This time of year it is worth remembering Mein Kampf, the turgid and unreadable Bible of the Nazi movement that was published back in July of 1925. The last time I looked, you could still buy it at the international airport newstand in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur — along with other classics of anti-Semitism like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the collected rants of Henry Ford in the Dearborn Independent. Jeffrey Goldberg tells me that he recently saw Hitler’s masterwork on the bestseller shelf of the Borders book store at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
The most common cover of Mein Kampf (Wikimedia)
When Hitler wrote, it was still socially OK to be an anti-Semite. In some circles it was mandatory. As a consequence of Hitler’s life’s work, it is now as unfashionable to be an anti-Semite as it is to name your child Adolf.
The truth is that anti-Semitism is alive and well and not even particularly rare; it’s just that many of today’s anti-Semites like to think of themselves as enlightened, modern people and get all huffy and hissy if anyone accuses them of prejudice in any form. Many who in past times would have been open and honest about their anti-Semitism, now try to hide the truth even from themselves.
But anti-Semitism involves belief in any or all of the following ideas:
Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda.
Jews deploy extraordinary wealth with almost superhuman cunning in support of the Jewish agenda.
As a religious and national minority, Jews cannot flourish without attacking the traditional values of their host society. In every country Jews seek to weaken national culture, religion, values and cohesion.
Jews are not a national group or a people in the way that others are; they do not have the same right to establish a nation state that other peoples do.
Where Jewish interests are concerned, the appearance of open debate in our society and many others is a carefully constructed illusion. In reality, Jews work together to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Jewish agenda are marginalized in public discussion.
These ideas are the five pillars of anti-Semitism; you don’t have to believe them all — any one will do. Being an anti-Semite does not necessarily make you a Nazi. You are an anti-Semite. That doesn’t make you a Nazi; Hitler added a sixth pillar of anti-Semitism that the only way to successfully oppose the Jewish agenda was to kill all the Jews.
Since Hitler’s death, the world has defined anti-Semitism down. Nurturing ancient fantasies of secret Jewish cabals that control the media and play politicians like puppets on a string, and making political judgments based on these fantasies isn’t sort of or almost anti-Semitic. To believe that Jews control public discourse and the media and bend the gentile masses to their sinister agenda is the essence of old fashioned anti-Semite. In some countries these beliefs are so common that they are no longer recognized as an aggressive and communicable mental disease. These ideas have become so widely accepted that they are seldom questioned or examined; when that happens, a whole society is poisoned and distorted.
On the anniversary of Mein Kampf‘s publication people of good will everywhere should remember the need to fight one of the most vicious forms of prejudice that the world has ever known. Prejudice never recognizes itself; anti-Semites honestly think their delusional beliefs about Jews are simple, obvious truths. They are not; all five of those beliefs are demonstrably false.
In Nazi Germany people were imprisoned and even killed for trying to fight anti-Semitism. In America we are free to fight it, but too many of us choose to ignore this hate that dares not speak its name. Anti-Semitism is real, it is murderous, and it is very much with us today. Speak the truth and shame the devil. Whatever your religion, your politics, your views about Israeli policy, fighting anti-Semitism is part of what it means to be a decent human being.
We must all do our part to keep this filthy hatred in the ignominious pit where it belongs.
This is an excellent and timely post. Not only is July the anniversary of the publication of Mein Kampf but today is the start of the largest convention in support of Israel that the United States has seen in a long time. It’s not the AIPAC convention that commences today and it’s not the J Street convention either; it’s the sixth annual convention of Christians United for Israel or CUFI for short.
The organization, founded by Pastor John Hagee, is holding their annual meeting in the Washington, D.C. convention center. Their annual night to honor Israel dinner will be webcasted live at cufi.com tomorrow evening starting at 7:30 pm. Keynote speakers include Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu (by satellite) and radio and television personality, Glenn Beck.
Foolishly, many American Jews who are primarily on the liberal side of the political spectrum as I am, are offended by the support of Christian Zionists. Nothing could be sillier. Many liberal Jews distrust the philosemitism of some Christian Zionists and they feel especially uncomfortable with the prospect that Christian Zionists support Israel out of an obsession with eschatology.
These concerns are misguided. Finally, at long last, after centuries of Christians oppressing Jews a mainstream and powerful movement has arisen within Christianity whose credo is Genesis 12:3; “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
It seems to me that this is quite an improvement that my fellow Jews ought to be celebrating rather than lamenting.
There are a couple of things that are remarkable about CUFI; for one, the organization is significantly larger than AIPAC and J Street put together; it has over 700 thousand members. CUFI has 520 thousand Facebook fans; AIPAC and J Street combined have about 38 thousand. All of this provides ample evidence that Professor Mead’s oft-stated thesis that Zionism in the United States is primarily a Christian phenomenon is true.
While CUFI is staunchly pro-Israel, the organization does not seek to force any particular policy position on the Israeli government, they merely insist that American politicians support Israel whatever the policies of the Israeli Government happen to be. On Wednesday of this week, CUFI delegates will fan out on Capitol Hill and visit the offices of all 100 Senators and over 400 offices of House members. Their message will be unambiguous; candidates who don’t support Israel are candidates whom they will oppose. CUFI chapters are particularly well organized in swing states like Pennsylvania (mostly the Western part of the state); Florida (around the Panhandle) and Ohio (in the Cincinnati area).
It’s really quite extraordinary.
One thing that makes the CUFI phenomenon so interesting is that it puts the lie to so called experts like Professor Steve Walt of Harvard who published a book, “The Israel Lobby” which seeks to perpetuate the myth of a Jewish conspiracy in support of Israel.
Looking at Professor Mead’s list of anti-Semitic memes, Walt and his partner in crime, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, seem to believe at least three of the anti-Semitic fantasies; they believe that Jews deploy enormous wealth with superhuman cunning, they believe that Jews are particularly clannish and they believe that Jews work to stifle debate on issues that they care about.
