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Atuls Quest
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Atuls Quest
Nader Habibi
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*Disclaimer: All the characters that appear in this
story are fictional. None of them represent any real in-dividual that I have ever met. The story is a work of
fiction, and in no way is it intended to provide an
account of the lives or attitudes of any specific indi-
viduals or groups. Nader Habibi
Copyright January 2003, Nader Habibi
First Edition
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of thispublication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both
the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Published by Aventine Press, LLC
45 East Flower Street, Ste. 236
Chula Vista, CA 91910-7631, USA
www.aventinepress.com
ISBN: 1-59330-007-7
Printed in the United States of America
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Acknowledgements
Im grateful to many individuals who have assisted me
with the background research for this book or have re-
viewed the manuscript and provided valuable
comments and suggestions. I like to thank Sumiko
Otsubo, Gaiutra Bahadur, R.A. Vasavi, Timur Kuran,
Kevin Paglias, Peter Kilby, Jeffrey Nugent and Warren
Samuels for their comments in various stages of this
books preparation. They are not responsible for any
errors and shortcomings of this manuscript. They do
not endorse any of the unorthodox ideas that are dis-
cussed in this book either.
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PrefaceLets face it.
Whites are more beautiful.
The quote that appears above was written by one of
my students at Yale. His name is Atul: Atul Divan. He
not only wrote, Lets face it. Whites are more
beautiful. He truly believed in it, and spent the last six
months of his undergraduate life at Yale reading and
theorizing about the moral recommendations thatfollow such a belief.
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Chapter One
Independent Study Proposal
It was a Friday afternoon in April of 1998. I had just
returned from a two-hour lecture that ended at 4:30
p.m. and was too tired to do anything. I was sitting in
my office on the third floor of the economics de-
partment at Yale. (Im not used to going home early
even on Friday nights.) So, even though I was prac-
tically brain-dead and could not even find the energy tocasually surf the Internet, I decided to relax for a few
minutes and try to spend at least two hours on my re-
search before heading home.
The department of economics and its associated re-
search centers (like most other offices at Yale) are
spread around in four old buildings around Hillhouse
Avenue in New Haven. Unfortunately, being a junior
faculty member, I had been condemned to a small and
rather uncomfortable room on the third flood of the
main building that also hosted the departments offices.
My office was no larger than 9X8 feet and had a small
narrow window that did not have much of a view, even
if you stood directly in front of it. Another building
about 20 feet away blocked the view. However, if you
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stood to the right of the window and looked to the left,
you could see some trees and the intersection of
Hillhouse and Trumbull streets. That afternoon, I was
doing exactly that, except that I was sitting in my chair.
I was aimlessly looking at people who came into my
line of vision for only a few seconds.
Five minutes into this exciting way of recovering
from two hours of lecturing, I heard a quiet knock at
the door.
Yes. Its open. Again, there was a knock. This
time, I raised my voice: Come in, please. The door
slowly opened. It was one of my former students who
had taken a course with me the previous semester.
Hello, Dr H. I hope you remember me from your
Public Choice class last term, he said in a polite
voice.
Yes I remember you, I Im sorry. Im very bad
with names. But, please, come in. He was one of
those attentive and smart students who stand out within
the first few sessions. He sometimes asked very tough
questions. Nonetheless, when you teach 50 to 70 newstudents every semester, it is hard to remember their
names after the term is over.
Oh, Im Atul Divan. Do you have a minute?
Yes. Yes, Atul. How are you? Have a seat.
Atul was trying to catch his breath while sitting
down and putting his large black backpack on the floor.
He was a short fellow - only 5.4 - and very skinny. He
must have been a second-generation immigrant,
because, while he looked like a typical person from the
Indian subcontinent, he did not have an Indian accent.
His face was bony, and one could not help but noticehis large cheekbones. The good thing about having
your office on the third floor of an old building is that
you and anyone who comes to visit you get a good
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workout. Noticing that he was still breathing heavily, I
commented : At least its good for your heart. Isnt
it? Then I waited for him to tell me the purpose of his
visit. My guess was that he was here to ask for a rec-
ommendation letter, since ex-students rarely contact
their former teachers for any other purpose.
Dr. H, I was wondering if I could take an inde-
pendent study course with you next fall?
My answer was going to be negative, because I was
very busy back then trying to complete my latest re-
search paper. And besides, I did not have a good
experience with supervising individual studies (IS)
before. Last time I supervised an IS course, the student
did not want to do the required readings. She didnt do
a good job on her term papers either. At the end, she
filed a complaint against me and claimed that I ex-
pected too much. However, I thought it would be
impolite to reject Atuls request immediately. Besides,
he might take another course with me in the future and
give me a bad teacher evaluation. So I asked if he had
a specific topic in mind.Yes, I do. It is a rather unusual topic that I have
been thinking about for a long time. I would like to
show that non-whites should improve their racial
beauty through marriage with whites. I believe this is
the only way that non-whites could overcome their
socio-economic rejection and achieve full integration
into American society.
I was taken by surprise by this idea, especially since
it came from an Indian-born student whose own skin
color was dark. Atuls complexion was even darker
than that of most Indians.Could you run that by me one more time, I said,
as I leaned forward in my chair.. Did you say you
want to show that non-whites should improve their
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racial beauty?!! I asked with a polite smile. I wanted
to tell him that this vague idea was not an economic
topic, but first I wanted to know what the topic was
exactly.
I understand this is a controversial issue, but Im
very curious about it. What I mean is that, when it
comes to beauty, whites enjoy a comparative advantage
relative to other races. While everyone talks about
overcoming discrimination and achieving racial
equality, I have never heard any talk of racial im-
provement. The fact is that, even though there are no
proven differences in the physical and intellectual ca-
pacity of different races, the level of physical
attractiveness is higher among some races than others. I
want to show that it is good for those who are less at-
tractive as a race to improve their physical beauty by
biological intervention. Atuls face was very serious
throughout this explanation until the last few words
about biological intervention. He said these last words
with a meaningful smile. I had wanted to laugh much
earlier, but did not think it was appropriate. So, as soonas I saw the smile on his face, I started laughing, and
Atuls smile turned into laughter in conformity. I told
you its an unusual topic, said Atul, while trying to
show that he was not disturbed by my laughter.
It is a very unusual and, I should say, a very sen-
sitive issue, I responded while nodding my head in
approval and continued with a more serious tone: I
think you must talk to one of the professors in the so-
ciology or psychology departments about this topic.
They would know a lot more about these issues.
Unfortunately I dont have enough knowledge in thisarea to be able to guide your study. It is not un-
common for professors to reject a request like Atuls by
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referring it to other departments and trying to sound en-
couraging.
I agree with you that this issue is not directly
related to economics. I contacted one of my professors
in the sociology department last week, but he was not
interested. He said it was offensive to minorities and
there was no scientific proof for my argument. Im glad
your reaction is not as harsh as his. He only gave me
three minutes of his time and advised me to drop the
idea altogether. I also contacted a professor of ethnic
studies who is from Latin America. His reaction was
even worse. He said such ideas would give racists
added ammunition to abuse non-whites and ridicule
them. I came to you because, of all the professors that I
have taken courses with here at Yale, you are the most
open-minded one. Also, you were always interested in
the sociological and political aspects of economic be-
havior, and I figured you probably must have had
formal training in one of these areas, said Atul.
