Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 63

Rudolf Steiner's joke about "mulatto children" was made in a specific context. While insensitive today, it was nevertheless a joke. As a scholar who had edited Goethe's scientific writings and written numerous essays on evolution Rudolf Steiner was well aware of the influence of genes on the characteristics of offspring. That Peter Staudenmaier would repeat this joke as a serious statement of Rudolf Steiner's beliefs speaks to either his credulity or his duplicity in dealing with the issue of Rudolf Steiner's view of race. That is, either Peter Staudenmaier did not actually check the context of the original when he wrote from his secondary source, and thus did not notice that his secondary source was misrepresenting Rudolf Steiner, or, knowing that this was actually a joke, he represented it as a serious statement anyway for polemical effect.