Despite their anti-Semitism Walt and Mearsheimer are respected members of the academy who are invited to give lectures at various academic institutions and societies. Academic institutions have become so twisted that it is almost viewed as a badge of courage to invite these anti-Semites to speak. Professor Mead, to his credit has called them out on more than one occasion.
Perhaps the greatest bastion of intellectual anti-Semitism on the part of the left is to be found in a publication on Professor Mead’s blog roll; the New York Review of Books. I’ve always wondered why he includes it. The five part test that Professor Mead proposed above is one that the recently deceased Tony Judt (a Jew himself) surely would have failed. I doubt that Timothy Garten Ash or Professor Mead’s Bard colleague, Ian Buruma, would distinguish themselves on Mead’s test either.
Talk about global weirding; it’s strange that just as the right is abandoning its anti-Semitism, the left is becoming reacquainted with this ancient bigotry.
I also saw it on the best sellers rack at the CityStars mall in Cairo two years ago.
An educational post as always. I am pro-Israel and I have lived my life in Iran. It is definitely a vicious mental problem that devours the soul. I can tell ya that since Iranian mullahs have no soul.
Mein Kampf has never been out of print as far as I know, and there is absolutely no justification for banning it, or for judging people who purchase it as right wing nutcases or anti-Semites. Some may be just that, but there is no point in preaching to young people that the philosophy and politics set out in the book are evil if they cannot read it to see for themselves.
I grew up in Australia in a home with a copy of Mein Kampf on the bookshelves. I tried several times from about age 13 to read it without getting beyond the first 50 pages. I’ve been immune to it ever since but – unlike most who want the book banned and burnt – I understand why I hated it because I’d been able to see for myself what filthy garbage it was.
Perhaps if today’s young people who support all the anti-Israel campaigns currently in vogue were encouraged to read Mein Kampf they would understand why they are actually Hitler’s and the Nazis true heirs and not the honourable human rights campaigners that they think they are.
I too am astounded at the “acceptance” of anti-Semitism, primarily by Progressives. Go to Progressive sites and read the comments about Jews in stories about Israel. It is shocking the hatred and bigotry expressed by people who consider themselves the “intellectual elites”. The parallels in their comments and positions mirror many of the same words printed in Germany in the buildup to the extermination of the Jews. Add to that they openly support Islam which calls for the extermination of all Jews and Israel.
Just as shocking, Progressives direct the same bigotry towards Christians and Southerners. Just like Hitler believed Jews to be inferior humans, Progressives believe Christians and Southerners inferior humans. And they openly say so in their comments on Progressive web sites.
Go read some comments On Huffington Post in stories about Israel or Christians…it is shocking.
I submit that centuries of persecution, starting with blood libel, have made the Jews the most accomplished and admirable ethnic group in the world.
Harried from country to country in Europe — one would expel Jews and appropriate their wealth; they’d start over in another — made Jews extraordinarily self-reliant, resourceful and resilient. Adherence to the God of Abraham and Isaac, and the rabbinic tradition, made them unusually sensitive to morality. They excel despite long odds and thereby enrich the rest of us. Their massive emigration to America in the 20th century strengthened this country in every way.
If he could have foreseen the world in 2011, Paul might have predicted this result. “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)
How tragic that Jews’ extraordinary accomplishments have made them the object of such envy and hatred. Anti-Semitism in all its guises is, in a word, despicable.
I have a question out of curiosity… Could you please expand on #1: Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda. Thank you…
Thank you, Mr. Mead, for all the good work you do to combat anti-Semitism and that criticism of Israel which is anti-Semitism masquerading as criticism of Israel.
“Mein Kampf” is on the shelves of many bookstores in the US. Go to your local Barnes & Noble if you want a copy. Both paperback and hard bound are available there.
There is no problem with this or any book being available and I have read Mein Kampf and many other books with which I disagree. One somehow suspects, though, that where Mein Kampf is a bestseller, simple historical curiosity is not the only force at work.
Well said WRM and let us hope “prejudice begins to recognize itself” via your work (Many Kudos).
Why are we remembering and somehow ‘celebrating’ Mein Kampf? I did not know about this special date until I read this article. Are there any reasons for holding conventions at this time by reminding people about Hitler and his work? I see Mein Kampf on shelves of Barnes and Noble every time I visit store. I was never interested in buying this book, because there are many other well-known authors to read and learn from. At the same time, I don’t think this book has to be taken from bookstores and Mein Kampf is not a bestseller. We live in a free society, not in a Communist state to censure books and start losing our liberties.
At this point I’m more concerned about the American Jewish community’s distance from, and suspicions of, the goyish (Gentile) working-class majority in America, that class of which the evangelical Christians WigWag refers to are an important sub-group.
I live grew up and presently live in the South and am intimately acquainted with this class. I worked beside them shoulder-to-shoulder for decades, employed them in my landscape gardening business, and count a number of them as friends. They are a warm, honest, hard-working people in my experience, singularly free of the race prejudice of which they are often accused.
In all my years I’ve not heard a single anti-Semitic utterance from their mouths. Let me repeat that: not one! (I wish I could say the same about my upper- and upper-middle class Anglo acquaintances in NYC, people I have met at parties and in other casual social encounters.) By contrast Ashkenazi American negative stereotypes of this class are a common place. I encountered such prejudice myself firsthand in NYC when I was first active in the founding of Americans for Peace Now decades ago, though I also made on of my best life-long friends at those early meetings.
More recently the movie Borat, and even more telling, the vituperative comments to the NYT review of that movie,exemplified these unfortunate attitudes, attitudes which were equally displayed by the liberal Anglo commenters to that review I might add. Jewish suspicions of and stereotypical prejudices toward the lower-class European peasantry are of course a staple of Yiddish tradition. A lot of those attitudes unfortunately have carried over into the United States despite the fact that anti-Semitism has, with occasional exceptions, been conspicuously absent among the European groups that immigrated to this country, certainly the groups that currently inhabit the South and MidWest.
I bring this issue up because it is another prejudice that dare not speak its name and because, as a steadfast friend and supporter of the state of Israel, I fear the long-term consequences of these attitudes on American popular support for the state of Israel.
