I think that Eli is maybe making a mistake in talking about the absurdity about the whole "black neo-nazi hiring the most prominent white supremacist in America, who happens to be hispanic" thing.
I think it's fairly clear that we aren't on the way to something like what Russia under Putin has become, but I think that Russia under Putin…
I think that Eli is maybe making a mistake in talking about the absurdity about the whole "black neo-nazi hiring the most prominent white supremacist in America, who happens to be hispanic" thing.
I think it's fairly clear that we aren't on the way to something like what Russia under Putin has become, but I think that Russia under Putin is nonetheless sort of instructive when we think about this because Russia under Putin has become something of the apogee of post-modern politics and the costs thereof—Putin is the "crusader for Christian Civilisation" whose two closest allies are the Islamic theocracy of Iran and the antitheistic CCP and one of whose most important military commanders is Ramzan Kadyrov a muslim. He's waging a war to "de-Nazify" Ukraine (which has a Jewish president), all the while his most important military commander, Yevgeni Prigozhin is a guy who is covered in Nazi tattoos who named his merc outfit after Richard Wagner because Wagner was an antisemite and Hitler's favourite composer, and antisemitic filth is now common fare on Russian state media. He's also "crusading" against a "satanist" government in Ukraine, a country where regular church attendance is higher and abortion rates are lower than in Russia.
None of those things are remarkable, but they start to illustrate the way that Russia has become a place where, to borrow the title of Peter Pomeratsev's excellent book, "nothing is true and everything is possible". The results of which are on full display and are illustrative of the dangers of post-modern politics. So yes, to bring it back home, I think that Kanye is an absurd figure and that Fuentes is also an absurd figure and that they hopefully will just end up as a bizarre cultural footnote, but, we are living in a country where it often feels as though the rhetorical élan belongs to the post-modern political movements—both on the left and on the right. I am hopeful, but I am also deeply, deeply concerned.
I think it's essential for us to take serious the fact that a post-modern, "politics as æsthetics" world is absolutely the sort of thing that facilitates a black neo-nazi palling around with an hispanic white supremacist. If Hitler ceases to be a real, historical figure, and the Shoah a real, historical event, the danger for Jews is fairly clear. Antisemitism is the original conspiracy theory. A post-truth politics is one in which conspiracy theories inevitably flourish. Conspiratorial thinking almost inevitably returns to the mother of all conspiracy theories—that the Jews are pernicious figures who secretly control, well, everything, and are responsible for all violence and death, back at very least to Christ's Crucifixion.
Maybe this is all hysteria and our grandchildren will be surprised to hear that there was ever a moment when this country seemed to be anything other than the greatest home the Jewish people have ever known, save only Israel, but I'm not sure that it is, and I'm not sure that Eli was grappling with that.
I think that Eli is maybe making a mistake in talking about the absurdity about the whole "black neo-nazi hiring the most prominent white supremacist in America, who happens to be hispanic" thing.
I think it's fairly clear that we aren't on the way to something like what Russia under Putin has become, but I think that Russia under Putin is nonetheless sort of instructive when we think about this because Russia under Putin has become something of the apogee of post-modern politics and the costs thereof—Putin is the "crusader for Christian Civilisation" whose two closest allies are the Islamic theocracy of Iran and the antitheistic CCP and one of whose most important military commanders is Ramzan Kadyrov a muslim. He's waging a war to "de-Nazify" Ukraine (which has a Jewish president), all the while his most important military commander, Yevgeni Prigozhin is a guy who is covered in Nazi tattoos who named his merc outfit after Richard Wagner because Wagner was an antisemite and Hitler's favourite composer, and antisemitic filth is now common fare on Russian state media. He's also "crusading" against a "satanist" government in Ukraine, a country where regular church attendance is higher and abortion rates are lower than in Russia.
None of those things are remarkable, but they start to illustrate the way that Russia has become a place where, to borrow the title of Peter Pomeratsev's excellent book, "nothing is true and everything is possible". The results of which are on full display and are illustrative of the dangers of post-modern politics. So yes, to bring it back home, I think that Kanye is an absurd figure and that Fuentes is also an absurd figure and that they hopefully will just end up as a bizarre cultural footnote, but, we are living in a country where it often feels as though the rhetorical élan belongs to the post-modern political movements—both on the left and on the right. I am hopeful, but I am also deeply, deeply concerned.
I think it's essential for us to take serious the fact that a post-modern, "politics as æsthetics" world is absolutely the sort of thing that facilitates a black neo-nazi palling around with an hispanic white supremacist. If Hitler ceases to be a real, historical figure, and the Shoah a real, historical event, the danger for Jews is fairly clear. Antisemitism is the original conspiracy theory. A post-truth politics is one in which conspiracy theories inevitably flourish. Conspiratorial thinking almost inevitably returns to the mother of all conspiracy theories—that the Jews are pernicious figures who secretly control, well, everything, and are responsible for all violence and death, back at very least to Christ's Crucifixion.
Maybe this is all hysteria and our grandchildren will be surprised to hear that there was ever a moment when this country seemed to be anything other than the greatest home the Jewish people have ever known, save only Israel, but I'm not sure that it is, and I'm not sure that Eli was grappling with that.
Thanks for a good, challenging conversation.