I was not about to change my mind because of
Atuls flattering remarks about the range of myknowledge. I did not need this distraction at this point
in my life. I have to agree with the concerns of these
two professors. This is a very controversial issue, and
some people might even find it offensive. I dont think
I can convince the department to approve a non-
economic and sensitive topic like this one for
independent study. As you might be aware, when an in-
dependent study course is approved, the department
assigns another faculty member, in addition to the su-
pervisor, as a reviewer. Students must write at least
three term papers for an independent study course, andthese must all be approved by the reviewer as well.
Even if I accept your argument, I doubt that another
professor would agree to put his approval signature on
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a paper whose basic assumption is that some races are
physically, I mean from the standpoint of beauty, in-
ferior. Im sure you are well aware of the crimes that
have been committed in the name of racial superiority
throughout human history. So Im afraid I cant help
you with this idea. However, if you have other topics in
mind that are related to my field of concentration, we
can talk about them.
Atul understood that I wanted to end the conver-
sation. It was clear that he was disappointed. He
picked up his bag and stood up to leave. Then suddenly
he looked at me and said, What if I rephrased my idea
so that it involved economic concepts. After all, I have
taken so many economics courses that, subconsciously,
I look at the world through an economic lens. Would
you be interested to consider it then? This topic means
a lot to me, and I dont think anyone else would be
willing to help me. His persistence was under-
standable. Students who choose to do an individual
study project are often very religious about the topic, or
they would not insist on it. However, I was not about tosay yes. If I agree to supervise an independent study
project, it has to be on a topic related to my own re-
search. That way, I could use the student for literature
search and statistical assistance. Cynical as it might
sound, this is a tradition in academia. Again I politely
declined: I cant see how this issue could be related to
economics, but I suggest you do a little bit of literature
review and organize your thoughts in a more scientific
format. For starters, you are simply making a few nor-
mative statements about the beauty differential among
races and then making a moral judgment that non-whites should engage in interracial marriage to
improve their racial beauty. I hope you remember the
difference between normative and positive concepts.
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Science is primarily about observation and positive
statements. Rather than making value judgments, you
should try to prove your points. First of all, how do you
know that whites are more beautiful? Do non-whites
think that whites are more beautiful, or is it just the eth-
nocentric perception of whites themselves? How do
you measure beauty to begin with? Besides, even if you
show that whites are more attractive, you have to
demonstrate why any group of people will give up its
traditional method of reproduction, meaning marriage,
to reproduce eugenically just for sake of changing its
physical appearance. Atul raised his hand as a
request for interruption. I paused. Excuse me. What
does 'eugenically' mean? Atul asked.
See. Thats just what I mean. If you are interested
in this topic, you should do a lot of reading about race
and the history of race relations. Eugenics is the
process of selective breeding and other activities that
are intended to improve a race or ethnic group based on
a predefined criteria, I replied.
I thought you did not know anything about theseissues,'' said Atul with a smile.
I know very little. Eugenics is common knowledge.
It was a popular topic before World War II. I have read
a few articles about it in popular magazines. If you are
seriously interested in this topic, I suggest you look
into it. Atul wanted to drag the conversation, but I was
too tired and I did not want to commit myself further.
Still standing and slightly bending to the left under the
weight of his backpack, he asked if he could stop by
again and talk about this issue further, after doing a
little more reading.I guess if you stop by during my office hours, its
fine. But I cant imagine how I can be of further help.
I could have helped him - if nothing else, at least by
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giving him general guidelines on how to formulate his
thoughts. I was not as ignorant about the topic as I
wanted him to think either. But I had to avoid all dis-
tractions and concentrate on my own research. Getting
one more paper accepted for publication was crucial for
my tenure approval. I promised myself to be nicer to
students after I was promoted to associate profes-
sorship.
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Chapter Two
Change of mind
During the next few weeks, I was almost buried
under the pressure of teaching and statistical analysis
for my own research. It was the last month of the
spring term, and I had to spend more time with students
as well. So, I had almost forgotten about Atul and his
ideas. Back then, I was working on how government
spending was affected by the change of political regime
in developing countries. One afternoon, I went to thesocial science library, which was very close to my
office, to make a copy of an article on government
spending that was published in the December 1994
edition of American Economic Review. As I was
looking through the table of contents to locate the
article that I was after, an article by Daniel
Hammermesh and a co-author attracted my attention. It
was entitled Beauty and the Labor Market. I had
read a summary of this article before. It was about how
a persons beauty affects his income and career. Theconclusion of the article was that, after accounting for
all other factors, beauty plays an important role in a
persons career success and level of income. The idea
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is hardly new, and most people agree with this con-
clusion based on their personal experiences. However,
the fact that Hammermesh, who is a prominent labor
economist, had proved this fact in a formal and sci-
entific study attracted a lot of attention to this article,
and it was even discussed in popular magazines.
I usually promise myself not to get distracted when
Im browsing a journal for a specific article, but I never
succeed. The title and the abstract of this article re-
minded me of Atuls idea. I decided to read the
introduction and the conclusion of the article. The more
I read, the more I enjoyed it, and suddenly realized I
had spent almost an hour reading the whole article. The
analysis in this article was based on three large in-
terview surveys: two conducted in the US and one in
Canada. What was interesting about these surveys was
that the interviewers who conducted the face-to-face
interviews were also asked to give each interviewee a
beauty score on the scale of 1 to 5. These categories
were: 1) Strikingly beautiful or handsome, 2) Above
average for age, 3) Average for age, 4) Below averagefor age and 5) Homely. Overall, the survey included
more than 7200 women and 5300 men. They had used
this large data set to show that beauty mattered in the
labor market. More attractive men and women got
better jobs and earned higher incomes. They also
hinted at the idea that it is rational for people to invest
on improving their looks.
One thing you learn as an academic is that you must
always look for new research ideas. You try to capture
ideas from conversations with colleagues, watching a
television program or reading an article. After a while,this search for ideas becomes second nature. As you
read an article, you constantly search for ideas that
either help enhance your current research or could
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serve as the initial idea for a new research project. So,
as I read the Beauty and the Labor Market, a game of
word association got underway in my mind: physical
beauty, market, development, economic growth,
personal beauty, group beauty. If personal beauty could
lead to more income, is it possible that the average
beauty of an ethnic group or nation could affect their
economic development? What if a nation could become
more beautiful? Would an increase in average beauty
help it grow faster? What if a minority group becomes
more beautiful? Would it be able to improve its socio-
economic status? The game of word association
continued: beauty and market, beauty and growth,
beauty and development, Beauty and Development,
Beauty and Development, yes!!! Beauty and
Development. What a wonderful phrase. If an article
entitled Beauty and the Labor Market could capture
so much attention, imagine how the academic com-
munity would react to the idea of Beauty and
Development? The first thing to do when a new idea
comes to your mind is to write it down, and thatsexactly what I did.
A new research topic: Beauty and Development.
This idea occurred to me half way into reading the
article. From then on, I was reading with a clear ob-
jective: to try to pick up any ideas and references that
could be relevant to my newly crafted research topic.
While Hammermesh was only concerned about how
personal beauty affects a persons economic success
(income), I began to think of other connections
between beauty and development. Beauty could lead
to development, but development could also lead tomore beauty as people enjoy a better diet. Beauty might
have an indirect effect on development by having a
positive effect on a countys trade partners
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Then I suddenly remembered I could not afford to
get distracted from my ongoing research. Another thing
that I had learned the hard way was that spreading my
resources too thin on too many research projects was
futile and unproductive. This idea was very appealing,
yet I did not have time for it back then. What to do?
What to do? Slowly but gradually, I heard a word in the
back of my mind: Atul, Atul, Atul. I had found the
answer. I would use Atul to do the initial literature
search for this project, while I was completing my
current research on government budget. What a clever
idea. What Atul wanted to work on was related to my
idea of Beauty and Development, and, even if it wasnt,
I could gradually lead him in the direction that I wanted
to. I had suddenly found a reason to accept Atuls
request for an independent study project.
