Excusing Anti-Semitism

As I have indicated here many times, I oppose multiculturalism as a left-wing attack on individualism disguised as opposition to racism and similar injustices, such as religious persecution. That said, many people who sincerely oppose these injustices subscribe to or are influenced, knowingly or not, by this nefarious doctrine.

It is instructive to see how toothless this makes them when they encounter bigotry. For an example, try reading a recent New York Times article regarding the rise of a "new anti-Semitism" in Europe among its Moslem population. After lots of looking for extenuating circumstances, the author concludes in part:

What has become obvious this summer is that the "old" Germans have not yet managed to properly deliver this message to all the "new" Germans. Emotionally, this may have been understandable, given how many "bio-Germans," as we call ethnic Germans, actually had Nazi family members that they still got to know, which may have made them wary of telling others what to think.

I agree that there have been problems with the way Germans have attempted to warn the world against repeating what happened in Nazi Germany. (Incidentally, here is a much better warning and antidote.) However, as someone who has visited Germany, I must say that it is almost impossible to go there without noticing that many, if not most Germans have at least (a) acknowledged what happened, and (b) condemned it as unspeakably wrong. Indeed, author Jochen Bittner notes earlier in his article that a particularly virulent rally occurred "just yards from Berlin's main Holocaust memorial".

This is not to say that the mere existence of such memorials -- any more than mere exposure to facts of any kind -- will guarantee that someone will reach correct conclusions and thereby attain enlightenment, but: There is a point at which it is proper to condemn an unthinking brute as an unthinking brute.

There is also a point at which, a phenomenon being observed over and over again, demands connecting some dots. Such a phenomenon, encountered the world over, is: Moslems advocating brutality against Jews.

Rather than look for extenuating circumstances as to why Moslems might have a problem with Jews (let alone want to brutalize and kill them), perhaps it's time to consider what, about Islam, might be encouraging its adherents to hold such opinions. A good place to start would be to consider what anti-Semitism is -- a form of collectivism, a subordination of the individual to the group.

But what I advocate above may not help anyone under the spell of multiculturalism, which itself advocates collectivism and the abdication of making moral pronouncements -- value-judgements -- of any kind. That is too bad, to say the least. For if we truly wish to marginalize anti-Semitism -- Men have free will, so it cannot be completely eliminated. -- we must understand what encourages it and fight against that. The idea that all cultures are exempt from critical examination is the surest way to avoid doing this, and so perpetuate such brutality.

-- CAV