Auschwitz 1945
Today is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz 60 short years ago.
As long time readers know, I am a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people in particular. Part of the reason for this is a deep respect for inner strength, and the Jews have shown alot of that over the past 3000 years. Another reason is that the Jews indeed are God’s chosen people – His people to pick on, kick in the face, and in general torment through history. I’m not big on God right now – if He exists – because honestly, I know I could do better. Any God who allows the suffering of innocents is no God of mine.
I also have Jewish “blood” through my father’s mother. While I was raised Catholic, I retain a strong affinity for Judaism and its struggle to survive through the ages. If I had to “choose” a religion, Judaism and Catholicism would be my top two picks. Buddhism is a close third, but Buddhism has always struck me as a little too whimsical when bad things happen. When bad things happen, you want a good Jesuit to help you come to terms with it intellectually or a Rabbi to pat you on the back and buy you a hot cup of coffee.
I am deeply troubled by the rise of anti-semitism amongst the intellectual elite. I once considered myself part of it, until I realized that I didn’t belong there. I’m the first generation of my family to attend college, and while I know my way around Sartre and Hesse, I’d rather spend time watching a little league game or hanging drywall. I’ve always had a populist streak, and part of my intellectual growth has been embracing that and no longer being ashamed that the only ivy-covered building I’ve ever lived in is my home in Delaware.
I look at the intellectual elite, and I am struck by how similar they are to the elite of the 1930s. During that time, Communism was the intellectual fad of the day, and anti-semitism was built into it by design. The view of the world came through the prism of Marxism which severely distorted reality for that elite. Today, everything is viewed through a prism of anti-Americanism and anti-semitism. Americans are bad. Jews are bad.
Anti-Americanism is really anti-populism. America is a populist state. It’s leaders are elected by the people. People choose the success of products in the marketplace, and ideas in the free press. This bothers intellectuals to no end. They want to be looked to, or worshipped, for their wisdom while the rest of the nation ignores them, making them irrelevant.
Anti-Semitism is something deeper. In a sense it reflects an easy solution for a complex problem. The problem for the intellectual elite is relevance, and the solution? Blame the Jews. It’s an ancient solution and one with a long intellectual provenance. Since America is Israel’s biggest supporter (supplanting France in 1967) , it also ties in to the anti-Americanism to create a nice big ball of intellectual rubbish.
The lesson that Auschwitz 1945 is “never again”. Unfortunately it is increasingly clear that it is a lesson that the intellectual elite hasn’t yet learned.