As soon as I returned to my office, I looked at a list
of students in the class that Atul had taken with me and
found his email. I sent him a brief email.Atul,
If you are still pursuing the topic that we discussed earlier for
an independent study course, you might find the following article
interesting:
Then I added the reference to Beauty and the Labor
Market. I did not want to give the impression that I
had agreed to supervise his Independent Study.
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Chapter Three
The Cover-up
The next day - Tuesday May 12 - was the last day of
exams, and I did not expect any students to come to my
office. I had given more thought to my new research
idea in the morning, and I was convinced that it was
worth pursuing. The campus was relatively quiet. It
was a cloudy day with mild temperatures. Around 3:30
in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was Atul. He
wanted to know if he could see me in my office. I
asked him to stop by around five. While I was working
on my project between Atuls call and our five oclock
meeting, I did a quick cost/benefit analysis of agreeing
to supervise his independent study project. The benefit,
obviously, was that he could help me collect all the
background literature that I needed for the B&D
(Beauty and Development) project. The cost was the
time I had to spend supervising his own project. One
has to minimize costs and maximize benefits to make a
profit.Atul arrived on time, breathing heavily. He was
holding a copy of the Beauty and the Labor Market
article and looked very excited.
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Thank you for recommending this article. It is very
informative and Im glad that it reaffirms some of my
beliefs, said Atul.
What do you mean, it reaffirmed your views? It
doesnt make any recommendations for race-mixing,
does it? I asked with a smile.
I dont mean in that sense, he responded. What I
mean is that they show how important beauty is for an
individuals economic success. Since all ethnic and
racial groups have to compete in the same national
labor market, any ethnic group that is perceived by
others as less attractive will suffer from wage discrimi-
nation and will be denied certain job opportunities that
involve personal interaction with customers. Once I can
establish that a race is less attractive, then I can use
these findings to justify my recommendations. Another
interesting point in this article is that there are certain
standards of beauty that are common all around the
world. As people see more and more images of other
ethnic and racial groups through the media, their at-
titude toward beauty converges even further.Interesting observations. Have you read any other
books or articles on this issue since we met last time?
No, Dr H. I have been very busy with my exams
and term papers. Im going to start reading about it
over the summer. Ill be staying with my parents in
New Jersey, near Princeton, and I have access to the
Princeton library. Im only working part-time for a
local software company and can spend 15 to 20 hours a
week on the literature search. But, first, I need to find a
professor who will agree to be my supervisor for this
project. I did talk to a couple of professors in the de-partment of sociology, as you had suggested. But
neither showed any interest. So when I got your email,
I thought I should come to see you and find out if you
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have had a change of mind. Reading this article by
Hammermesh and Biddle has aroused my curiosity
even further. I would be grateful if you agreed to be my
supervisor.
I did not expect Atul to repeat his request for my in-
volvement so directly and quickly, but I was glad that
he was still passionate about it - the more passionate
the better.
I have not changed my mind. I just remembered
you when I came across this article by accident. As I
mentioned before, Im not familiar with the topic, and I
still dont think the department would approve an inde-
pendent study course on Race and Beauty. I wanted to
see how enthusiastic Atul really was. I also wanted to
make sure he got the impression that, if I agreed to su-
pervise him, I was only doing it as a favor to him.
Before Atul could say anything, there was a knock
at the door. It was a female student named Meena, who
was from India and was taking my public expenditure
class that term. From the way Atul and Meena greeted
each other, it was obvious that they knew one another.As Meena entered my office and stood about three feet
away from Atul, he seemed a little nervous. It appeared
to me that he deliberately put the article, which he was
still holding in his hand, face down on the table to
prevent Meena from reading the title.
Sorry to disturb you, Dr. H. I was wondering if you
have graded my term paper yet?
No, not yet. Why dont you check back by
Wednesday if you are going to be here?
Unfortunately, Im leaving tomorrow, but I can call
you if you dont mind. I gave her my phone numberand resumed my conversation with Atul after she left.
Okay, where were we? I asked.
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You were saying the department might not approve
my topic, said Atul, who seemed relieved that Meena
was gone, and continued: Perhaps we could choose a
more reasonable topic for my study that is more related
to economics. We can report this topic to the de-
partment and get approval for it. Once the department
approves an IS, I dont think they are going to check to
see what is really being covered in detail, as long as
you report that Im making good progress.
Its not that simple. Arent you forgetting the
outside referee that is appointed by the department?"
Oh. You are right!! I remember you told me earlier
that I would have to write three term papers which will
be evaluated by a department appointed referee, said
Atul.
I nodded my head in approval, and we were both
silent for a few seconds.
Then Atul said: Looks like whatever topic we
choose and report to the department, I have to submit
three satisfactory papers on that topic. Will you have
any influence on the choice of the department referee?If you do, then perhaps you can choose a friend of
yours who could be more cooperative.
Based on this comment, I realized that Atul was
more practical than I expected. This was good because
I was also very practical. However, his suggestion was
infeasible. Unfortunately for you and I, the chair
himself appoints the referee and, if anything, he will try
to make sure that the supervisor and the referee are not
close friends. Besides it is extremely unlikely that any
faculty member would risk his career by participating
in such a cover-up. I did not tell Atul that, in additionto these concerns, I also did not have any friends in the
department. People are so competitive and so busy that
you are lucky if you can make even simple acquain-
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tances with anyone. So I suggested a more practical
solution: I think the only way you can do this is to
come up with a research topic that is acceptable to the
department and is not too demanding. Then you can
work on your racial improvement topic and this topic at
the same time. As long as you submit three term papers
on this topic, you can study racial beautification to any
extent that you want. However, it means extra work.
I was waiting for Atuls reaction.
Does this mean that you are willing to supervise
my independent study project if I can gain the de-
partments approval for a straightforward economics
topic?
I cant promise anything now, but, after you have
done some reading on this beautification stuff, we can
talk about it. I will consider your request again a few
weeks before the fall term, I responded.
Thats wonderful. It means a lot of extra work for
me, but Im willing to do it as long as you agree to be
my supervisor.
Unfortunately, I cant think of any other alternative.However, if we can come up with a topic that is closely
related to your concept of racial beautification and at
the same time has a more acceptable appearance, then
the two topics will have a large amount of overlap, and
your additional work might only be 25 to 35%, I said.
He agreed that it was a practical solution. But do
you have any specific topic in mind? he asked.
Not right now. This strategy just occurred to me.
Why dont you and I both think about it for a few days
and see if we can come up with a good one. Just keep
in mind the two criteria. First, we want the topic tohave as much overlap with racial beautification as
possible. Second, we want to make sure it is acceptable
to the department.
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Atul stood up to leave and it was clear that he was
very happy: Thank you so much. I will think about it
and email you a few ideas. We can keep in touch by
email over the summer.
No Atul. I dont think it will be a good idea to
discuss this issue by email. Its best to talk about it over
the phone, I said. Atul smiled and nodded with ex-
citement: You are right. Email is not as secure as it
seems. We better be careful.
After Atul gave me his New Jersey phone number
and left, I began thinking about the cover-up topic for
his IS. I wanted the cover-up topic to be related to
my own research idea of Beauty and Development as
well. This way Atul had to do my literature search in
order to earn a credit for his independent study. I felt
very clever about the whole thing and the cover-up.
