October 18, 2003
Find the Anti-Semitic Horseshit
by JeremyJust the other day I reflected that one of the forms of bigotry I feel is the most dangerous is the kind that cloaks itself in the haute couture of simulated intellectual inquiry. I wrote it then in the context of a comment thread on Roger Simon?s blog. Roger was speaking out against the anti-Semitic content in a piece by Gregg Easterbrook. Easterbrook has since written a lengthy and apparently sincere apology for the words quoted below:
?Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence??
I buy his apology -- that he did not mean what it seems he meant, that his wording was stupid -- though he fails to acknowledge this as a sign that there is at least a drop of passive, received anti-Semitism in him. I don?t think there is anyone who has not had to face something ugly in himself or herself, who has not had the shock of seeing something in their own character that had to be faced and repudiated. Easterbrook might best have seen this as such an occasion, a time to face a demon publicly and put it -- publicly -- behind him. I hope he is at least tackling this in his private thoughts.
Why hold another person to such a high standard? Because, given realities like this next item, it?s crucial that we not get in the habit of whitewashing bigotry, even when it?s our own.
Mahatir Mohammed: Anti-Semitic Demogogue
The prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad said in a speech at the Islamic Summit Conference the other day that ?the Jews rule this world by proxy.? Throughout the speech the terms ?Jews? ?Israel? and ?the enemy? are used interchangeably. Is it just another expression of pure Islamist anti-Semitism? No. And that?s what frightens me the most about it. Mahatir is no Islamist. In the speech he criticizes Muslims for having thrown away their own progress in the world centuries ago by rejecting science in favor of theology. And he rejects the use of random violence to oppose ?the enemy? since it only hurts the interests of Muslims. Mahatir is a demagogue and a plainly anti-Semitic one. He speaks of Jews as some kind of race of evil geniuses who should be reviled and vanquished, yes, but whose evil tricks should be emulated.
?We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also.?
Who but we Jews would be so sick as to try to rule the world with our vile weapons of human rights and democracy. What cads we are. What vile potions will we cook up in our evil kitchens next?
Guys like this love to give the appearance that they are being reasonable, that they are engaging in a process of courageous, intellectual exploration, that they are saying things that some people may find uncomfortable, but that everyone really knows are true. But did the majority of his audience go home thinking ?wow, he?s right: terrorism hurting Muslims and Arabs more than it?s hurting the enemy.? Or are they saying ?wow, Jews really are controlling the world with their big brains.? You don?t have to be a brainy evil Jew such as my self to figure that one out. His ?intellectual? ambiguity doesn?t mitigate the violenct hatefulness of his real message. That?s what demagogues do, they confuse, they obfuscate, they use the illusion of complexity to make ordinary people stop thinking and simply accept what they?re told. Televangelists are expert at this: talk utter horseshit for hours and people go numb, until only the amphibian brain is listening, until only the most primitive of your exhortations will be swallowed and regurgitated.
The point is this: if there really is or is going to be a resurgence of anti-Semitism, it?s going to be this thinly modernized kind. It?s going to be a stinking barge-load of horseshit with a single gardenia of intellectual obfuscation placed on top. So let?s not stoop to smell the flower when we should be crying ?horseshit!?
-Jeremy
By the way, if you find yourself asking "what the hell are these guys smoking?" your answer may be found below:
That... was beautiful
Posted by: semm at October 19, 2003 07:40 PM
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