Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Statement on the Jews and Antisemitism

The latest death toll figures from Hurricane Katrina can be seen on this website here. The famous Russian neo-Nazi video is on this blog here.

This site, of course, has been accused many times of anti-Semitism by the usual suspects for the usual reasons.

Nevertheless, some of my friends have recently noted that "I'm going easy on the Jews," or worse, I've become pro-Jewish. Others have noted that I don't talk about the Palestinians much on here anymore.

Truth is, I'm bored with the Palestinians, I'm bored with Israel, and I'm bored with the Middle East. Plus, every time I mention that stuff, it spurs the antisemites in the comments section (who are allowed to post here, by the way) to make a ton of antisemitic posts, and after a while it brings in all these weird, combative, Zionist Jews who accuse me of antisemitism and try to start fights.

There is supposedly a type of antisemitism called Anti-Zionist antisemitism. I guess I will gladly plead guilty to that.

Other than that, to be honest, the Jews bore me. I've been reading up on Jews and Judaism and Israel for years now, and I'm all Jewed out. They bore me to tears, and it seems I've learned all I ever wanted to learn about them.

There was a while there when I was on an antisemitic kick, but I started getting a lot of flack for it, and then I pulled back and started to examine it, and there was not much there.

Antisemitism is one of many simplistic theories that tries to explain all, most or many of the problems of the world by pointing a single actor, force or mechanism. As such, I feel it is foolish, since all such ideologies are foolish. Including die-hard Marxists who boil everything down to economics.

There is no one answer. There is no one problem. If only life were that simple. Life is so much more complex, and problems are as difficult to pin down as solutions are to fashion, that it makes sense that people would take the intellectually lazy way out.

In terms of "Left antisemitism", antisemitism really is the socialism of fools! I used to hate it when Leftists said that, but now I'm convinced. Jewish capitalists are just capitalists, and if anything, they tend to be more progressive-minded than the ordinary type.

Further, antisemitism seems to lead inexorably to conservatism, racism, White Supremacism, fascism, social Darwinism, capitalism - feudalism - royalism, the worst kinds of nationalism and traditionalism, anti-Communism, anti-liberalism, anti-feminism, anti-integration, and really, an opposition to the whole modernizing project of the Left.

Antisemitism is really an assault on modernity itself, as Jews are seen by antisemites as the "virus" that carries modernity in all of its scary self. And it's true - they do! Going forwards is scary, and a lot of cowards would rather go backwards. So they blame the Jews for helping to drive us forwards. I don't want to be a part of any regressive project.

Yes, there are rightwing Jews. There are rightwingers of every race and tribe. Next?

The Jews are the most progressive group in America, and possibly in the world. We on the Left owe a tremendous debt to them as they helped to birth and foster our project.

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