"I was critical of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. I didn't want ancient European antisemitism enshrined on federal land. But now everything has come to American soil."
To diverge from the context in which you wrote that last sentence and also from your personal perspective, as I'm a Gentile --
"I was critical of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. I didn't want ancient European antisemitism enshrined on federal land. But now everything has come to American soil."
To diverge from the context in which you wrote that last sentence and also from your personal perspective, as I'm a Gentile --
I think we can say that the persecution of good Arabs in the US of those days, on account of an atrocity for which they were not responsible, led to a fateful overcorrection. Soon everything Arab and everything Muslim was to be defended. The secularism of many on the American Left did not prevent them from crediting followers of Islam with a moral purity unknown in Christendom and insisting on a thoroughly benign interpretation of the Qur'an. (Having read it in its entirety, I can't go so far.) Fifteen years later, Donald Trump's antipathy to Muslims set the seal on their standing with progressives. If Trump was against them, progressives would be for them. No questions asked, no distinctions made.
All people -- good, bad, or indifferent -- with roots in the Arab world became beneficiaries of the reverential goodwill which modern-day Americans reflexively extend to immigrants with stories of hardship and persecution to tell. The stories may be corrupted by ancient prejudices, but it's bad form to notice; one must be a cooperative listener. In this way, undissipated antisemitism pursued Jews from the old world to the new, where it assumed a sympathetic new identity in the environs of elite universities, progressive NGOs, and even the US Congress.
The struggle ahead which you mention in closing must include American intellectuals' self-liberation from the thrall of the Magical Other and their recognition that there is such a thing as an exotic bigot.
I think we in the West, also continue to practice apologism with respect to our immigrant communities. We are not multicultural in the US, we were founded as a plurality "Out of many One". I say this repeatedly, immigration brings with it certain obligations. The immigrant chooses a host country that has its own culture. That choice comes with the immigrants entry into the social compact with its host. Reap the benefits and protections and opportunities of that host country. In return, you are required to assimilate into your new country. It is not the requirement of us to accommodate you, you must now accommodate for us and become one of us. This is true in every country in the world, Western or not. You are not a mere visitor, you are a citizen or future citizen. That comes with obligations and requirements for you. If you move to a country with a Judeo-Christian culture, then that is the culture you must live in. You can worship as you wish, that is our law and protection. You may dress as you wish, eat the foods you wish, and the list goes on. But you have NO RIGHT to force that upon the rest of us. That is not the way our culture, country, or laws work.
"I was critical of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. I didn't want ancient European antisemitism enshrined on federal land. But now everything has come to American soil."
To diverge from the context in which you wrote that last sentence and also from your personal perspective, as I'm a Gentile --
I think we can say that the persecution of good Arabs in the US of those days, on account of an atrocity for which they were not responsible, led to a fateful overcorrection. Soon everything Arab and everything Muslim was to be defended. The secularism of many on the American Left did not prevent them from crediting followers of Islam with a moral purity unknown in Christendom and insisting on a thoroughly benign interpretation of the Qur'an. (Having read it in its entirety, I can't go so far.) Fifteen years later, Donald Trump's antipathy to Muslims set the seal on their standing with progressives. If Trump was against them, progressives would be for them. No questions asked, no distinctions made.
All people -- good, bad, or indifferent -- with roots in the Arab world became beneficiaries of the reverential goodwill which modern-day Americans reflexively extend to immigrants with stories of hardship and persecution to tell. The stories may be corrupted by ancient prejudices, but it's bad form to notice; one must be a cooperative listener. In this way, undissipated antisemitism pursued Jews from the old world to the new, where it assumed a sympathetic new identity in the environs of elite universities, progressive NGOs, and even the US Congress.
The struggle ahead which you mention in closing must include American intellectuals' self-liberation from the thrall of the Magical Other and their recognition that there is such a thing as an exotic bigot.
https://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-magical-other.html
https://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.com/2022/11/never-draws-near.html
https://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.com/2023/11/savagery.html
I think we in the West, also continue to practice apologism with respect to our immigrant communities. We are not multicultural in the US, we were founded as a plurality "Out of many One". I say this repeatedly, immigration brings with it certain obligations. The immigrant chooses a host country that has its own culture. That choice comes with the immigrants entry into the social compact with its host. Reap the benefits and protections and opportunities of that host country. In return, you are required to assimilate into your new country. It is not the requirement of us to accommodate you, you must now accommodate for us and become one of us. This is true in every country in the world, Western or not. You are not a mere visitor, you are a citizen or future citizen. That comes with obligations and requirements for you. If you move to a country with a Judeo-Christian culture, then that is the culture you must live in. You can worship as you wish, that is our law and protection. You may dress as you wish, eat the foods you wish, and the list goes on. But you have NO RIGHT to force that upon the rest of us. That is not the way our culture, country, or laws work.
100% correct!!!!!