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.
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“The problem for the intellectual elite is relevance, and the solution? Blame the Jews.”
Scott -
What the hell are you talking about? What intellectual elite? Who’s blaming the Jews for anyting?
Huh!?!
Cheers -
Comment by rl — 1/27/2005 @ 12:39 pm
Russ
The intellectual elite that is calling for a boycott of Israeli scientists. The elite that demands divestment from Israel. The elite that works at news organizations like the Spectator that says “Sure we should remember the 6 million dead Jews, but what about the atrocities in Jenin?” Yeah, 55 dead terrorists vs 6 million dead men, women and children.
For sources, check israpundit.com, LGF and honestreporting.com (Spectator link) - three blogs on my daily reading list.
Comment by Scott Kirwin — 1/27/2005 @ 2:05 pm
Scott -
What you’ve shown me with these links is the following:
1. A Muslim group at USC that doesn’t like Jewish people
2. A commentator in the UK who doesn’t like the policies of Israel regarding the Palestinians, and who makes a stupid comparison of Jenin to Auschwitz.
I have no comment regarding the first other than to say they’re a bunch of dumb asses.
Regarding the second, many people who are not anti-semitic disagree with Israel’s policy concerning Palestine. Many Jewish people disagree with Israel’s policy concerning Palestine. In fact, many Israelis disagree with the same. That doesn’t make them anti-semitic.
Many people use the Holocaust rhetorically to inflate the gravity of various injustices. Somewhat ironically, the guy in the Spectator article has done so in a situation where the Israeli IDF is the antagonist. Don’t think that makes him anti-semitic.
Not all the dead people at Jenin were terrorists, BTW.
Anti-semitism is a prejudice against Jews. Opposing the policies of the political state of Israel is not anti-semitism. Inflating the gravity of various tragic, or even non-tragic, events by comparing them to the Holocaust is overblown rhetoric, and is disrespectul of the actual suffering of the victims of the Nazis, but it’s not anti-semitism.
When people talk about the “intellectual elite", I frankly have no idea who they’re talking about. The phrase is nothing but jargon. It has no substance.
Folks who set the agenda for intellectual and political discourse in this country come from both, or I should say all, sides of the fence politically. “Liberals” have no monopoly on the megaphone.
Cheers -
Comment by Russell — 1/27/2005 @ 9:22 pm
Russ
I first replied with a lengthy post, then a short one after that. For some reason it didn’t like my code and I lost both.
Here’s my points:
1. Read www.frontpagemag.com, www.memri.com and get email updates from honestreporting.com for news on anti-semitism in academia and the media - where most of my “intellectual elite’ mentioned above reside.
2. Put two Jews in a room and you’ll get 3 opinions. There are some Jews who are against the existence of Israel. So you’ll find Jews on nearly all sides of issues.
3. If you are against the existence of Israel, you are against Judaism and anti-semitic since Israel is a part of the Jewish identity. It would be like saying you weren’t anti-Catholic but calling for the overthrow of the Pope.
Finally, I can’t argue concisely about this issue because it’s so broad and touches upon many areas. We can start, however, by checking out the sites mentioned above.
Regards,
Scott K.
Comment by Scott Kirwin — 1/28/2005 @ 12:24 pm