Right now this is a class that has absolutely no voice in the formation of public policy in America and whose fundamental economic interests are consistently disregarded. On of the results is the downward mobility we see all about us. (Yes, I’m thinking of trade and immigration.) I’d love for the heads of the major Jewish organizations in America get together and discuss this problem in all its dimensions.
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Luke
How typical of Mead to note antisemitism, and yet fail to identify those who he considers to be antisemitic.
Vague references to airport book stores really does little to illustrate the extent of the problem. But this might help.
Or how about this poll which determines that 73% of Palestinians want Jews annihilated. Talk about taking up Hitler’s 6th pillar.
Naming names isn’t exactly Mead’s style, but if you’re going to shame the devil one would think that identifying by name those working on his behalf would be part of the process.
While visiting my grandfather many years ago, I was a bit surprised to find an old copy of Mein Kampf in his basement. It was printed in 1943, by a prominent American publisher, and the jacket blurb pretty much boiled down to “We’re publishing an English translation of this tripe so you can know your enemy.” An appropriate message, then and now.
Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda.
Depends what you mean by “act in concert” and “Jewish agenda.” This can be read relatively benignly, so I’ll assume that’s not what Mr. Mead meant.
Benignly read, it simply means that Jews like to keep their Jewish identity, strongly identify with their Jewish identity and heritage, and like to engage in Jewish types of cultural activities. I doubt whether this is “more so” than all other groups, but it’s certainly more so than many other groups.
I think there’s a difference between second and third generation Americans who are not Jewish and those who are Jewish. The Jews seem to hold more strongly to that identity — which is their right — than children of other groups. At least that’s my observation. I don’t think that makes me an anti-Semite. I think it’s also obviously true.
I have noticed that most Jews I know identify very strongly as Jews — it used to catch me off guard, because most of the time, I had no idea they were Jewish and didn’t care. They would tell me as if it were something I cared about. They certainly feel much more strongly about being Jews than I did about my own ethnicity.
In fact, I was just reading an essay by a Jewish writer who was explaining why Jews want to keep their Jewish identity and want to maintain some separateness. OK, whatever floats your boat.
I think anti-Semitism is a specific hatred for Jewish people, Jewish culture and Jewish religion; believing Jews conspire to keep other people down; and when people attribute negative characteristics to Jews that are negative characteristics of the human race. I don’t think we need a list of “thoughts” that are forbidden.
It’s ridiculously naive for western society/democracies to think that just because WWII ended and we held trials, that the era of socialist fascism would be wiped out. It’s alive and well and has slowly been creeping into all government. It was financed and propelled by corporations last time, and is being financed by them this time.
I have been thinking lately that this latest surge in anti-Semitism is actually a massive push by socialists and corporations to finally, once and for all, move the planet away from democracy and to a majority fascist socialist government. To do that of course requires a scapegoat; this time around they’ve merged the identities of Jews, Israel and America into one identity, and by doing so can eliminate “three birds with one stone.”
The fact that China is supplying weapons (and nukes) to countries that want to eliminate Israel should be scaring the life out of our President, but it doesn’t seem to bother him; maybe because he needs their money to achieve his goal and expand the reach of government, more than he needs to keep the Jewish vote.
An excellent post – it is interesting how these beliefs continue to exist even as the distribution of Jewish communities has changed so dramatically. The anti-semite of the late 19th century could have projected his fantasies on large and prosperous Jewish communities in most of the countries of Europe and the Middle east. Now there are sizable communities only in the UK, Russia, US, Australia, and Canada, and Israel.
It is quite dissonant to have such prejudices on the role and supposed influence of the Jewish community on the “host society” when the countries in question no longer have any real Jewish community to speak of. The most obvious example is the Arba world, where widespread classic anti-semitism exists in a nation with only a few hundred eldery and marginalized Jews left.
Have any of you read Mein Kampf? It isn’t so bad really. It is a good look into the mind of a “mad” man.
Refresh my mind. Did he call for mass murder of Jews in that book? I don’t remember that he did. Expulsion was more his theme, I think.
He also was really against homosexuals, and brother, watch out for his views on syphilis, which was the HIV of his day. He wouldn’t have supported our approach to HIV, I can tell you that.
As I recall, his biggest obsession was the ever present threat from “The East.” He was very well read, according to his Nazi associates.
His biggest grips with the Jews was their power. Hitler wanted all power in his hands. They controlled the mass media, the universities, and business. He even accused them of manipulating the price of art by giving poor reviews to certain artists, then buying their works up cheap,and vice versa. Hitler, as you know, considered himself educated in art.
But, you should add Mein Kampf to your summer reading. And remember, the author of that book went on to big things.
While the liberal elites are highly circumspect in their antisemitism, they are often proud to proclaim their overt hatred of evangelicals, much as ordinary Germans were unabashed in their antisemitism in the nazi era. In their arrogant certainty our modern elites, the modern counterpart of their German intellectual forebearers are blissfully unaware that there can be no distinction.
This is merely my subjective prejudiced antiquated view of Jews. Where blacks seem to excel in physical sports, and Orientals in self-disscipline based activities such as music and sciences, jews excel in recognizing material value and in their management of money. So what! Go for it. America needs all these special capabilities and we are all the richer for them. This is what diversity is all about. Too many praise diversity as if it will somehow deliver these strengths to us all. I believe we will remain diverse, and be the better for it. Perhaps in this regard, as in so many others, we are still “the shining city on the hill” and someday the bigoted masses, particularly those repressed by Islam, will see these values and embrace them. For this I too support Israel. Hmm. First time I understood my own feelings.
Prof. Mead:
I agree that anti-semitism is alive and well in the world and waiting only for the right set of circumstances to bring it up from the dark, but what you say about anti-Semitism is true also of racial/cultural prejudice. Just because it has gone below ground doesn’t mean it has disappeared. Just because people have stopped openly using the “N” word doesn’t mean racial prejudice has ceased.
