June 18, 2002

Mick Hume of spiked has

Mick Hume of spiked has an excellent essay (in the New Statesman, of all places) on how yesterday's "socialism of fools" (anti-Semitism) has given way to today's "anti-Imperialism of fools" (anti-Israel-ism.) I don't agree with his peremptory dismissal of the existence of "old fashioned" anti-Semitism on the Left-- that's a complex problem that, unfortunately, can't be dispensed with so easily and which has never been satisfactorily explored, that I have seen, at any rate. I think he's right about the psychology, though:

For many activists, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to have become a convenient outlet for the morbid emotionalism and victim-centred culture of our age. A solidarity meeting in London begins with people being searched and asked for "passes" (tickets), so that they can "experience" what life is like under Israeli occupation. Writing in the NS, one "international" announced that, having seen a warning shot fired and been woken up by the noisy Israeli air force, "I'm beginning to understand what it must be like to be a Palestinian." I am beginning to think that this might be the point of the exercise for some of these people...

Western society is infected by a powerful sense of self-loathing and a rejection of its political, social and economic achievements. It was this spirit of self-loathing that led some, of the left and right alike, to suggest that America got what it deserved on 11 September. Those sentiments are no more progressive when aimed against Israel as a symbol of the west than when they are directed in irrational campaigns against GM crops and the literature of Dead White Males.


While I'd interject that many of us in Western society (though perhaps not so many in Europe) have managed to avoid this self-loathing to a significant degree, it's undeniable that there's something in this. All in all, this article is an unusually well-formulated take on the oft-noted "strange bedfellows" paradox, where "progressives" seem increasingly to find themselves on the same team as neo-Nazis, religious fundamentalists, theocrats, totalitarians and assorted disagreeable maniacs. Well worth reading in entirety.

(via Brendan O'Neill.)

Posted by Dr. Frank at June 18, 2002 04:05 PM | TrackBack