What was it that I needed Atul to do for me? First, I
wanted him to search the literature to find out if
anything has been written about the connection
between beauty and development. Second, I might
need him to do a survey of opinions or collect some ob-servations similar to what Hammermesh and Biddle
had done. One alternative was to choose a title directly
related to my own research objective: The Interaction
of Physical Beauty and Economic Development. This
would give me more power to use Atul as a research
assistant. But the danger was that, first of all, if this
topic was indeed a good idea, someone else on the
faculty might grab it. I have never had any illusions
about the intelligence and capability of my colleagues
at Yale. They are always looking for new ideas. Who
knows? Maybe Hammermesh and Biddle picked upthe initial idea for their work in a casual conversation
with a faculty member or a student. Besides, if the
topic is exotic, the chairman usually appoints a referee
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who has worked in that area or at least has shown cu-
riosity about it in the past. Such a faculty member
would have some knowledge of the literature and could
give Atul a hard time by questioning his methodology
and demanding high quality work.
Over the next two weeks, Atul and I spoke on the
phone several times. I had decided against a topic that
might give a hint about my own agenda. So I waited for
Atul to come up with something. As we talked about
various ideas, I realized that I still did not have a clear
idea of what it was that Atul wanted to accomplish.
Talking to Atul gave me the impression that he himself
did not have a clear idea either. The best way to clear
your mind about a research idea is to write it down.
When you write, you are forced to organize your
thoughts. Atul agreed to start reviewing the literature
and write a three- to four-page explanation of why
whitening is important and how he plans to study it.
Since he did not have to register for the fall term until
mid-August, we agreed to select the cover-up topic
after Atul had prepared a proposal and a clear outlineof the reading material that he wanted to cover.
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Chapter Four
An Appeal to Non-Europeans
In mid-June, only a few days after our last phone
conversation, I received an envelope from Atul. In it,
he had enclosed a brief note and a five-page article,
which he said was his independent study proposal.
Hi Dr. H,
Since you didnt want me to send anything by
email, I decided to send my study proposal by
mail. Ill contact you after you have had a
chance to read it. I have already been to the
Princeton library twice, and I have found a lot of
useful stuff.
Yours,
Atul Divan
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An Appeal to Non-Euros
My fellow non-European people of the world,
What Im about to propose in this essay might
seem offensive to many of you, but I urge you to
read this appeal to the end before passing any
judgment.
Rather than wasting your time by a detailed
and perhaps confusing introduction, I will get to
the point without any further delay. Ever since
the end of colonialism and imperialism, we non-
euros (the Non-white people of Asian, African,
Pacific and native American origin) have proved
that we can compete with Euros (the white people
of European origin) in scientific and techno-
logical fields. The old racist theories of
European superiority have all been rejected in
athletic, artistic and scientific competitions. It is
now clear that the poverty of nations is due to the
lack of collective intelligence, which is a function
of organizational culture. At an individual level,we are not less intelligent or less capable than
Europeans. Yet, there is one dimension in which
we suffer from a genetic inferiority, and that is
physical beauty. Lets face it. Whites are more
beautiful. It is true that beauty is in the eyes of
the beholder. However, the standards of beauty
are universal. More often than not, what is
viewed as beautiful in one human community is
also praised as beautiful by others. Not only
whites perceive themselves as more beautiful
than others, but we, the non-Europeans, also seethem as more attractive.
Beauty matters, and it matters a lot. The lack
of physical beauty often causes emotional
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trauma. The lack of beauty in people who con-
stitute ones community is equally painful. In
such a community, members of other commu-
nities are perceived as more beautiful. How
frustrating it is for a young man to realize that
the women of his own ethnic/racial group, with
whom he can socialize and from whom he even-
tually chooses a marriage partner, are not as
beautiful as the women of other groups, who are
beyond his reach. How lucky is the person who is
beautiful and has a beautiful partner! How un-
fortunate is he/she who is less attractive than the
person who is the object of his/her desire! How
unfortunate is a community of people who find
themselves as a group less attractive than
another people! Beauty is inherited from ones
biological parents. For those who are born in
demographically stable communities, it is a gift
from the communal genetic pool. Just as the
relative beauty within a community matters, the
absolute beauty level of a society also matters.Sure, an aboriginal woman in Australia can
claim to be more beautiful than some others, but
any fair- minded observer admits that aborigines
of Australia are far less attractive than
Europeans. It is both rational and just to call on
relatively less attractive human communities to
improve their physical appearance based on the
ideals of their own community.
It is a fact that, in most corners of the modern
world, where Western movies bring the beautiful
Hollywood stars into the homes of billions ofpeople on a dai ly basis, people of European
origin are viewed, by members of most commu-
nities, as the most attractive people. Enter the
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private room of any teenager in the Third World.
Chances are that the walls are filled with pictures
of blond women and blue-eyed men. The popular
magazines in Third World countries are filled
with pictures of beautiful European models. Why
would the profit-hungry magazine owners print
these pictures if they werent sure that these
images were popular? An even stronger piece of
evidence is the fact that endogenous TV and
movie stars in the Third World usually have
lighter skin than those in the population in
general. So lets face it, and lets admit it. Whites
are more beautiful. And lets do something to
close the gap.
Hear my appeal
For sake of improving your emotional, social,
cultural and economic conditions, I appeal to
you to invest in the physical beauty of your off-
spring and reduce the beauty differential that willbe a cause of suffering for future generations as
it has been for us and previous generations.
Beauty is one of the most valuable bequests that
you can leave for your children. This investment
is more crucial for those who have closer
contacts with Europeans and hence suffer more
emotional stress as a result of their beauty differ-
ential. The groups that suffer most are
non-European minorities who live in Western
Europe, Australia and North America. Because
of their relative lack of beauty, these people arerejected and marginalized by the majority
European population. If it were not for their own
perception of unattractiveness and physical infe-
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riority, they would not have suffered so much
emotional trauma in the face of Euro-rejection.
Furthermore, they have to compete with
Europeans in the labor market, where, believe it
or not, beauty is an important criterion for hiring
and promotion. As we approach the new mil-
lennium, it is time to break our silence and take
corrective action. Why should our future gener-
ations suffer the genetic curse of ugliness? Why
should they be condemned to feel depressed and
envious of Europeans? We hear each others
envious expressions about the beauty of the white
race in private and frank conversations all the
time, but assume that there is nothing that we can
do about it. If we have enough courage, we can
do something about it. Admitting that we have a
problem is 50% of the solution. We can take
action as individuals, and we can work toward
collective action. The solution is to produce half
endogenous/half white offspring.
Nothing to be ashamed of
You might think of my proposal as shameful
and humiliating. Several factors might lead to
such a reaction. First, engaging in racial beauti-
fication is an admission of racial inferiority.
Second, in male dominated societies, the impreg-
nation of local women from imported sperm is
extremely humiliating and totally unacceptable.
In such societies a child whose father is a citizen
and whose mother an alien is far better accepted
than a child whose mother is a citizen but the
father is an alien. A third concern is that the
mixed children will be drawn toward the Western
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culture and the society will loose its independent
cultural identity.
In response to the first concern, I must say
that, when the intention is good and what is
being proposed does not harm any one, the only
thing we should be ashamed of is shame itself.
Individuals and nations admit to their weak-
nesses all the time and try to find solutions. In
fact, a major cause of the military and industrial
strength of Western democracies is their capacity
for self-criticism, which allows them to identify
their weaknesses and take corrective measures.
Down in the Third World, politicians and intel-
lectuals openly admit to their industrial and
technological inferiority and ask the interna-
tional community for help. No one feels ashamed
of being underdeveloped. Rather than denying it,
most underdeveloped nations have accepted their
backwardness in recent years and have imported
technological know-how and machinery to indus-
trialize. Historically, those nations that haverefused to accept new technologies and ideas
from abroad, for the sake of national pride, have
not improved their economic condition as much
as others. In agriculture and animal husbandry,
farmers con tinu ously impor t ge netically
modified seeds and animals to improve the
quality of their livestock and increase crop yield.