The right wants to deny the existence of racism and seems to point to the disappearance of cross burnings and public use of racial epithets as proof, but you apparently agree that the absence of overt expression is not evidence of racism’s disappearance.
So…in a society where overt expression of prejudice has become unacceptable how do we identify it? How do we determine if it still exists?
I think that is the issue with the Arizona immigration laws. Were they racially motivated or not? How can we tell? I have argued from the beginning that since the Arizona laws targeted people based on their appearance they appeared to be motivated by prejudice. Had the Arizona laws required police officers to request proof of citizenship from everyone they stopped, not just people whoappeared to be illegal aliens, I think this issue could have been avoided, but since the vast majority of Americans do not carry proof of citizenship with them such a law would have resulted in a lot of white, anglo, Arizonans being arrested, a result which would have been as offensive to the majority of Arizonans as the current law is to hispanics.
Pillar #1 “Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda.”
Luke Lea: “More recently the movie Borat, and even more telling, the vituperative comments to the NYT review of that movie,exemplified these unfortunate attitudes, attitudes which were equally displayed by the liberal Anglo commenters to that review I might add.”
The NYT is not the official HQ for the Jewish people; quite the contrary. The ownership is distinctly anti-Israel, and anti-traditional Jewish anything in general.
“Borat” is not the president of the International Jewish Conspiracy.” He is a character played by an English comedian who, yes, is Jewish.
And if you want to hear some really dismissive bigoted evaluations of Southern white evangelicals, spend a little time with upper-middle class Southern white non-evangelicals.
My comment above was in response to Luke Lea post #13.
This is an interesting essay. I would agree that acceptance of most of the propositions you list are reflective of a degree of ‘anti-semitism’, I strongly disagree that the first proposition necessarily, reflects anti-semitic belief.
It is not a singularly non-Jewish notion or anti-Jewish notion that “Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda“. Or, at least not in slightly weaker forms.
First of all, whether as a result of persecution or self-identification, Jews have self-identified as different from all other groups and claimed special status in a way other groups have before the beginning of the Common Era (to use the politically correct term today). To acknowledge this historical fact is not to be anti-semitic.
Although it is anecdotal, I heard and read of hundreds of cases where Jews, both secular and religious, talk about almost any issue in politics in the country in which they live by asking “Is it good for the Jews or not.
I know of no other ethnic group in the US or any other country in which one hears anything analogous to that question, whether about the members of the ethnic group within the US or the original home country. If Jews self-identify as fundamentally different than members of any other ethnic group is it anti-semitic to take that self-identification seriously? I think that is absurd.
It’s interesting to note that before the rise of the Nazis, there was widespread discussion within respectable intellectual circles, both Jewish and gentile, of what was called the “Jewish Question” – the debate over the place of the Jews as a distinct group within the various national states in Europe (and elsewhere).
The Austro-Romanian novelist Gregor von Rezzori, in his highly praised (by among others, Eli Weisel) novel Memoirs of an Anti-Semite said that the worst thing Hitler did was to make it impossible to discuss the Jewish Question. A very interesting book that I recommend highly.
Without in anyway minimizing the horror of the murder of millions by the Nazis, there is a profound truth in von Rezzori’s statement.
A few questions and a comment after this jeremiad:
1) When (if ever), is it acceptable to criticize Jews? Or is the practical definition of anti-Semitism the belief by gentiles that Jews may be criticized like any other group?
2) Is it acceptable to note and comment on Jewish exceptionalism at all? This includes (but is not limited to) the outsized influence (relative to their proportion of the population) in certain areas of our society, such as politics, media and finance. Why?
3) Why do you not take into consideration America’s troubling policy of acting as a guarantor of Israel’s safety? Meddling in the middle east as a result of our Israel policy has earned us no small number of enemies in a corner of the world best left to its own devices. The (mostly Jewish) neocon policies (started under Bush, continued under Obama) have been disastrous in both terms of blood and money.
Finally my comment. You say this: “Where Jewish interests are concerned, the appearance of open debate in our society and many others is a carefully constructed illusion. In reality, Jews work together to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Jewish agenda are marginalized in public discussion.” You then say this: “Speak the truth and shame the devil.” Well, which is it? You can either devote yourself to an open and honest discussion about things, or not. But when one side of your mouth says, essentially “Jews don’t stifle debate about themselves,” and the other side of your mouth says “Silence these bigots,” you’ve got a messaging problem, to put it mildly.
I once had a neighbor who attended the same Presbyterian church that I did. However, he made it a point to let everyone know he came from a Jewish family. When people brag about having a Jewish background I think it argues against there being rampant antisemitism in my part of the Christian South.
There is much dismay about the growing anti-semitism of elites. When we look at the major forces changing our world, we should not be too surprised at this growth, though. The Jews have done more for the growth of industrial society around the world, per capita, than any other group of humans.
Thus, they are hated by the elites whose positions in society keep being threatened by the growth of industrial networks around the world. When some Jews participate in the elite status, they often find themselves identifying more with those elites than with other Jews. Even those not financially rewarded as elites love the cache of being “one of the smart kids”, and of course, that requires thinking like all the other smart elite kids. ….Right?
As explicit hatred of the world-wide nature of industrial society’s physical, political, market, intellectual, and spiritual networks has expanded, so has hatred of Jews. The elite oligarchs, from the French Ambassador who sneered at “that shitty little country”, to the friends of International Answer, who think nothing of demonstrating side by side with people holding signs that say “Hitler didn’t finish the job, we will”, are all willing to abandon those who contribute so much to their positions becoming irrelevant.
Still, the cause of Israel and the Jews is the cause of everyone whose existence is supported by the productive industrial networks around the world. That happens to be 6 out of the 7 billion humans alive today, though the elites would rather we forget that, since our survival must accompany their decline.
“Jews are more clannish than other people and act in concert to support a specifically Jewish agenda.”
Can you see how one could get that impression, though, by, oh i dunno… reading the Old Testament or any other religious or historical work in Jewish culture? Correct me if I’m wrong but your ENTIRE RELIGION is based on acting in concert to support your group, which is based on ancestry. If it walks like a race cult and talks like a race cult…
“In reality, Jews work together to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Jewish agenda are marginalized in public discussion.”
