There seems to be a lot more of this crap floating around. Is anyone surprised? Jews always get targeted when politics get heated, because we are prominently over-represented in almost all political movements. Our culture predisposes us to political activism, although we take that desire for utopia on earth in wildly different directions.
For example, in the same post in which he agrees with Pat Buchanan's assessment of pro-war Jews, Nick confirms the existence of many prominent Jews on the Left by complaining about a "Leftist Jewish brain drain." And someone points out in my comment thread:
What does no one point out the suspicous overrepresentation of Jews among leaders of the anti-war movement? It seems to me that half the prominent types among the pacifist crowd ranging from that internet kid profiled in the NYTimes last week up to Sen. Feinstein is Jewish. Interesting that the dual loyalty charge is only raised against Jews in government who are conservative. Never heard Amb. Kurtzer, Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk, Robert Reich, Jamie Rubin (or Maddy Albright or William Cohen for that matter) questioned on their subconcious motivations.Well, their motivations were also questioned, when they were in power, which proves the point. (The predictable resurgence of using prominent Jews as props for one's anxieties about current events reminds me of a conversation with some libertarian pundit years ago, who was complaining about how Jews always supported Leftist causes and how Jews wouldn't realize how they benefitted from capitalism. I started ticking off on my fingers: Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, Nathaniel Branden, Murray Rothbard, both Milton and David Friedman . . . Anyone with a knowledge of libertarian activism can add to this list, but you get the idea.) Jews are truly all over the map, politically, so why don't the Jews on opposite sides of each issue cancel each other out?
Before I continue, may I point out that there are so many good reasons to force regime change in Iraq, that protecting Israel is pretty far down the list? That US policy on Israel has always been made in the context of such global realities as Soviet domination of the Arab block? May I point out that trying to make the war on Iraq all about Israel requires active denial of a whole bunch of facts? And whose purpose is served by that?
As for Nick's supposed "brain drain," I have three comments:
1) This is another case of damned-if-you-do-damned -if-you-don't. If Jews really run the Left to such an extent that our "defection" is noticed, and even if we don't, we get accused of keeping various disadvantaged groups from the halls of power by "dominating" the movement (probably secretly), and turning it to our own nefarious purposes. (It's always the same accusations, whether from the Left or the Right.) If we abdicate our "positions of power," we get accused of causing a brain drain. Kin you say, "little red hen"?
2) I suppose it's a backhanded compliment to suggest that the Left is at a serious disadvantage without its giant Jewish brains, but I'm not a bigot like Nick - I believe that people of all ethnic identities have quite good brains. Why should it matter if there are lots of Jews on the Left or not? Which brings me to . . .
3) Oh, you mean the Left values its Jews? Does the Left value the particular qualities of our culture that cause us to be so concerned with justice and human rights, so articulate, so adroit in organizing, so willing to stick our necks out? Then why does the Left treat Jews like shit? Contrary to popular stereotype, Jews are not snivelling masochists who jump to lick the boots of those who call us Nazis, spread lies about Israel, propagate every hoary anti-semitic stereotype in the book, and tell us we are racist when we seek out each other's company (while every other ethnic group is encouraged to protect its identity from encroaching globalization). As Ruth Wisse points out,
"The only way to truly fight for human rights is by insisting on the dignity and justice of the Jewish people, because the Jews are the most negatively mythologized people on earth. . . . Jews represent the embodiment of modernity in supreme adaptability, tolerance, pluralism, and mobility. In short, all the features that make up democratic culture are embodied in the Jew. Many people hate these things and therefore hate the Jew, who is an incorporation of all of them.The Left (and any other movement) can more effectively use Jews as whipping boys and workhorses when we don't stand up for ourselves, but is that what the Left is about? That's really the question highlighted by the Jewish "brain drain" (if it exists, and I'm not convinced it does) and the Left has yet to clean house.
. . . It was right for Jews as Jews to march with the blacks during the Civil Rights movement," she explains. "But these universalist Jews should have insisted that the blacks march with them when they came under attack. Otherwise their activism lacks credibility. It becomes simple running away from their identity as Jews. What could the blacks have taken away from this? Not that this was selflessness. The Jews who did not stand up for their own rights were abandoning their responsibilities and the principles they stood for."
PS For those who care what company they keep, Edward Said and David Duke also think Jews have an undue influence on American foreign policy.
UPDATE: Nick Denton dismisses my response as "self-pity."
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