Coming closer to our main subject, every year,
millions of non-Euros, mostly women, spend
billions of dollars on plastic surgery to change
the shape of their nose and eyes and other facialstructures in the hope of looking more
European/beautiful. Do you think they should feel
ashamed?
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If you are not convinced that investment in
long-term racial beauty is nothing to be ashamed
of, then you should at least concede that it will be
a one-shot humiliation affecting only one or two
generations. Without beautification, every gen-
eration of an unattractive race must go through
the humiliating and painful realization of its
beauty deficiency. You should think of the gen-
eration/persons that invest in racial
beautification as sacrificing their pride and
facing the potential humiliations that might
follow for the sake of the future generations. The
humiliation and suffering of the beautifying gen-
eration will help future generations achieve
higher levels of relative beauty and suffer less in
the future.
Turning to the second criticism, it is a well-
known fact that most non-European societies and
cultures are patriarchal and, because of their
masculine bias, are extremely sensitive about
parental bloodline. The prevalence of masculinebias is unfortunate. Such a bias leads to the re-
jection of the least costly method of whitening -
namely the importation of white sperm. Biracial
children whose white gene comes from a paternal
line (imported white sperm) will face more re-
jection and harassment than others. This attitude,
however, will be subject to change through edu-
cation and public debate. The alternative of
importing white female eggs or employing white
surrogate mothers will be far less humiliating in
masculine societies. This latter method is morepractical for affluent male non-Euros who un-
dertake the whitening process at an individual
level.
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Finally, Im not convinced that mixed children
will necessarily abandon their culture because of
their half-native blood. Cultural identity is ac-
quired from the environment and, since the social
environment of these children will not be any dif-
ferent than that of purely endogenous children,
they will not have any higher tendency towards
Western culture. It is unlikely that these children
will experience mistreatment and alienation. On
the contrary, mixed persons of
endogenous/European marriage are usually very
popular in developing countries. (In India, many
of them are recruited into the movie industry or
politics and achieve stardom.) Because of their
popularity and warm acceptance, they remain
loyal to the domestic culture and contribute to its
preservation and betterment.
Racial Beautification has many benefits
The benefits of racial beautification outweighits costs, even when the cost of humiliation is
high. The direct benefit of beautification is
obvious because of the intrinsic value of human
beauty. At the individual level, beauty leads to
higher rates of social acceptance and popularity.
As a result, the individual will enjoy more self-
esteem and will be more successful in his career.
Various recent studies have shown that more
beautiful people face better opportunities in the
labor market. However, racial beautification
could have many indirect benefits as well. In the
long run, culture is the most important deter-
minant of development. An unattractive people
will suffer from low self-esteem as a group. Just
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as an individual who lacks self-esteem cannot
realize his full potential, a society that is low on
self-esteem will find it more difficult to grow. As
mentioned earlier, widespread low self-esteem
leads to prevalent feelings of anger and re-
sentment towards other members of the group.
These negative feelings will arise not only
because of the intrinsic feelings of inferiority but
also because of the insecurity that each member
of the society feels when coming into contact with
more attractive races. Therefore, even marginal
improvement in the average level of beauty will
help reduce the feelings of anger and self-hatred
in a society.
The relative position of a racial/ethnic group
in the international community matters. As a
nation or race becomes more beautiful, its
relative position improves, and the rest of the
world will show more goodwill towards it. More
tourists will visit the country, and their attitude
towards the endogenous people will be morecordial. The community and its members will
receive more support from others, and, hence,
each member of the community can achieve its
goals at a lower cost.
If you are dreaming of migration to the West,
the lighter the skin color of your children, the
higher their chances of entry and success. I
assure you: there are millions of couples in
China, India, Pakistan and elsewhere who share
this dream. For some, this dream begins in early
adulthood as they learn more about the securityand pleasures of living in the West. Others inherit
it from their parents, who have no higher wish for
their children than to see them migrate to the
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West. For anyone whose heart is burning with the
migration quest, whitening is a valuable in-
vestment. It is as important as scientific
knowledge and intelligence. It takes hard work
and talent for a foreign student to get a graduate
degree in the U.S. But once a young, foreign-
born graduate starts searching for a job, his/her
degree of whiteness plays an important role in his
success. Needless to say, the quality of life of an
immigrant and his acceptance in white social
circles will also depend on his skin color.
Racial Beautification is Practical
The difficulty of achieving racial beautifi-
cation varies from group to group, but it is
practical under all circumstances. Racial beauti-
fication could be achieved through collective
action or individual initiative. At the individual
level, it is most practical and least costly for non-
Europeans living in the West. All it takes is a manor woman with a strong desire. Main options for
men are: a) Marrying a white woman (or at least
a member of a lighter-skinned minority). The
drawback to this option is the limited number of
white women who might be willing to marry non-
whites. b) Employing a white woman as a
surrogate mother. C) With the recent ad-
vancements in reproductive science and
technology, it is even possible for a couple to buy
an egg from a white female, fertilize it with
husbands sperm and plant it in wifes womb.This way both husband and wife have a claim to
being the natural parents of the offspring.
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The options for women are even less costly: a)
Marrying a white man. (Again it might be dif-
ficult for less attractive non-European women to
find a willing and interested partner), b)
Becoming pregnant from a white man (same dif-
ficulty with regard to finding a suitable partner),
c) Artificial insemination after obtaining suitable
sperm from a sperm bank or other sources.
In a non-European society, individual ini-
tiative towards whitening is very difficult. Rich
people could go abroad to obtain white sperm or
white eggs. But for others, it might be a big
prob le m. Besides, it migh t resu lt in a very
negative social reaction. In these countries, col-
lective action is more practical. The government
or some non-governmental organization should
take the lead if there is significant support for
such a policy. There is a high possibility that,
with future advancements in genetic engineering,
a couple could alter the physical attributes of
their offspring. They could choose the skin color,eye color and the facial features of each child.
Once such techniques become available and af-
fordable to non-Europeans, beautification will be
more popular, because it will no longer involve
sperm or egg importation from an alien gene
pool.
Final Comments
I sincerely hope that my appeal has left a
lasting impression on you. As a non-Euro, I amone of you, and I share your historical expe-
rience. In response to the European
expansionism that began five centuries ago, our
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various communities have put up a strong re-
sistance. The age of colonialism is over, and
non-Europeans living in Western countries have
successfully fought against many types of racism
and prejudice. Many non-European countries
such as Korea, Malaysia and China have
overcome their economic backwardness and are
rapidly catching up to the West. Even more im-
portantly, the Japanese have achieved parity with
the West on technological and scientific per-
formance.
We have many reasons to be proud and to
look to the future with hope and optimism. Yet,
now that we no longer view the white people of
European origin as oppressors, now that we have
demonstrated that we are not inferior to them in
any performance criteria, the time has come to
bring to the surface our deep sense of admiration
for the beauty of the Western European race. The
time has come to admit that beauty plays a major
role in our happiness. Just as we invest in thehealth and education of our society, we must also
invest in improving the physical beauty of our
pe op le and redu ce th e ex is ti ng be au ty gap
between the Europeans and ourselves. As we
enter the 21st century and face the images of
Europeans through travel and the Internet and
other advanced technologies in the waiting, the
time has come to put aside our shame and our
silence and exchange views on how best we can
reduce this beauty differential. The methods that
I have proposed to you for racial whitening andbeautification might not be the best methods
available. If we initiate dialogue and investigate
this issue openly, perhaps more practical and
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more efficient methods will be discovered. So lets
face it. Whites are more beautiful. However, if we
take corrective action now, there is hope for our
future generations.