…exactly what the purpose of this article, no? Please, I’m curious, what is the purpose of this article (and its billion clones scattered throughout the print, digital and video media) other than to try to marginalize people who are critical of the political behaviors of Jews?
#13 Luke Lea
From experience, suspicion of working class, evangelical, otherwise normal Americans is not a Jewish phenomenon. It’s a liberal metropolitan phenomenon. Jews in NYC, just like most people in NYC, are going to have a certain discomfort with blue collar country folks from “flyover country”. A man of any creed working in a high rise as an investment banker will probably look down on working class folks with farmer tans. That’s a fact of life, not religion.
If working class people are politically disenfranchised and left out of policy debates, the solution is for them to get together and organize, not to have a meeting with “heads of the major Jewish organizations”.
It amazes me that so many of my fellow Jews define anti-semitism almost purely in terms of Israel. The first commenter (WigWag) praises John Hagee and his organization, failing to recognize that Hagee himself has made numerous anti-semitic statements, including blaming Jews for the Holocaust — and that Hitler was part of God’s plan to create modern Israel. Hagee also claimed that Hitler was a “half-breed Jew” (rumors of Hitler’s Jewish heritage have been disproved to a certainty).
Rigid “philosemitism” can be almost as dangerous as anti-semitsm. Hagee has served some short term political purposes for a certain political bloc in Israel. But in the long run, Hagee and his followers will prove to be both a burden and an enemy to the Jewish people.
P.S. sadly there is no ‘anti-Semitism’ in flyover evangelical WASP goy redneck country although I assure you I am working to change this.
Certainly making bigoted anti-Semites is a good thing to do. I’m sure you agree.
Is your point that unless people are spouting vile anti-Semitic legends and fantasies they aren’t speaking the truth? Surely not.
My religion? One mark of the anti-Semite is the quick leap to bad conclusions.
I wasn’t directing the ‘you’ to you, Mr. Mead, thanks for making a pedantic remark and avoiding the substance of my comment.
‘VILE’ ‘BIGOT’ ‘FANTASY’ lol yes there’s a dispassionate, rational mind setting to work, you’re perfect for punditry.
Given the many years that the “Jewish Conspiracy” has had to operate, one must judge it by its success or failure. It may be presumed that Jews appear to want everyone save Conservative Southern White Evangelical Christians to love them. This has been a staggering failure as, they are the only group to love Jews. It may also be presumed that Jews appear to want the American people to embrace liberalism. This has also been a staggering failure. After nearly 80 years following the New Deal, conservatives still outnumber liberals two to one. Worse yet some of the major theorists of conservatism are themselves Jews. It may be presumed that Jews appear to want to further Zionism. Despite Zionism’s resounding success, it still does not have a consensus of support among even Jews. There isn’t a conspiracy of Jews. They are represented in every political movement good and bad. It is common for totalitarians to resent that the other side benefits from the presence of Jews. But then all sides do. Even the anti-Semites.
I just love how Jews preach fairness and equality when they’re some of the most supremacist and hateful people around.
So what qualifies as anti-Semitism? Because Jews are known to shout “anti-semite” when they hear something that they don’t like.
Is pointing out that the Jews own and influence Hollywood in a way that promotes their own agenda anti-Semitic? Is being against the murder and dreadful treatment of Palestinians anti-Semitic?
As I wrote, we still have many anti-Semites among us.
your comment qualifies beautifully as anti-Semitic because it attributes a single purpose to Jews: “they” implement “their” agenda in Hollywood. That, right there, is the essence of anti-Semitic thinking.
@Jay: “If working class people are politically disenfranchised and left out of policy debates, the solution is for them to get together and organize, not to have a meeting with “heads of the major Jewish organizations”.
Jay, the simple fact is that this class of common people doesn’t have the intellectual capacity or organizational skills to defend themselves. They are honest, warm, generous, hard-working, brave, patriotic folk, by and large, but also simple, ignorant, uneducated, naive, unsophisticated. In a word they are weak and in need of some friends, someone to speak for them. Traditionally this has been one of the roles played by the American Jewish community: to defend the defenseless, give voice to the voiceless: they did it in the 1930′s in the trade union movement, and they did it again in the 1950′s in the civil rights movement. After all the Jewish people were themselves once slaves in the land of Egypt; mired in poverty and ignorance in 19th century Poland; and their last refuge in time of trouble is now a tiny state surrounded by enemies in need of a powerful ally, which they have found in the United States. Principles of humanity, common decency, sympathy, rooting for the underdog, and of enlightened self-interest all argue in favor of their sticking up for average Americans.
John’s idea that Jews are represented in every political movement (equally? lol), with conservatism as an example is pretty naive. ‘Conservative’ Jews tend to either be libertarians (Rothbard, Friedman, Rand…) or neocons (all the others). I can think of maybe half a dozen ‘paleocon’ or populist Jews who take middle class country goy concerns seriously: Larry Auster, Paul Gottfried, Byron Roth, Moldbug… who else? Contrast this to the endless roll call of Jewish membership among the many political stripes united under the banner of white dispossession. How many Jews, either liberal, libertarian or neocon, can you name who are opposed to importing millions of Third Worlders into the U.S.?
The supposed concern of neocons over Christian issues like gay marriage, abortion and prayer in schools is just lip service, which should be obvious by the lack of attention they pay to these issues when they’ve had the power to affect them. The neocon movement largely began with ex-Trotskyist Jews who became disaffected by the New Left’s lack of enthusiasm for the Israeli wars of the 60s and 70s. Their attention to ‘values’ and ‘national identity’ questions has always been peripheral to economic and diplomatic issues and their attitudes towards the former are cosmopolitan anyway.
And why would Jews support the political goals of provincial white Christians? Homogenous white countries with politically active, ethnocentric majorities make them nervous (obvious historical reasons).
