The liberal institutions became illiberal in the 21st century thanks to the woke left. The liberal consensus was that demonizing people on the basis of their demographic memberships was wrong. Then it became ok to do it to white men. And that gyre loves to widen. Which should surprise no one, but apparently it does.
"the left-wing demonstrations collapse all those distinctions."
As with every other issue they have been rioting over the last fifteen years.
I have been reading up on and listening to some of the history of Israel and the Middle East. It's extremely complicated, there is no black and white and there are instances of harmony between Arabs and Jews and instances of barbarity and warfare as well. I can understand a few things- one can be against a government or an army overstepping its bounds to secure hostages. One can also be against the leader of a government, but not be against the existence of the state itself, nor its people and their ethnicity or religion. What seems to have happened is this: The process has gone from what I described above to outright support of the massacre of one group of people and the support of an avowed terrorist organization, and now to the harassment of the Jews who are actually living in this country and may or may not support their government, but are being harassed nonetheless. Not only tha,t the perfectly allowable right to peaceful assembly has taken on the spectre of the "Summer of Love" and the BLM riots. And I'm not sure what Mr. deBoer is referring to: Regardless of someone's supposed status, whether they are some kind of "oppressed" group, or a culturally successful group, it is no excuse for them to be persecuted. Would we tolerate college kids in white robes and hoods burning crosses on the campus quads, or tracking down Gay or Lesbian people and beating them up? Hell no!
The only comfort I can provide the author is that while he provides an airtight case that "American Jews . . . are not welcome on the social justice left," there are a whole lot of us who are equally unwelcome in that sector, and are very comfortable with that.
The social justice left is having a moment, and maybe even taking a little disgusting pride in their vile antisemitism, and that is worth condemning without caveat. But contrary to their youthful grandiosity and the decibel level of their shouting, they are not a major constituency in America. The latest report (Dec. 2023) from More In Common shows that nearly 80% of Americans consider antisemitism a problem. And that organization's landmark "Hidden Tribes" report demonstrated that only about 8% of Americans are among the Progressive Activists grouping from which the current extremism is coming (though, of course, some does also come from the 6% at the other extreme).
Cold comfort, maybe, to the students at Columbia (etc.) but as long as the First Amendment and the criminal laws continue to be valid and enforced, there is still reason to see beyond the rage of young radicals, and bring into focus those of us in that very much larger majority.
I happened to be in NYC last week, pushing my eleven-week old granddaughter in her stroller past Columbia's gates. We were on the opposite side of Broadway -- in no physical danger-- but I was terrified at the rage, the lies, the self-righteousness coming from the crowd. I was born the year after the nation of Israel was created. I have lived in the "golden age of Jewry" in the U.S. Part of that safety came because there was always Israel for our people. I don't think Israel is going anywhere -- I also don't think Israel is perfect. But the misinformation about Israel that is held as common knowledge by the left right now is heart-breaking. It obviously is spilling over into U.S. antisemitism, and I fear my grandbaby experiencing antisemitism in ways I never did. Thank you for this post.
In his book "Woke Racism" John McWhorter does a fine job calling out this sickness on the college campuses. It is what we have seen through history... mass psychosis of a population seeking meaning, status and purpose in life otherwise lacking and being captured by ideology... generally irrational and destructive ideology. It is usually young people that are susceptible to this capture because they are both more seeking of purpose and more emotionally charged and uncontrolled. Females too have this tendency for stronger emotional attachment to issues and messaging.
It seems to me that the lack of real life struggle born from high tech concierge services, doting Baby Boomer parents and grandparents, student loans and government assistance programs... has all led to young people with a gap in their self-worth and purpose and thus ripe for being exploited by those, largely evil with burning resentment and envy... and many of them working in academia... toward indoctrination in a movement of radical thinking and actions.
My solution for all of this is to require college students to work... real work... not as activists for an NGO non-profit. But to, for example, help build housing supplies. Or to tutor middle schoolers and high schoolers.
The bottom line is that they should NOT have time for these ugly protests, and if working they would likely better fulfill and understand their own lives in a way that would better shield them from being injected with a fake scholarship parasitic toxic mind virus of Theory/woke.
I just find this whole conversation a little odd - American Jews are objectively some of the safest, richest, best-educated, most well-represented people in the world. It's hard to choose an ethnic group-country combination that's doing better.
