Pro-Lifers". National Review. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  27. ↑ John Podhoretz (12 May 2006). "Ethnic Balance?". National Review. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  28. ↑ "Family Album". Johnderbyshire.com. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  29. ↑ "John Derbyshire". John Derbyshire. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  30. ↑ O'Connor, Maureen (9 April 2012). "'I May Give Up Writing and Work as a Butler': Interview with John Derbyshire". Gawker . Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.

Interviews

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.