I’ll note in passing that my comment has, so far, been studiously ignored. Look, Walter, I’m sure you have to burnish your anti-anti-Semite credentials, but won’t you have the courtesy to answer my questions?
So everyone has to fully support JEWISH NATIONALISM or else they are an anti-semite? Isn’t it odd how all these Jewish groups promote diversity in white countries, but then in Israel they want ethnic and religious nationalism? In Israel they pass laws against interracial marriage,property ownership,etc, but then call white people who would like their grandchildren to be white a naziwhowantstokill6millionjews. Isn’t it odd how they want control over their own affairs in their own country, but in white countries, we are all expected to support having Jews run our central banks, politics, media, and school systems. I wonder how they would like it in Israel if Muslims were running their central banks and mainstream media? When will Israel show us how important multiculturalism and diversity is to them and elect a nonjew as their Prime Minister? When are they going to give nonjews affirmative action and quotas?
As I say, there is a lot of inflamed and incoherent anti-Semitism running around.
Wow, you are right, Prof. Mead, about the incoherent anti-Semitism running around. Amazing, even here at this site, they make your point.
As for Jewish politically Conservative spokesmen that one of the bloggers here denies, here’s a little list: Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, Aaron Klein, Jonah Goldberg, Bernie Goldberg, Michael Savage, Dick Morris, Pamela Geller, Andrew Breitbart, Matt Drudge, Daniel Pipes . . need I continue?
Mead, until you actually respond to the substance of the some of the points raised here, (you say it’s demonstrably false, for instance, that Jews are clannish and cooperate with one another in self-interest. Please demonstrate how this is “demonstrably false”) you’ll look like a tool who is – wait for it – stifling debate on this issue in exactly the manner that ‘anti-Semites’ accuse Jews of doing in your fifth pillar.
‘Anti-Semitic’ by the way, is as inflated a currency as ‘racist,’ ‘sexist,’ and ‘homophobic.’ Oooga-Booga words designed to shut people up. You’ll need to come up with something new, which your impressive vocabulary of hackish blowhard emotionalizing should manage: MURDEROUS FILTHY IGNOMINIOUS INFLAMED UGH I HATE IT SO MUCH UGH UGH UGH!!
You are doing a fine job making my points about anti-Semitism for me, so I will just let well enough alone.
I would also raise a question on your fourth point about the “right” to establish a nation state – If you don’t buy into Wilsonian attitudes about universal ethnic rights to a territory and a flag, then you can object to “small country nationalism” and associated land claims without being anti-Semitic.
One can be skeptical about Israeli claims for additional territory for the same reasons that one is skeptical to Serb claims for “Greater Serbia”, Montenegro and Kosovo’s desires for soveriegn microstates, “Free Ossetia”, the Sikh movement to create “Khalistan” in the Punjab, etc.
To tom beebe — Jews excel at finance and business for the same reason they excel as lawyers, college professors, physics and any other knowledge-heavy pursuits. Their culture values education.
An Orthodox Jewish friend once told me that he trusted capitalism more than democracy. “In a democracy,” he said, “they can turn on you on a dime.”
I don’t even care for the term “anti-Semite”; I prefer “Jew hater”. As I understand it, “anti-Semite” was coined in the late 19th century by European Jew haters as a euphemism — this at a time when virtually the only Semitic people in Europe were Jews. Nowadays, the term allows Arab Jew haters to say, “Of course I’m not an anti-Semite; I’m a Semite myself.” I say let’s call it what it is: not anti-Semitism, but Jew hatred.
I’m sure that there is real “anti-Semitism” in some parts of the world. But in America “ant-Semitism” is exactly like the charge of “racism” – 95% of the time it’s simply an attempt to shut people up.
“Jews are more clannish than other people”
Since this is supposedly “demonstrably false”, will you be getting around to actually demonstrating it sometime soon?
Racism is, alas, also alive and well. An element common to both is a propensity for reckless generalization: if some Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, white people think this way/act this way then all or almost all do it. And there are tremendous variations when it comes to clannishness among Jews; I know plenty of Jew focused Jews and I also know plenty of Jews who don’t feel particularly ‘Jewish’, don’t feel any special desire to marry another Jew, don’t think much about Israel (and when they do generally don’t support it). The very high rate of intermarriage among American Jews and non-Jews is seen by some Jewish and non-Jewish observers as a threat to Jewish survival in the United States.
It’s a mixed bag. Same for Armenians and Greeks. Same for Blacks. Same for gays for that matter.
craig @46
Israel has about 1million Muslims and has helped them build Mosques, schools and colleges. Israel buys the Korans and even pays the salaries of the Imams. As for Israel running the banking system and not having Muslim bankers- because of Sharia, the Muslims have their own banks.
Israel is an open and diverse society. Despite the continuous existential threat that no other nation has endured, it has turned a desolate piece of unwanted desert into a blooming flower that everyone wants. I don’t see any Arab country achieving the diversity or the success of Israel. Perhaps you can supply examples for me? Thanks.
As for your comment that Jews run the schools: if that was true, the world would understand the Jewish history and hopefully identify with their struggle rather than perpetuate it with misinformed memes such as yours; maybe the world would be more tolerant if we had more Jewish educators
For those who are interested in exploring the subject of anti-Semitism particularly in Europe, an excellent book to read is Jerry Z. Muller’s “Capitalism and the Jews.” Muller is a professor at Catholic University and he also wrote one of the most fascinating articles on nationalism that I have ever read; it was entitled “Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism” and it was published in the March/April, 2008 issue of “Foreign Affairs.” It is supposed to be behind a pay wall, but I think the article can be read in full here,
http://www.tfasinternational.org/iipes/academics/mullercm.pdf
Muller’s book, which is available for the kindle, is quite insightful and a quick read. Here’s a review of the book from the New York Times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/books/review/Rampell-t.html
While I was reading “Capitalism and the Jews” I couldn’t get out of my head how much it reminded me of Professor Mead’s great book, “God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World.” I was struck by how many of the cultural features that Mead identified as facilitating British and American economic leadership also seemed relevant to the Jews. I was so fascinated by this that I actually made a point of going back and re-reading the two books simultaneously.
