A quick thought on Vox Day’s "The Merits of Anti-Semitism," which set off a wave of let’s-point-at-the-bad-man in the usual quarters. (As well as a witty and insightful post from the Young Yglesias.)
I’m not going to leap on Vox with the rest. Vox is merely doing what he sometimes does, which is to find the most offensive and silly way to argue a point that, in other’s hands, could be made easily defensible.* His comment was foolish, but I don’t read it as anti-Semitic (or, at least, not intentionally so).
Update ———–
A lot of commentators view the foregoing as a defense of Vox, and want to prove that Vox is, indeed, anti-semitic. In fact, it’s not a defense of Vox (re-read it if you don’t get why) and I’m wholly disinterested in defending Vox’s statements (again, re-read it if you don’t get why). For more regarding why I’m not defending Vox, see CMDicely’s and my comments on the Yglesias post noted above.
End Update ———–
Now, stretching things a bit: the jump-on-Vox moment reminded me of a point that I meant to make a little while ago but, due to work and other constraints, never got around to.
We (meaning "people," myself included) can have a very childish view of racism, anti-Semitism, and the like. We always like to reduce things to bad words and unutterable thoughts — rather than look at context or intent. Worse, there a dangerous tendency to game charges of racism or sexism or anti-Semitism for maximum political effect. After all, a person with a childish concept of bigotry has a limited concept of bigotry, and it’s easy to whip such folks up into a frenzy because they don’t want to accidentally fall into the wrong camp.
I’m not merely talking about race-baiting, and I’m not doing a very untimely riff on the O.J. Simpson trial. I’m also not saying that it’s all intentional — childish notions can be both abused and self-abused. [That’s an unfortunate turn of phrase …] Nor am I suggesting that the left or liberals bear the most of the blame (as one might wrongly assume). Indeed, the most recent examples of gaming bigotry seem have occurred with folks who are to the right, or, at the least, among those who identify as non-lefties.
For instance, take the charge by some that the term "neoconservative" is crypto-code for "Jew," and that railing against neoconservatives in the Bush Administration is thinly disguised anti-Semitism. Clearly, some on the far Left seem to hate both neoconservatives and Jews. But this is hardly an excuse to conflate neoconservatism with Judaism — which, so far as I know, don’t share a theology. No, the excuse to conflate neoconservatism with Judaism is to shut up administration critics with counter-charges of anti-Semitism.
Now, sometimes the Bush Administration needs to be defended. And some terms deserve to be criticized. For instance, David Bernstein eventually made a good point as to why "Likudnik" is an unhelpful term (Bernstein’s first shotgun post on "Likudnik" committed the sin of which I here complain). We should take care to confront hidden bigotries and evils.
Still, a clear charge of bigotry should be reserved for a response to a clear expression of bigotry. Giving the benefit of the doubt should still most tongues. It’s the only way to keep the system honest — and make sure that our power is not diluted when actual evil comes calling.
Indeed, all this huffing and puffing by people eager to be at the front of the condemning line reminds me of, well, myself. Back in the days when my white ass was growing up in Indiana without Black people. (A gross overstatement, but you get my point.) When I felt that I had to impart to every person of color than I that I did, indeed, feel their pain and was on their side. Do you have any idea how much it demeans the Civil Rights movement to feel that I shouldn’t ask that no black beans be put on my burrito because it might be taken as some racist slur? Do you have any idea how much of an annoying, unaware f_ck I was?
Don’t be that f_ck.
(This may help to explain, incidentally, why I know the lyrics to virtually every Public Enemy song published prior to 1989.)
(For the record, I eventually came to love black beans.)