Lessons from a guy scapegoating Jews for political ends
A lesson from an anti-semite, who wrote the following in 1938:
... in a French printing called "Combat". This was written in a piece that was anti-semitical. But I guess, at some point, he had a strange moment of clarity that what he was describing might not be valid but it does serve a purpose.
Scapegoating, can be "politically effective" even whet it's devoided of "philosophical validity".
Anti-Semitism can be approached either from a humanistic point of view - the point of view of historical and moral justification - or from the point of view of a political effectiveness or "revolutionairy" effectiveness, if you will. These two approaches are not necessarily connected. Anti-Semitism can have a philosophical validity (if the Jews are really a force of corruption and enslavement of the people) and yet have no practical application in France (if it is impossible or very difficult to mobilize the French people against the Jews). Or, on the other hand, anti-Semitism can be devoid of philosophical validity (if the Jews are innocent of all the crimes of which they are accused) and yet have a usable practical effectiveness (if anti-semitism) is good for means of crystallizing revolutionary tendencies).
- Thiery Maulnier, Notes sur l'antisémitisme, Published in "Combat" (1938); translation found in: Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France by Zeev Sternhell
- Thiery Maulnier, Notes sur l'antisémitisme, Published in "Combat" (1938); translation found in: Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France by Zeev Sternhell
... in a French printing called "Combat". This was written in a piece that was anti-semitical. But I guess, at some point, he had a strange moment of clarity that what he was describing might not be valid but it does serve a purpose.
Scapegoating, can be "politically effective" even whet it's devoided of "philosophical validity".
