Bipartisan bigotry

Jew hatred infecting conservative movement as much as progressives

As much as conservatives and leftists claim to have nothing in common, there is a growing – disturbingly so – trait that increasingly large swaths of both share: A deep loathing for Jews.

A recent poll found that more than half of self-identifying conservative males under the age of 50 either believe the Holocaust was made up or greatly exaggerated.

The national media, of course, is using this poll to try to deflect from the much more violent anti-Semitism happening on the other side of the aisle.

Yet for the good of the future of conservative thought, as well as the salvation of our own souls, it’s important that those of us who reside on the right side of the political spectrum don’t play the same game of whataboutism.

Anti-Semitism is wrong. Period.

The Holocaust was so disturbing not because it was a complete aberration, but precisely because it was the logical manifestation of mainstream bigotry.

Jew hatred is so deeply ingrained in our Western – and other – cultures (I’m looking at you, Eastern Christianity and Islam) that it can almost become invisible.

Yes, the horror of the Holocaust, in which an entire people was targeted for elimination by one of the great civilizations of the time, forced overt anti-Semitism underground. Following World War II, bigots wouldn’t openly express their anti-Jewish thoughts – saving it for discreet conversations with trusted confidantes known to share that perspective.

(In college, friends and I frequented a German restaurant near campus that featured a generous happy hour Tuesday through Friday. I became such a regular that I was invited to bring in a stein to keep there – and had one that had been given to me for graduation by a high school advisor. On day at the bar, I overheard older patrons in German mumbling darkly about Juden this and Juden that. I sked my dad, who was raised in a German-speaking household in Baltimore, what Juden meant in English. He frowned, and wondered why I asked. I explained, and he told me it meant “Jews.” The next day, I went in and got my stein back.)

Over the past few decades, the growing anti-Semitism on the left has been more dangerous, more a threat to our public order, our cultural decency because those on the left holding these abhorrent views tend, on whole, to be more likely to hold positions of influence and power. We have Democratic members of Congress who have no problem sharing their opinions on Judaism, and as we have seen the last few years entire academic departments on some of our leading campuses are staffed by anti-Semites.

Until recently, Jew hatred on the right was largely confined to working-class types. Of course, Tucker Carlson’s descent into moral (and, perhaps, clinical) madness is giving new reach to anti-Semitism in conservative ranks.

It needs to be called out for what it is, it needs to be made clear – as both the Young Republicans and Turning Point USA have recently done within their own ranks – that such views are incompatible not only with conservative thought, but, well, with a civilized life.

We can’t wait for the Democrats to address raw bigotry in their ranks. We have to educate the young in our own orbits about the many myths and libels behind anti-Semitism, the blatant lies, and the attempts to to try to substitute “anti-Zionism” for anti-Semitism (any differences between the two have been made meaningless since Oct. 7, 2023.