On Oct. 7, all the poisons hatched out

A great many people in places high and low informed us that they are partisans of abomination.

“Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out.” — I, Claudius

I had not intended to write on the subject of the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre. In the face of such atrocity, the rest must be silence. Atrocity, after all, speaks for itself. One cannot condemn the perpetrator in stronger terms than the perpetrator’s own actions. One cannot grant the victims a greater honor than their Sanctification of the Name. In Judaism, we remember, the moment of Kiddush Hashem confers upon the victim absolute sanctity in both body and spirit.

Nonetheless, with massive antisemitic demonstrations planned by the leftist/Islamic-supremacist Red-Green Alliance in order to celebrate the massacre, it seems worth noting one thing: If there is any “silver lining” to all of this, it is that all the poisons lurking in the mud hatched out. The beasts finally emerged from their fetid lairs and declared themselves. No one, Jew or non-Jew, can now deny what the entire civilized world is facing.

I need not reiterate condemnations here, except to note that the Red-Green Alliance and its abettors, who have long wrapped themselves in the saintly rhetoric of “human rights” and other empty shibboleths—which, strangely enough, never seem to apply to anyone who is not a member of the Alliance—announced themselves on the day of the massacre. They declared their principles hypocrisy, their intentions monstrous, and their souls satanic. They branded themselves with the name of the adversary.

This Alliance, it must be noted, goes well beyond the protester-terrorists in the streets and on campus: The unelected tyrants at the United Nations, the pious Savanarolas littered throughout American politics, the self-styled lay preachers of the elite media, the commissars and petty totalitarians who have conquered and colonized the university system, legions of overeducated and undergifted denizens of NGOs and government bureaucracy, and, in some ways, the entire ruling class of the United States and the “international community” hatched out. They told us precisely who and what they are: Supporters, collaborators, and apologists for racism, genocide, antisemitism, and terrorism. In other words, monsters. In other words, barbarians.

In this, they at long last acknowledged what many of us already knew: They are an existential threat not just to the United States but to humanity itself. Ultimately, human civilization has only one job: to say “no” to the barbarians. The Alliance and its armies of the night in places high and low not only refused to say “no”; they said, shrieked, and screamed “yes.” They did so at the top of their lungs and backed up their declarations of intent with violent action. For this, they stand condemned because they have condemned themselves. They did not just say “yes” to the barbarians; they willingly and joyously became barbarians.

I think that we have not even begun to witness the consequences of this declaration of principles. The full scope of it has yet to be fully processed by the rest of us. Put simply, a great many people in positions of substantial political, social, and cultural power openly acknowledged their total moral bankruptcy.

This is horrifying, of course, because no society can survive a morally bankrupt ruling class, a nihilist ruling class, a self-hating ruling class, a decadent ruling class, a suicidal ruling class. If this class is permitted to retain its power, it will kill not only itself but everyone else along with it.

Nonetheless, we have also received a great revelation, the implications of which have yet to be fully understood. It is the absolute and obvious truth that, if a ruling class wants to commit suicide, this is perhaps its right, but it has no right to demand that others do the same, let alone condemn them for their refusal to do so.

This is, in many ways, a dark gift. It reveals a truth that must be repeated as a mantra, and I do so again: We do not have to listen to these people. The self-appointed saints are not saints; they are the devil. Our judges are no judges; they are summary executioners of themselves and anyone else they can get their hands on. Our self-styled moral superiors are not our superiors; they are not even moral. The emperor has not only removed his clothes, he has burned them on an altar of human sacrifice.

Judaism has always been very clear about what it thinks of human sacrifice. Christianity inherited this understanding of the nature of abomination. Jews, Christians, and those of no religion at all are faced with the terrible reality—and they must accept it—that a great many people in low and especially in high places are an abomination. They are all the poisons that lurked in the mud and have now hatched out.

This leaves the rest of us with a choice: to submit or to resist. Israel and the Jewish people have chosen resistance. So have a great many non-Jews. The Red-Green Alliance and its allies and enablers were given a choice between life and death, the blessing and the curse. They chose death and the curse. We know this with absolute certainty because they have informed us of it in the most strident and abusive terms.

It is incumbent upon all of us to choose life and the blessing. This is no small thing and requires great labor. It places upon us enormous demands and obligations. It is a choice we did not seek but cannot avoid. But we have one great advantage: We now know where we stand. Delusions have been shattered and forgone. We should be thankful that, by shattering them, the barbarians have given us the sacred opportunity to reject despair.