* * *
After reading Atuls proposal (which I will refer to
as the Appeal from here on), my first reaction was a
sense of relief that he did not send it by email or fax. It
would have been a huge embarrassment (not to
mention trouble) if anyone had seen this article and as-
sociated it with me in any way. I could not imagine any
minority or anyone from the Third World seeing this
article and not being offended by it. At least Atul had
enough sense to admit at the beginning that most
people would find his suggestion offensive and
shameful. Why did Atul send me this piece? I had
asked him for an independent study proposal. Did he
misunderstand my request and think that I wanted him
to put his ideas about whitening and racial beautifi-cation in a propaganda-style essay?
One thing that was clear from his writing was that
Atul was a lot more religious about his racial beautifi-
cation dream than I had initially expected. The content
also raised a question in my mind about the character
and personality of Atul. What kind of life experiences
would drive a 21 year-old student of Indian origin to
such a state of mind? He obviously did not feel any
racial or ethnic pride. To the contrary, if the Appeal re-
flects his personal values, Atul must be full of
self-hatred. On one hand, I felt more curious about thisstudy and about Atul himself. But, at the same time, I
felt worried about the consequences of anyone finding
out what Atul was investigating. What if people
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thought that I approved of Atuls idea? How will the
department react or, perhaps, be compelled to react, if a
minority group got a hold of the Appeal and took it se-
riously? At the very least, I would lose my job.
I was torn between these two concerns, and I could
not decide what to do. I heard a voice from my subcon-
scious: when in doubt, read it again. So I started
reading the Appeal one more time. Half way through
the second page, my eyes suddenly froze on the word
development, and I suddenly remembered my own
secret agenda: Beauty and Development. In a flash, my
inner conflict was resolved. Of course I wanted Atul to
continue his independent study project. For a few
seconds, my eyes were fixed on that magical word.
Then I read the sentence that surrounded devel-
opment and began to realize that some of Atuls ideas
and concepts were relevant for my research. Since I
had not read the appeal with this quest in mind, I went
to the beginning and reviewed it again with a clear
search agenda.
While Atuls prescription for whitening was not ofmuch use, he had made some remarks about the emo-
tional and behavioral consequences of a relative beauty
differential that I found interesting. If the lack of
beauty causes a negative self-image at the group level,
then it could have an adverse effect on social norms
and culture, which itself plays an important role in de-
velopment. It was a crude idea, but it was well worth
investigating. I found a second interesting idea in the
Appeal. A more attractive ethnic group, according to
Atul, enjoyed more popularity and international
goodwill. If there was any way to construct a com-parative beauty index for various ethnic groups, then
perhaps this hypothesis could be roughly tested. One
could try to see if there is a connection between the
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level of international assistance that a nation receives
and the average beauty score of that countrys res-
idents. Of course one has to control for other factors
that affect international assistance. I could also
consider how the relative beauty of a people could
affect the growth of tourism and the entertainment in-
dustry. If beauty were a determinant of travel
destinations, then tourism would flourish in societies
with more beautiful people. Finally, it occurred to me
that perhaps international traders and investors prefer
to invest in communities that are more beautiful. By
combining these thoughts, I was able to develop a
primitive flowchart of how physical beauty could affect
a countrys development.
Two days later, I got a call from Atul. He was won-
dering if I had received his proposal.
Yes. And I have also read it.
I hope you are satisfied with it. I tried to explain
what I had in mind as clearly as possible, said Atul
with an excited voice.
Atul, I think there must have been some misunder-standing. Im sure you have written research papers in
some of your classes by now. A proposal for an inde-
pendent study program is a clear plan for studying a
specific topic. What you have written is similar to a
19th century political pamphlet. It is anything but a
proposal for an independent study, I replied with a
critical tone. I was waiting for a response from Atul,
but the line was silent. Hello? Are you still there?
Yes, he said with a low voice. There was silence
again. Perhaps my comment was too harsh. I knew I
had to carry the conversation. Look Atul, the purpose
of an independent study project is to help a student
learn more about a topic that he is interested in. It starts
by asking the right questions about the subject and then
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reading the right books and articles to learn the
answers. Your proposal sounds like you already have
all the answers. I have given some thought to your so-
called whitening proposal. I dont agree with your
recommendation, but if you are so serious about this
idea, then we should arrange your independent study in
a way that will let you increase your knowledge about
the practicality and consequences of such an idea.
Based on what you have written in this proposal, I have
come up with several questions that I think you should
concentrate on. However, I can only work with you if
you avoid slogans and appeals and concentrate on
searching for the answers to these questions without
any prejudice. Is that acceptable to you?
Yes. I accept your conditions 100 percent. I have
already done some literature search and found several
articles. As soon as you give me the questions, I will
concentrate my work entirely on them. For a moment, I
thought you were going to cancel the whole thing.
Please let me have the questions, and Ill start working
on them right away.I had already thought out several questions, but I
decided to send them by mail rather than mentioning
them over the phone. This way, Atul did not have any
excuse to ignore any of them.
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Chapter Five
Long Summer
The next day, I sent Atul the following letter. For
obvious reasons, I did not sign my name at the end.
Atul,
Here are five empirical questions that you
must concentrate on. Try to find any kind of
relevant information on each one of them. These
questions are derived from your own so-called
proposal. Remember, your recommendations
must be backed up by evidence and analysis.
Otherwise, they would be worthless.
First of all, you must prove (scientifically) that
whites are indeed more beautiful. See if anyone
has done a cross-racial survey of physical
beauty, perhaps similar to the beauty scale that
was used by Hammermesh and Biddle. It would
be ideal for your purposes if you found a surveythat shows non-whites perceive whites as more
beautiful than themselves. If you find such ev-
idence, it will validate your argument. Otherwise,
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most people will reject your suggestion and claim
that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Look for evidence that the lack of beauty has
adverse psychological effects at the individual
and group level. If non-whites feel unhappy about
their looks and if this is a shared feeling, then
you must see its expressions in their literature,
art and social values. Look for indications of
white admiration in non-European cultures.
If non-Euros indeed perceive whites as more
beautiful, then it should inspire them to prefer
lighter-skinned marriage partners. Lighter-
skinned females must be more in demand. Look
for skin complexion sensitivity in non-European
cultures.
(This is the most important question of your
study.) Is there any precedence for your idea of
whitening? If your perception of the beauty ad-
vantage of whites is indeed a common feeling
among non-Euros, then it must have been ad-
dressed before. At the very least someintellectuals in developing countries must have
made similar recommendations. It is even
possible that some countries might have adopted
whitening policies to improve their racial beauty.
Look for evidence in history of eugenics in the
non-European world. You might find more ev-
idence of the desire for whitening at personal
level. Search for any kind of evidence in the lit-
erature that shows that the quest for
intergenerational whitening affects an indi-
viduals choice of spouse in non-Europeansocieties. If, as you claim, most non-Euros suffer
from a beauty differential, then some must have
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taken steps to acquire whiter offspring. See if you
can find any evidence of this tendency.
If you want people to take your whitening
proposal seriously, you should demonstrate that
whitening/beautification has significant benefits
for socioeconomic progress. You already men-
tioned some benefits such as increased
self-esteem resulting in better performance,
higher international popularity and improved
conditions for international trade. Try to sharpen
your analysis of these factors and look for other
connections between physical beauty and devel-
opment. You might not find a lot of direct
literature on this issue, but if you are imaginative
you will find ways to link your views to the
economic development literature.
