Yes, this is a potent observation. America’s sclerotic and bureaucratic Jewish institutions have pursued passive “education.” They are useless. Can creative Jewish “resistance” emerge? And how does it manifest itself? That’s unclear.
Sounds like you are saying that the marginal value of another Holocaust museum in the United States is close to zero but the marginal value of a required class at Columbia University titled, “Never Again: not within your lifetime, not within your children’s lifetime and not within your grandchildren’s lifetime will burning, raping and decapitating Israelis lead to a Palestinian state or destroy the Jewish state”, could be very high.
Fascinating and provocative piece, Mr. Kerstein. I believe you are onto something. I also agree with Richard Pollock that our current Jewish institutions are "part of the problem," not "part of the solution." I would include in that the ACLU, not overtly Jewish but we know the truth. We live in a society where the Democratic Party is roughly 80% antisemitic and the Republicans 25% and growing. Something must be done, but what is it? You are right that it is not "liberalism," what that means and if it even exists.
Isn't the slide away from liberalism in the West a large part of the problem? The West has failed to inculcate liberal values over the past few decades. In the US, we no longer widely teach civics and what it takes to be a responsible citizen. Many don't understand how government works and why -- for example, how the first amendment and freedom of speech are foundational to democracy, and how they helped enable minorities to gain rights. Our "free press" is no longer free - we don't get the facts, and analysis is biased. Many turn to social media and learn from people who were never taught that facts matter, or who treat opinion as fact. Our "top" universities slid into illiberalism and now violate the civil rights of Jewish students regularly; yet the Overton window has shifted so far into illiberal territory that leftists don't even recognize these universities are violating the civil rights laws that they fought for a couple of generations ago.
I often think of the insight that once people have fought for and achieved a society with relative prosperity, stability and harmony, they start to forget how they got there and what it takes to stay there. War wakes up the silent, centrist majority, but the interwar periods never last.
That's an excellent point. I would disagree only in the sense that I think one of the great problems of liberalism is that it's very bad at "holding the line" against illiberalism. In that sense, liberalism definitely is part of the problem.
If you study the history of Weimar Germany you would see it was not really liberal because true liberalism was never embraced by the population at large or even the political parties that operated within it. From nearly day one radical leftist and rightist parties used illiberal tactics and blamed the Weimar system itself for the present state of Germany. This coupled with the horrific economic conditions radicalized the public and cleared the way for the Nazis to rise. In short the Weimar Republic itself never really had legitimacy or buy in from the public. This is not to say that we who live in a liberal society dont need to be concerned. Plenty of bad things happened here as well. But we have safeguards and stability Weimar Germany never had. That being said, the biggest safeguard is the public's acceptance of the legitimacy of the system we operate under. If that goes all bets are off. What we really need is to teach an appreciation of our Constitutional system and why it has worked so well for us.
This article is spot on. Our alphabet soup of liberal Jewish establishment organizations are part of the problem, not the solution. They never ask the right questions. I’m glad you did.
Yes, this is a potent observation. America’s sclerotic and bureaucratic Jewish institutions have pursued passive “education.” They are useless. Can creative Jewish “resistance” emerge? And how does it manifest itself? That’s unclear.
Sounds like you are saying that the marginal value of another Holocaust museum in the United States is close to zero but the marginal value of a required class at Columbia University titled, “Never Again: not within your lifetime, not within your children’s lifetime and not within your grandchildren’s lifetime will burning, raping and decapitating Israelis lead to a Palestinian state or destroy the Jewish state”, could be very high.
Fascinating and provocative piece, Mr. Kerstein. I believe you are onto something. I also agree with Richard Pollock that our current Jewish institutions are "part of the problem," not "part of the solution." I would include in that the ACLU, not overtly Jewish but we know the truth. We live in a society where the Democratic Party is roughly 80% antisemitic and the Republicans 25% and growing. Something must be done, but what is it? You are right that it is not "liberalism," what that means and if it even exists.
Every ideology concerning human behavior has conditions, rules, and limits- especially 'liberalism'. This is an excellent piece.
Isn't the slide away from liberalism in the West a large part of the problem? The West has failed to inculcate liberal values over the past few decades. In the US, we no longer widely teach civics and what it takes to be a responsible citizen. Many don't understand how government works and why -- for example, how the first amendment and freedom of speech are foundational to democracy, and how they helped enable minorities to gain rights. Our "free press" is no longer free - we don't get the facts, and analysis is biased. Many turn to social media and learn from people who were never taught that facts matter, or who treat opinion as fact. Our "top" universities slid into illiberalism and now violate the civil rights of Jewish students regularly; yet the Overton window has shifted so far into illiberal territory that leftists don't even recognize these universities are violating the civil rights laws that they fought for a couple of generations ago.
I often think of the insight that once people have fought for and achieved a society with relative prosperity, stability and harmony, they start to forget how they got there and what it takes to stay there. War wakes up the silent, centrist majority, but the interwar periods never last.
That's an excellent point. I would disagree only in the sense that I think one of the great problems of liberalism is that it's very bad at "holding the line" against illiberalism. In that sense, liberalism definitely is part of the problem.
If you study the history of Weimar Germany you would see it was not really liberal because true liberalism was never embraced by the population at large or even the political parties that operated within it. From nearly day one radical leftist and rightist parties used illiberal tactics and blamed the Weimar system itself for the present state of Germany. This coupled with the horrific economic conditions radicalized the public and cleared the way for the Nazis to rise. In short the Weimar Republic itself never really had legitimacy or buy in from the public. This is not to say that we who live in a liberal society dont need to be concerned. Plenty of bad things happened here as well. But we have safeguards and stability Weimar Germany never had. That being said, the biggest safeguard is the public's acceptance of the legitimacy of the system we operate under. If that goes all bets are off. What we really need is to teach an appreciation of our Constitutional system and why it has worked so well for us.
"The most violent and genocidal form of antisemitism has now arisen not among the uneducated but among the most educated." That is a sickening irony.
This article is spot on. Our alphabet soup of liberal Jewish establishment organizations are part of the problem, not the solution. They never ask the right questions. I’m glad you did.