Friday, March 10, 2017

Anti-Semitism and U.S. Jews

The topic of anti-Semitism and U.S. Jews is not one I much care to discuss. If you do not much care to discuss it, either, then you can stop reading here. You can just skip to the next post.

However, many hard-Right readers think the topic of anti-Semitism and U.S. Jews an important topic, and I do not say that they are wrong to think this, so let me just declare myself—cards laid on the table, so to speak—as follows.

I am a mild philo-Semite.

Jews are smart. In American political and cultural life, some, even many, Jews are seriously obnoxious. Others, like (((Stephen Miller))) and (((David Cole))), are terrific. [This (((triple-parenthetical))) notation is useful, unfortunately.] To a remarkable degree, U.S. Jews seem to identify as Jewish first and American second, but the extreme fluency of Ashkenazi U.S. Jews in American language and culture is astonishing, so it isn't quite as simple as that.

U.S. Jews invented Mad Men (bad), Donald Trump (good), the Southern Poverty Law Center (loathsome), and the atom bomb (terrifying and awesome). Unlike blacks, Jews are orderly: they won't steal your bicycle. They achieve Nobel prizes at better than ten times their proportion of the white U.S. population. Their cuisine is outstanding and they kvetch and complain more than they should. If U.S. Jews are a problem, I don't think that they are a problem one can solve. Prudence recommends, in most instances, just to leave them alone.

I grasp that Alt Right anti-Semitism is partly about what an earlier generation once called, Sticking It to the Man. U.S. Jews are wealthy, influential and too often touchy. Few U.S. Jews seem to take our side in the Culture War (Miller and Cole notwithstanding), so you taunt, "Hey, Shylock!" just to draw their attention. I get it.

For what it's worth, our Jews are better than their Jews. Consider the aforementioned Miller versus Matthew Weiner. Not that I especially care.

At any rate, I am not a Jew, I haven't any Jews in my family, and U.S. Jews aren't really my topic. In my judgment, the most prudent thing to do with U.S. Jews qua U.S. Jews is usually just to ignore them. U.S. Jews are plenty strong enough to look after their own interests. That's just my view.

So, why does the blogroll link both Jews and anti-Semites? Answer: because the blog you are reading does not revolve around, and is seldom very interested in, attitudes toward Jews. If you seek a solution to The Jewish Question here, you've come to the wrong shop.

I don't expect to have much more to say about this, but if you have something to say, you can comment below.

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