The disruptive reactions of elite students convinced of their moral superiority and determined to impose it on others do not reflect a massive change in the attitude of Americans writ large towards American Jews. This is not the rebirth of the civil rights movement of the 60s. What is happening in Israel and Gaza is half a world away. Upending racism was here at home and at the core of the American way of life at the time. For most of us, the Israeli/Hamas conflict is slightly lower than whale shit on our list of priorities in spite of the wall to wall media coverage. Our feelings/attitude towards the Jewish deli down the street that we love will not change. There is no need to overreact to their overreaction.
Not sure if I agree that wokeism is wholly to blame here for the turn against Israel. Over the past two decades, the Israeli government has moved steadily to the right, effectively giving up on a two-state solution and annexing more and more Palestinian land. This in turn has alienated a significant section of the US population, which includes some young progressive American jews.
The distribution of public opinion has shifted so that there are now more legitimate critics of Israel, but also, unfortunately, an extreme tail that is quite bigoted and antisemitic. We should all be doing all we can for a two-state solution ala Taba accords. Nothing else is going to resolve this, ever.
I believe much of blame for this difficult situation lies with Netanyahu and how he has conducted the war. He ignored US advice to have clear objectives like rescuing the hostages or a plan for governing Gaza after it was all over. He got lost in the fog of war and squandered every opportunity to bring order out of chaos.
“Being an American Jew is its own proud, often paradoxical idea. I can only hope that it survives this wave of anti-Semitism and all the others that are sure to come after it.” I hope and trust that it will.
In my April 12 Substack commentary, reflecting on the apparent antisemitism of Henry Ford, I write the following. “The USA has a special relation with the Jewish people, who constitute a proportion of the American people higher than any other nation in the world, except Israel. The ancient nation of Israel was one of the first nations of the world to leave a legacy of spiritual and cultural teachings for humanity, which are the foundation of the religions of Christianity and Islam as well as the modern principles of social justice. For centuries, Jews have endured discrimination and worse in defense of these revelations and concepts, and they today are not great in number. They must be protected as a special people among the nations of the earth. These truths remain truths, in spite of the indefensible apartheid-like policies of Israel with respect to Palestine since 1967 and the current barbarity of the government of Israel with respect to the people of Palestine, which all of humanity rightly condemns and is mobilizing to end.”
In this vein, I have observed that the Cuban Revolutionary Government, in condemning the “genocide” in the Gaza strip, is careful make clear its continuing support of the “two-state solution,” based on pre-1967 borders, supported by UN organizations. In contrast, the radical Left in the United States repeatedly indulges in destructive rhetorical exaggerations on this and other issues.
One of the problems with Zionism is the idea of that one as a Jew should have a special and even blind loyalty to Israel. The idea of nationalism is that humans should be divided into nations. But one can be a Jew, American, global citizen at the same time. As for example Einstein was.
The American Jew always has the choice: Pass as a gentile or do not. That of course creates pain for us. When we "pass" we hear the antisemitism; when we acknowledge we are Jews it shifts to anti-Zionism. Walk in the room "Hi I am a Jew." Things will be more polite. Do not do that and your heart may break. When I see the Hamas flag I stop passing immediately. That is a subterfuge I cannot accomplish.
I suspect the author is overthinking things, even if the current events are very worrying. If you know what you stand for and believe you make a contribution, say so loudly and repeatedly. I am not a Jew but I believe deeply in their contribution to western civilization. Do not be captured by the progressive tropes and terminology. Dissect and demolish them instead. Stand up for yourself in every way possible. And we don’t need complicated history classes to get it.
There's an aspect of the geopolitical explanation that's as dizzying to contemplate as the speed with which antisemitism has taken hold on the American Left: the possibility that the enemies of Israel in the Mideast -- who are avowed enemies of Jews everywhere -- have reached across the world and meddled in American political life with conspicuous success.
I'd like to learn what there is to learn about the funding and coordination behind this surge of allyship with Hamas-friendly Palestinians at the expense of American Jews. (For the record, I'm an American Gentile.) I'm leftist enough myself that I never thought I'd find a use for the term "un-American", but there's something distinctly alien about a movement whose participants shrug off atrocities like those committed on October 7th for the sake of political solidarity.
"The left, from the era of Roosevelt, meant “minorities and liberal activists locking arms,” and Jews (there’s a real irony here) were trailblazers in developing identity politics. But the coalition turned towards something else—the oppressed, easily identified by the hue of their skin, against the oppressors."