Good Luck.
* * *
The fifth recommendation crossed my mind at the
last moment. I added this one for my own sake,
because this was the core question of Beauty and
Development. I was hoping that Atul would take this
point seriously and conduct a fruitful search. Three
days later, I got a short email from Atul. He had re-
ceived my letter. I did not hear from him in July, and I
was so busy with my own research that I did not give
much thought to Atuls ideas or to my own B&D
(beauty and development) project.
August started on a sad note. In early August, I got arejection letter from an academic journal that spe-
cializes in the economics of government (Public
Economics). I had submitted an article to the editor of
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this journal three months earlier. This was the third
time that this paper was rejected. I had received so
many rejection letters since I had started teaching at
Yale that my emotional response to a new rejection had
diminished to a short one-hour depression. This time
however, the impact was almost as severe as my first
rejection, five years earlier. This time I felt both
worried and depressed.
Except for highly talented and exceptional uni-
versity professors, most academic articles that get
published in a refereed journal are rejected at least once
or twice before finally being accepted somewhere.
However, in academics you either publish or perish.
For a university professor, tenure approval, promotion
and salary increases depend to a large degree on the
quantity of articles that he/she can publish in refereed
journals. Furthermore, the quality of journals is not the
same. Those that enjoy a higher status are far more
competitive and harder to publish in.
The last paper that I was able to publish was rejected
four times. I usually submit a rejected paper to a lower-ranked (less demanding) journal. This time, however, a
new submission would not have born fruit on time for
my tenure review. Based on my past experience, I
knew that even if my paper were to be accepted, it
would have received a conditional acceptance. This
means the referees and the editor of the journal would
have asked for lots of modifications and changes before
the paper was published. It usually takes several
months of hard work to revise a paper according to an
editors recommendations, and I was up for tenure
review in less than five months in December of 1998.For the first time, I felt seriously worried about my
chances for tenure at Yale. The depression began to sink
in. Five years at Yale and all I had published were four
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articles in second- and third-rate journals. I would have
felt a lot more secure if this last article had been accepted.
What went wrong? Why was I not able to publish more?
My first article got accepted before I graduated from
Harvard. When I arrived at Yale, some of the most distin-
guished members of the faculty considered me the most
promising new recruit of 1994. So what went wrong?
Perhaps I would have been able to publish more if I had
focused on one subject, or, as a visiting professor from
Canada put it, if I had had a signature.
Successful researchers stay loyal to their field of
concentration. I kept jumping from one subject to the
next. As soon as I got one paper accepted in one area, I
switched to a new subject. Consequently, I had to start
learning the background literature from scratch. No
wonder that each paper that I submitted, after the first
one, got rejected several times before it was finally ac-
cepted. The question that I had no answer for was why
I lost all interest in a subject after publishing just one
paper about it. My behavior was like a professional
athlete who spent two years playing football, then thenext two years basketball and then tennis and so on. No
matter how talented a person is, if he keeps switching
from one field to another, he can never excel.
By then, I had been asking myself this question for
nearly two years, and I still had no answer. My only
general explanation was that, perhaps, like every other
behavioral problem, it must have been caused by my
childhood experiences.
Well!! Enough about me. This book is about Atul
and his dream. He contacted me twice after I sent him
the questions, only to let me know that he was workingon them with 100% enthusiasm. On both occasions, I
was not in the mood to go into details. Instead, I just
gave him some mild encouragement.
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In mid-August, Meena (the girl who stopped by to
see her term paper when I was talking to Atul last May)
came to my office one afternoon. She was wearing a
beautiful Indian dress.
Hi, Dr. H. If Im not disturbing you, Id like to see
my term paper, said Meena as she walked into my
office. The last time she asked for her paper I suggested
she stop by some other time. I was supposed to find her
term paper and have it ready for her but I had not
looked for it. So I offered her a seat and started
searching my class files for her term paper. As I was
searching, I complimented her on her beautiful outfit.
Thanks. It is a traditional Indian dress. As you
might have heard, August 15th is Indias independence
day. This week, the Indian community at Yale has or-
ganized several celebrations to celebrate this occasion.
I actually came to campus today to attend one of these
celebrations. That is why Im wearing this ethnic
dress, said Meena. I finally found her paper and
handed it to her. She took a minute to look at her grade
for each question and handed it back to me. As she waslooking at her paper, I recalled her unfriendly inter-
action with Atul when she came to my office in May.
Do you know Atul Divan by any chance? I asked,
as she was getting ready to leave.
Of course, she replied with a sarcastic smile.
Why? Do you need to get in touch with him?
No. No. I was just curious if he is also coming to
Yale for celebrations that you are here for.
I dont think so. Atul is not the type to care much
about Indian festivities or Indian culture. Besides, he
lives in New Jersey, said Meena. Her opinionated re-sponse gave me an excuse to engage her in a
conversation about Atul. Ever since reading Atuls out-
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landish Appeal to non-Euros, I wanted to learn more
about his personality.
Thats strange! He took a class with me two years
ago and seemed very interested in Indias development
issues, I said.
Being curious about India doesnt mean that he
likes to identify with the Indian community. By the
way, did you say he was in one of your classes two
years ago? I saw him in your office last May, and I
thought he was your student last semester, said
Meena.
He wasnt my student last semester. When you saw
him in my office, he was here to talk to me about an in-
dependent study course for next semester.
I hope he is not trying to work on some of his crazy
ideas about the whitening of darker races, commented
Meena. I suddenly felt anxious.
No. He wants to take an independent course with
me about economic development, and thats all he has
talked to me about. What do you mean by whitening?
I asked. I felt my heartbeat quicken, but I tried toremain calm. Well!! You probably wont believe this,
but Atul believes that Indians should stop marrying
each other and marry whites to give their children a
lighter skin color. Last year, Atul and I both attended a
birthday party for one of our mutual friends. As usual,
Atul led the discussion to the question of beauty and
how we (Indians) are suffering because of our dark skin
complexion and lack of beauty. Some other Indian
students who were familiar with his views were teasing
him, and some were sarcastically agreeing with him. It
was good fun until he suddenly said that it is better forIndian girls to buy the sperm of white donors from
sperm banks and resort to artificial insemination than to
marry Indian boys and produce unattractive children.
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Everyone, especially the girls, felt insulted, and a
couple of guys got mad at him and shouted several
nasty remarks. Atul realized that he was no longer
welcome and left the party quietly.
That is so strange. I had no idea he had such a
twisted mind. He always appeared normal and, I should
say, also very smart. Im glad the topic of his inde-
pendent study that Im going to supervise has nothing
to do with these outrageous attitudes, I replied.
Dont be so sure, Dr. H, said Meena with a smile
and continued: He will probably talk to you about
whitening at some point and might even try to change
the orientation of his independent study in that di-
rection. I had a sociology course last year, and the
teacher told me that Atul had contacted him to see if he
was willing to help Atul do an independent study
project on whitening. So you never know what he is up
to. On the other hand, since his idea of whitening has
nothing to do with economics, he might spare you the
burden of listening to his nonsense.
Im sure that teacher turned him down, I com-mented.
Of course he did. I dont think anyone with a
minimum of intelligence and a normal character would
ever agree to be identified with such a sick idea. It is true
that some Indians are color conscious and show a pref-
erence for light complexion, but you rarely find anyone
who takes these ideas to such an extreme as Atul has
done, said Meena . For a moment, I felt both ashamed
and anxious. I simply nodded my head in approval.