Anyway, I heartily recommend both Muller’s book and Mead’s.
‘The hate that dares not speak its name’? More like the hate that no one ever shuts up about.
Never read MK. Most knowledge of it from Churchill in The Gathering Storm and 10 Books That Screwed Up the World by Benjamin Wiker. The Military Channel has been running some old and excellent programmes (spelled that way b/c English network, you know)on WWII and Hitler lately. Regarding the list above, I’d say number three is particularly true of liberal Jews and remarkably absent in politically conservative Jews, like Medved and Prager, especially in this country. I’d have to say, too, that Orthodox Jews are probably more prone to defend traditional American values than liberals, too, because they have an appreciation for the institutions here that have allowed them to flourish without fear. I guess this qualifies as not treating the whole lot as a monolithic bloc, but it is a generalization. Is that Kosher? No pun intended.
RE: “Smarter Than You”
And the LORD spoke: Thou shalt not feed the trolls.
As a member of the soon-to-be-minority, I am far more concerned with the all pervasive anti-white, anti-male, anti-christian law, policy and speech than I am with anti-semitism. The reason being that there is no demonstrable limitation on jewish economic participation. While jews have been displaced by hindus as the wealthiest minority, it’s not because of christian oppression. It’s because of hard work and intelligence by hindus.
Race is immaterial in the market. All people are the same color in trade. That’s the beauty of the market. In the market we can cooperate even if we do not know one another, or one another’s goals and ambitions.
But race is a material component of politics, because people in politics establish extra-market policies that transfer status, opportunity, and money according to their value judgments.
Thanks.
Full reply on my site.
The oldest and best-selling anti-Semitic book is the New Testament.
“Israel is an open and diverse society.”
Israel has closed-border laws that Americans can only dream about. Israel is also not diverse; it’s almost 100% Jewish. The Israelis have a lot of great ideas about cultural homogeneity that the United States could learn a lot from. In this sense we should emulate Israel.
“Despite the continuous existential threat that no other nation has endured, it has turned a desolate piece of unwanted desert into a blooming flower that everyone wants.”
With the aid of billions in American taxpayer money. Give me billions of dollars and I can make the desert bloom, too.
“I don’t see any Arab country achieving the diversity or the success of Israel. Perhaps you can supply examples for me?”
Arab countries sell us something that we need, oil. Israel sells us what, again?
I’ve been called an anti-semite for quoting Haaretz.
I thought the post was good, but the comments gave me a sick feeling and a bad taste in my mouth. Nothing like a reminder that anti-Semitism exists to bring out the vermin claiming that a) other prejudice exists too, b) Jew-hatred isn’t a big deal, and c) the Jews deserve it anyway.
@64 … Arab countries sell us something that we need, oil. Israel sells us what again??
a better future.
Interestingly, Israel is now a key source of U.S. microprocessor designs through Intel Israel. Here’s an interview with the guy in charge of one of their recetn projects:
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2011/01/sandy_bridge.php
Funny bit from the interview:
“Q: If it was hard bringing the silicon together, how difficult was it to bring together teams from Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere? How do you handle cultural differences?
A: Absolutely, I think that there are differences between, let’s say, American culture and Israeli culture. For example, in Israel, we are very accustomed to have heated discussions on everything.
Here in Israel, people interpret this as, “We care, and therefore we express our opinion openly.” And when we debate, it’s not because we want to offend anybody but simply because we care.
But in the U.S., sometimes it can be interpreted by people as “arguing for the sake of arguing.” So you have to educate the people both in Israel as well as the U.S. that, yes, they may witness different behaviors, and they need to interpret it correctly. And people need to be sensitive to the fact that interpretation may be different.
Q: Are there ways U.S. team members might be misinterpreted?
A: For example, in the U.S., when they tell someone, “Hey, you may want to consider looking at X, Y, Z,” it actually means, “You need look at this because maybe there is a problem there.”
But in Israel, they will hear that to mean it as simply a suggestion, like “Hey, I’ll think about it if I have time.”
End of quote from interview.
It’s almost like Israelis–>Americans
as Americans–>Japanese
at least in work interactions.
Israel is at least 20% Arab. Try and be a little more intelligent when showing your ignorance Pang.
I believe the current population of Israel is about 78% Jewish; most of the remaining 22% of Israeli citizens are Muslims, along with some Christians and etc. I also believe that the key to do-it-yourself desert blooming involves dragging buckets of water back and forth to the desert until it either does bloom or the dragger dies from heat exhaustion, whichever comes first. And any consideration of what Israel produces has to start with technology and computer-related products and services.
43. Luke Lea says: “[T]his class of common people doesn’t have the intellectual capacity or organizational skills to defend themselves. They are . . . simple, ignorant, uneducated, naive, unsophisticated. . . . and in need of some friends, someone to speak for them.”
48. Dean M. says: “Jewish politically Conservative spokesmen . . . Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, Aaron Klein, Jonah Goldberg, Bernie Goldberg, Michael Savage, Dick Morris, Pamela Geller, Andrew Breitbart, Matt Drudge, Daniel Pipes . . .”
This is why Conservative Southern White Evangelical Christians love Jews even when that love is not reciprocated. We rightly assume that Jews not living amongst us just don’t know us and are deceived by the propaganda of the Leftist Northern and West Coast Urbanites among whom they do reside. We are simple people but not as naive and unsophisticated as the Leftists would hope. We know that it is the Atheists/Homosexuals/Muslims crying for our suppression and not Jews however wrongly fearful of us they may be.
@ Pangs
Israel is only 80 percent Jewish. It has a 20 percent Arab minority. It is far from culturally homogenous, considering that there are many different types of Jews all with different values and customs. There are Syrian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Yemenite, and various types of European Jews. It is ignorant to assume that all Jews are the same, just like all Christians are not the same.