"the very heart of the liberal institutions"
The liberal institutions became illiberal in the 21st century thanks to the woke left. The liberal consensus was that demonizing people on the basis of their demographic memberships was wrong. Then it became ok to do it to white men. And that gyre loves to widen. Which should surprise no one, but apparently it does.
"the left-wing demonstrations collapse all those distinctions."
As with every other issue they have been rioting over the last fifteen years.
I have been reading up on and listening to some of the history of Israel and the Middle East. It's extremely complicated, there is no black and white and there are instances of harmony between Arabs and Jews and instances of barbarity and warfare as well. I can understand a few things- one can be against a government or an army overstepping its bounds to secure hostages. One can also be against the leader of a government, but not be against the existence of the state itself, nor its people and their ethnicity or religion. What seems to have happened is this: The process has gone from what I described above to outright support of the massacre of one group of people and the support of an avowed terrorist organization, and now to the harassment of the Jews who are actually living in this country and may or may not support their government, but are being harassed nonetheless. Not only tha,t the perfectly allowable right to peaceful assembly has taken on the spectre of the "Summer of Love" and the BLM riots. And I'm not sure what Mr. deBoer is referring to: Regardless of someone's supposed status, whether they are some kind of "oppressed" group, or a culturally successful group, it is no excuse for them to be persecuted. Would we tolerate college kids in white robes and hoods burning crosses on the campus quads, or tracking down Gay or Lesbian people and beating them up? Hell no!
The only comfort I can provide the author is that while he provides an airtight case that "American Jews . . . are not welcome on the social justice left," there are a whole lot of us who are equally unwelcome in that sector, and are very comfortable with that.
The social justice left is having a moment, and maybe even taking a little disgusting pride in their vile antisemitism, and that is worth condemning without caveat. But contrary to their youthful grandiosity and the decibel level of their shouting, they are not a major constituency in America. The latest report (Dec. 2023) from More In Common shows that nearly 80% of Americans consider antisemitism a problem. And that organization's landmark "Hidden Tribes" report demonstrated that only about 8% of Americans are among the Progressive Activists grouping from which the current extremism is coming (though, of course, some does also come from the 6% at the other extreme).
Cold comfort, maybe, to the students at Columbia (etc.) but as long as the First Amendment and the criminal laws continue to be valid and enforced, there is still reason to see beyond the rage of young radicals, and bring into focus those of us in that very much larger majority.
I happened to be in NYC last week, pushing my eleven-week old granddaughter in her stroller past Columbia's gates. We were on the opposite side of Broadway -- in no physical danger-- but I was terrified at the rage, the lies, the self-righteousness coming from the crowd. I was born the year after the nation of Israel was created. I have lived in the "golden age of Jewry" in the U.S. Part of that safety came because there was always Israel for our people. I don't think Israel is going anywhere -- I also don't think Israel is perfect. But the misinformation about Israel that is held as common knowledge by the left right now is heart-breaking. It obviously is spilling over into U.S. antisemitism, and I fear my grandbaby experiencing antisemitism in ways I never did. Thank you for this post.
In his book "Woke Racism" John McWhorter does a fine job calling out this sickness on the college campuses. It is what we have seen through history... mass psychosis of a population seeking meaning, status and purpose in life otherwise lacking and being captured by ideology... generally irrational and destructive ideology. It is usually young people that are susceptible to this capture because they are both more seeking of purpose and more emotionally charged and uncontrolled. Females too have this tendency for stronger emotional attachment to issues and messaging.
It seems to me that the lack of real life struggle born from high tech concierge services, doting Baby Boomer parents and grandparents, student loans and government assistance programs... has all led to young people with a gap in their self-worth and purpose and thus ripe for being exploited by those, largely evil with burning resentment and envy... and many of them working in academia... toward indoctrination in a movement of radical thinking and actions.
My solution for all of this is to require college students to work... real work... not as activists for an NGO non-profit. But to, for example, help build housing supplies. Or to tutor middle schoolers and high schoolers.
The bottom line is that they should NOT have time for these ugly protests, and if working they would likely better fulfill and understand their own lives in a way that would better shield them from being injected with a fake scholarship parasitic toxic mind virus of Theory/woke.
I just find this whole conversation a little odd - American Jews are objectively some of the safest, richest, best-educated, most well-represented people in the world. It's hard to choose an ethnic group-country combination that's doing better.