Well! Thank you for the warning. In case he ever tries
to shift the focus of his independent study toward socalled whitening, Ill be ready for him. However, as you
mentioned, whitening has nothing to do with economic
development, I said, trying to hide my anxiety.
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Chapter Six
Registration
After my conversation with Meena, I became
worried. It would have been a big embarrassment if
Atul were to mention my name to anyone in asso-
ciation with his racial ideas. However, I was too
depressed about my publication failures and too busy
preparing for my fall semester classes to take this issue
seriously. The registration week for Fall 1998 finally
arrived. Everyone was on the move. I had six or seven
customers (students) on Monday. Some wanted my per-
mission to add one of the courses that I was offering,
while others wanted to drop one.
Atul came to my office on Tuesday. As usual he
was all excited and full of energy. Either intentionally
or accidentally, he arrived at 4:45 pm, when I did not
expect any other students in my office. He was
anxious to talk about the project and his summer-long
literature search. I, on the other hand, wanted to talk
about registration and the need for secrecy. Ever sincemy conversation with Meena, I had been asking myself
if I should cancel the whole thing to avoid the embar-
rassment of exposure. I had finally decided to go ahead
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with it because of its potential benefit to myself and
because it would have been unfair to Atul if I had
changed my mind at this stage. After all, he had spent
several weeks on a literature search already. So I
decided to go ahead with it and make sure the cover-up
topic that we were going to submit to the department
appeared sound and acceptable. That way, if something
went wrong, I could always claim that I was only
leading Atuls independent study program on the
formal (cover-up) topic.
As soon as Atul started talking about whitening, I
stopped him: Before we discuss your literature search,
I want to talk about your course registration and the
topic that we want to submit to the department. I
could see in his face that my remark and my serious
expression caught him by surprise. Perhaps he expected
me to show more enthusiasm.
Yes. Of course we better talk about registration
first, he responded with a serious look of his own and
continued: As I recall, we talked about it in May, and
you suggested a topic about the socioeconomic statusof immigrants in the U.S. I have prepared an IS
proposal on this topic. Atul opened his backpack and
pulled out several large envelopes. He opened one of
them and handed me a three-page draft.
I also got the IS registration form from the de-
partment office this afternoon. He handed me the
registration form, already neatly filled out.
Oh. Thats wonderful. Looks like you have been
busy today. I was both surprised and pleased that Atul
had already prepared the material for his registration. I
took a few moments to look at the independent studyrequest form. As I began to sign it, I looked at him and
said: But remember, this means extra work. You must
write three reports on this topic. Do you think you will
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have enough time to work on this and the whitening
stuff and your other classes?
Dont worry Dr. H. A good friend of mine who is
studying political science at the University of Michigan
did a independent study on this topic last year. He sent
me all the background literature and his own essays.
The proposal that I gave you is actually his proposal. I
just made some minor modifications. Atul finished
this sentence with a confident smile. I realized that he
was more clever than I had assumed. I responded with
a mild smile as I nodded my head and looked at him.
We both understood what we were about to do.
I can see that you are exercising some ethical flexi-
bility here, I said.
But its not like Im cheating and trying to get un-
deserved credit. I will continue to work hard on the
whitening project and I think the credit that I earn will
be justified. As we both agreed this is just a cover up.
The only unethical thing that I can see is that we are re-
porting a false title for my IS.
Oh, I agree and Ill see to it that you work veryhard and learn a good deal from this IS course. I just
hope that nothing goes wrong. If this whole thing is
exposed, we will both be in trouble.
I dont see what could go wrong. I did not mention
anything to my friend at U of M. He thinks I wanted
his papers because of my personal interest. In any case,
I also looked at his two essays. They look very good.
One of them is a detailed literature summary and the
other one is mostly a demographic study of the flow of
immigrants as well as their earnings and occupational
status compared to mainstream Americans. I cansubmit the literature summary without any change or
perhaps by adding a few references to the latest publi-
cations that it does not cover. The second paper is also
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Sorry for the interruption. Elizabeth is my TA. Do
you know her by any chance? I asked.
Yes. We were in Professor Martins
Macroeconomics class. She is very attractive, isnt she?
I wish Indian girls were as beautiful.
Well! As they say, beauty is in the eyes of the
beholder. I happen to think that some Indian actresses
are very attractive, but you probably disagree. I just
hope that you dont make such comments in the
company of Indian girls. Experience has taught me
not to become too personal with students and never to
comment about a female student in front of another
student. (Elizabeth was indeed a very attractive girl
with blond hair and blue eyes - Atuls favorite type.)
Atul was not prepared for my cold and critical re-
sponse.
Sorry. I did not mean to ask I agree with your
view about the Indian actresses. But, if you look
carefully, you realize that all of these beautiful ac-
tresses have lighter skin complexion than an average
Indian, said Atul. There was silence for a fewmoments and then he continued: Of course I never
make such comparisons in the company of Indian
girls.
Atul, I know we have talked about this before. But
I sincerely hope that you have not talked about your
ideas regarding racial improvement and whitening to
anyone. Am I right?
I could see that Atul was becoming a bit nervous
and was trying to compose a response. Perhaps he was
wondering why I was so concerned about secrecy.
Of course not. I have always kept these thoughtsprivate. Why would I want to share these ideas with
others when I know how they might respond?
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Since I already knew that he was lying, based on my
conversation with Meena, the only value of this con-
versation was to give me a better understanding of
Atuls behavior when he was lying. Most people show
a nervous reaction when trying to conceal the truth, but
he looked very calm and convincing. I figured this
knowledge would come in handy in my future inter-
actions with him. Atul continued:
You know I was at an all-Indian party several
months ago. It was a large crowd of undergraduate
students and there was an Indian guy named Rajeev,
who was an out-of-town guest. Hed had a few beers
and made a comment about white girls being more at-
tractive than Indian girls. You wont believe how angry
some guests became. One guy who noticed how upset
his girlfriend was after hearing this comment got into a
heated argument with Rajeev. Other guests supported
him, and Rajeev was so embarrassed that he left the
party immediately. So, I know how unpopular these
ideas are, at least on the surface. You dont have to
worry about it. I never talk about these topics toanyone.
Had Meena not mentioned Atuls embarrassing be-
havior at that party, I probably would have believed
him. We talked a few more minutes, and I gave him
back the registration form and told him to go ahead
with registering for the course.
The department approved the cover-up topic for
Atuls IS without any question. The department ex-
aminer was to be selected in November. Fall term
classes began. Yale came to life again.
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for my literature search, and one of them was to search
for evidence that others have also paid attention to
whitening. You also mentioned that this was the most
important topic that I should search the literature for.
Well! I searched for it and I found a lot of evidence,
said Atul with confidence.
Atul was referring to the letter that I sent him in
June in response to his Appeal to Non-European
People. I did ask him to search for historical evidence
of support for whitening. But I didnt really expect him
to find anything. Im glad your search has been
fruitful. I hope you have written down the full ref-
erences to the sources that you have read.
Yes, I have. This is only a small portion of my
notes and photocopies, said Atul as he pointed to the
large stack of papers that he had brought along.
Indeed, I have a separate folder for each of the five
questions and some of these folders are very thick.
So looks like you have done a lot of work. Why
dont we discuss each question separately?
Fine, which one would you like me to discussfirst? Since he had already aroused my curiosity about
evidence of historical support for whitening, I sug-
gested we start with that one.
As you had recommended, I began my search by
concentrating on eugenics. I looked especially for indi-
cations of eugenic interest in developing countries.
Apparently, during the first half of the 20th century,
when eugenics reached its peak of popularity in
Western Europe and North America, it also