March 16, 2003

Gary is keeping tabs on

Gary is keeping tabs on all the blogoshperic commentary on the neocon/anti-Semitism debate-- just go to his page and follow the links that look interesting.

Max Sawicky has a good discussion of the matter. I think this sums up a major part of the complex issue with admirable clarity:

All NCs are pro-Israel or Zionist, but not all NCs (or pro-Israel persons) are Jewish... Jewishness is incidental to their politics. Nor does the NCs' influence have anything to do with their Jewish origins. Israel's importance to the U.S. (and its influence) originates in Americans' views of the U.S. interest, not in some kind of tail-wagging-dog process that originates in Israel.

He concludes:
Discourse that is anti-semitic in effect (if not in intent) then consists of the following: Gratuitous identification of individuals (or explaining their motivations) as Jewish, Zionist, or pro-Israel in political commentary. Imputation of extraordinary manipulative political power on the part of Jews, Zionists, or Israel. Identification of some (but not all) U.S. policies as purely in Jewish/zionist/Israeli interests. (I say some because if we sent Israel $3 billion, that is clearly in their interest.)

I make a distinction about effect here because it is very easy for people to fall prey to anti-semitic notions without any personal animus towards Jews as individuals or as a group. It is always possible to err out of rhetorical carelessness, ignorance, or paranoia. I'm sure I'm guilty myself (but don't go out of your way to prove I'm right). For instance, an in-law with a high regard for me, but without much formal education, told me once that Hitler (whom she recognized as totally evil) took over in Germany 'because the Jews got all the money.' I think Moran's statement fell into the first of these categories.

We should also recognize that for political reasons, people are quick to translate or distort ineptitude in handling these issues into anti-semitism. This is intellectual corruption and can come to have the same diluting effect on the charge of "anti-semitism" that now afflicts the charge of racism in the U.S.


I think this is right; but it's also important to note that public figures and prominent commentators ought to be aware of what is wrong with the impression left by this or that errant slip of the tongue, and challenged on it if need be. I agree that Moran's statements are more likely to have resulted from rhetorical carelessness rather than any considered attempt to "speak in code" (as opposed to Buchanan, whose parole, I think, is all "code," including "and" and "the"). Yet, witting or not, such statements do invoke an idea that has proved incomparably perilous in the past, and continues in some parts of the world to be no less poisonous today.

It is a sad commentary on contemporary political discourse and historical awareness that people can, with the best of intentions, parrot the arguments of those who seem to channel Nazi propagandists without the slightest clue of what they're saying, or what their "hear, hear" implies. Gary Farber, commenting on the Buchanan article, says: "what's distressing is how much of this platform some of the anti-war left has adopted. Some of it more or less word for word." It is indeed distressing, and it ought to be even more worrying amongst those who style themselves anti-war activists than amongst those who do not: at minimum, it would be in the interest of their cause to expunge or at least distance themselves from a line of reasoning and a manner of speaking that is so easily and devastatingly discredited.

While it's true that unscrupulous polemicists too often attempt to use the charge of anti-Semitism for political reasons against comparative innocents, it's also just as true that genuine anti-Semites often cite this unfortunate tendency on the part of their opponents as a way of excusing or deflecting attention from the substance of their own unsavory agenda. Both tacks are regrettable, but only one, I'd venture to say, is truly poisonous.

Posted by Dr. Frank at March 16, 2003 02:12 PM | TrackBack