Secondly, you make the false assumption that Israel’s success stems from US aid. First, US aid to Israel didn’t begin until after the 6 day war, long after Israel “made the desert bloom”. Additionally, the vast majority of that aid goes to defense and reenters the US economy. Israel sells the US not only defense technology, but also the chip that your computer is using to operate. You say that Arab countries provide the US with oil. That’s not true of all of them. The US gives by far the most foreign aid to Egypt. Egypt provides the US with very little oil.
Third, you claim Israel has closed border laws. That’s far from the case. It’s just difficult to get in from the West Bank and Gaza which should be the case considering the amount of terrorist attacks it faces coming from that region.
Consider yourself educated Pangs.
I’ll answer Pangs, and some other commentors by repeating Pangs own post that he claims was not responded to, but by changing a word in each point:
) When (if ever), is it acceptable to criticize Lutherans? Or is the practical definition of anti-Lutheranism the belief by Catholics that Lutherans may be criticized like any other group?
2) Is it acceptable to note and comment on Episcopalian exceptionalism at all? This includes (but is not limited to) the outsized influence (relative to their proportion of the population) in certain areas of our society, such as politics, media and finance. Why?
3) Why do you not take into consideration America’s troubling policy of acting as a guarantor of Euorpe’s, Japan’s, and South Korea’s safety? Meddling in the Europe and Asia as a result of our NATO and Pacific Ocean policies has earned us no small number of enemies in corners of the world best left to their own devices. The (mostly Baptist and Episcopalian) neocon policies (started under the born-again Christian Bush, continued under the Christain Obama, who spurned his earlier Muslim faith) have been disastrous in both terms of blood and money.
Finally my comment. You say this: “Where Methodist interests are concerned, the appearance of open debate in our society and many others is a carefully constructed illusion. In reality, Methodists work together to block open debate on issues they care about and those who resist the Methodist agenda are marginalized in public discussion.” You then say this: “Speak the truth and shame the devil.” Well, which is it? You can either .
I believe it was Nietzsche who said that “Anti-Semitism is a disease, and you can’t argue with a disease.”
Anti-semitism is nothing new, nor was it created by Hitler. The seeds of it were planted long ago in Europe and elsewhere. Hitler was just the last greatest tramault to attack the jews. What I know is that the lessons will not be learned. Mr. Mead hopes that we will fight history and our failings. I fear we will do neither. It is, I’m afraid our nature to fail. I am not saying we should do nothing or not take a stand against anti-semitism. One should be just aware who and what we oppose, and the odds are against us.
It’s amazing to see anti-Semites flock like flies to honey to an essay on anti-Semitism. What do they do all day? Google “anti-Semitism”?
@edge of the sandbox
Actually, I think it’s not anti-semitism, but anti-privilege that draws attention to these discussions. Why is it that white males can be criticized for everything under the sun despite their vast achievements, and it is impossible to criticize anyone else, from any other race, culture or denomination?
It’s anti-privilege that draws attention: the insulation from criticism that privilege provides for jewish association with leftism. It’s not anti-semitism. Critics want a level playing field for cultural criticism and political bias. The dominant bias today is anti-christian, anti-white, anti-male, but white christian males cannot defend themselves on equal ground.
So the expression you’re seeing is anti-privilege, and anti- leftist, not anti-semitic.
This was a buffoonish little essay. Three of the propositions are true, and two partly true.
Rabbinic judaism is a false religion. In their flight from it, Jews have joined new false cults–Marxism, Freudianism, Zionism, each of which is destructive in a different way. It’s time for the Jews to abandon their dead-end cults and assimilate.
“The dominant bias today is anti-christian, anti-white, anti-male”
That’s right, and this hatred finds its most intense expression in hatred for Israel and America. We are after all considered to be white, even though any visit to Israel will tell you otherwise. There is not much difference between anti-Americanism and antisemitism. Jews and Americans are being accused of the same things. Destroying the planet, being greedy etc. Actually, not so much Jews and Americans but Jews and Conservatives. We are both hated by the left.
I can imagine most Americans with their heads on the right place are tired of accusations of anti-semitism. We as Jews should realize these people are not our enemies. Quite the contrary, we are both victims of the same enemy.
“anti-privilege, and anti- leftist, not anti-semitic.”
That combination is not possible. Any anti-leftist and anti-elitist opinion is by very definition pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish.
All religions are false. We as Jews have just as much right to our false religion as others.
After the normally-excellent Dr. Mead’s recent constitutionally (and ethically) dodgy piece on drugs, it’s great to see him back to his normal high quality writing.
Bravo.
Joe Ynot,
1) Every group is open to criticism (thanks for making my point);
2) Episcopalians as a group are not very exceptional, but if they dominated our politics, media and finance so thoroughly, I’d believe them to be fair game for comment;
3) the sooner we stop the imperialistic projection of American power overseas, the better. Get our troops out of Germany (and Japan, and Korea and the Middle East).
@Curt Doolittle
“… white christian males cannot defend themselves on equal ground.”
Sorry you’re feeling so whipped. I’m a WCM and I can defend myself just fine.
Mr. Mead, if the sales of Mein Kampf at bookstores bothers you, what must you think of the History Channel where it seems ever other show is on Hitler and the Nazis?
At least Hitler loses on the History Channel. And it’s anti-Semitism I hate; this is not about banning books. A large and good bookstore probably should have a copy or two of MK buried somewhere in the history or poli sci section — but when a high volume airport stand has a special section on anti-Semitism, or when MK is a bestseller at a bookstore in a mall, something isn’t right.
Pangs argues: the sooner we stop the imperialistic projection of American power overseas, the better.”
His remark makes my point, that anti-Semitism under-written by the predictable propaganda is a key policy to the reinvigorated socialist-fascist movement to take down democracy and any country that protects it.
What is about democracy that some people loathe it?
The claws by this machine of hate almost destroyed the world once, hopefully it will never gather the strength to try again
I would be interested to know how many of the anti-Semitic commenters above are working-class Americans? My guess would be zero.
Team Mead is tired of troll-wrangling in this discussion, so comments are being turned off.