The disruptive reactions of elite students convinced of their moral superiority and determined to impose it on others do not reflect a massive change in the attitude of Americans writ large towards American Jews. This is not the rebirth of the civil rights movement of the 60s. What is happening in Israel and Gaza is half a world away. Upending racism was here at home and at the core of the American way of life at the time. For most of us, the Israeli/Hamas conflict is slightly lower than whale shit on our list of priorities in spite of the wall to wall media coverage. Our feelings/attitude towards the Jewish deli down the street that we love will not change. There is no need to overreact to their overreaction.
Not sure if I agree that wokeism is wholly to blame here for the turn against Israel. Over the past two decades, the Israeli government has moved steadily to the right, effectively giving up on a two-state solution and annexing more and more Palestinian land. This in turn has alienated a significant section of the US population, which includes some young progressive American jews.
The distribution of public opinion has shifted so that there are now more legitimate critics of Israel, but also, unfortunately, an extreme tail that is quite bigoted and antisemitic. We should all be doing all we can for a two-state solution ala Taba accords. Nothing else is going to resolve this, ever.
I am a proud subscriber, thank you Persuasion!
I believe much of blame for this difficult situation lies with Netanyahu and how he has conducted the war. He ignored US advice to have clear objectives like rescuing the hostages or a plan for governing Gaza after it was all over. He got lost in the fog of war and squandered every opportunity to bring order out of chaos.
“Being an American Jew is its own proud, often paradoxical idea. I can only hope that it survives this wave of anti-Semitism and all the others that are sure to come after it.” I hope and trust that it will.
In my April 12 Substack commentary, reflecting on the apparent antisemitism of Henry Ford, I write the following. “The USA has a special relation with the Jewish people, who constitute a proportion of the American people higher than any other nation in the world, except Israel. The ancient nation of Israel was one of the first nations of the world to leave a legacy of spiritual and cultural teachings for humanity, which are the foundation of the religions of Christianity and Islam as well as the modern principles of social justice. For centuries, Jews have endured discrimination and worse in defense of these revelations and concepts, and they today are not great in number. They must be protected as a special people among the nations of the earth. These truths remain truths, in spite of the indefensible apartheid-like policies of Israel with respect to Palestine since 1967 and the current barbarity of the government of Israel with respect to the people of Palestine, which all of humanity rightly condemns and is mobilizing to end.”
In this vein, I have observed that the Cuban Revolutionary Government, in condemning the “genocide” in the Gaza strip, is careful make clear its continuing support of the “two-state solution,” based on pre-1967 borders, supported by UN organizations. In contrast, the radical Left in the United States repeatedly indulges in destructive rhetorical exaggerations on this and other issues.
https://charlesmckelvey.substack.com/
One of the problems with Zionism is the idea of that one as a Jew should have a special and even blind loyalty to Israel. The idea of nationalism is that humans should be divided into nations. But one can be a Jew, American, global citizen at the same time. As for example Einstein was.
The American Jew always has the choice: Pass as a gentile or do not. That of course creates pain for us. When we "pass" we hear the antisemitism; when we acknowledge we are Jews it shifts to anti-Zionism. Walk in the room "Hi I am a Jew." Things will be more polite. Do not do that and your heart may break. When I see the Hamas flag I stop passing immediately. That is a subterfuge I cannot accomplish.
I suspect the author is overthinking things, even if the current events are very worrying. If you know what you stand for and believe you make a contribution, say so loudly and repeatedly. I am not a Jew but I believe deeply in their contribution to western civilization. Do not be captured by the progressive tropes and terminology. Dissect and demolish them instead. Stand up for yourself in every way possible. And we don’t need complicated history classes to get it.
There's an aspect of the geopolitical explanation that's as dizzying to contemplate as the speed with which antisemitism has taken hold on the American Left: the possibility that the enemies of Israel in the Mideast -- who are avowed enemies of Jews everywhere -- have reached across the world and meddled in American political life with conspicuous success.
I'd like to learn what there is to learn about the funding and coordination behind this surge of allyship with Hamas-friendly Palestinians at the expense of American Jews. (For the record, I'm an American Gentile.) I'm leftist enough myself that I never thought I'd find a use for the term "un-American", but there's something distinctly alien about a movement whose participants shrug off atrocities like those committed on October 7th for the sake of political solidarity.
https://thefamilyproperty.blogspot.com/2023/11/savagery.html
"The left, from the era of Roosevelt, meant “minorities and liberal activists locking arms,” and Jews (there’s a real irony here) were trailblazers in developing identity politics. But the coalition turned towards something else—the oppressed, easily identified by the hue of their skin, against the oppressors."
Eventually, the chickens come home to roost.