Selma,
At 09:16 26/09/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Keith,
>I agree that there is some uselessly provocative stuff in the article, but
>the information about anti-Semitism in Germany scared the shit out of me; I
>doubt there is any reason to believe it is not true.
>Selma
Arthur wrote, and Ray concurred:
<<<<
I think he is trying to be provocative and is somewhat successful in a sick
and strange way.
>>>>
I agree also. (There's something wrong with the link that Arthur gave so I
wasn't able to sample the discussion there.)
But I imagine that someone in that discussion has been going further than
Arthur -- saying something like: "William Grim is a sick person." I would
agree with that.
Grim starts his article in a strange way:
<<<<
. . . . For me anti-Semitism has always been one of the phenomena that
doesn't really register on my radar . . . .
>>>>
If anti-Semitism hasn't registered in his radar then it means that he's not
read sufficient history (or newspapers) to qualify him to write any sort of
article about racism.
He ends his article in a strange way:
<<<<
The enemies of Israel are the enemies of the United States . . . .
>>>>
He is showing that he is just as nasty and racial as he supposes the
Germans to be.
I have been frequently attacked on FW list in a sarcastic way by one
particular person whenever I make mention of the fact that homo sapiens has
evolved from a social mammal ancestry which has lived in small groups for
millions of years and has strong genetic in-group/out-group predispositions
because of it. We are capable of great kindness and altruism; and we are
also capable of great savagery and cruelty.
Because of modern conditions, much of our easily-elicited behaviour is
totally inappropriate today, but made sense when we lived in small groups
and tribes, and we wouldn't be here without it.
So I'd suggest to you that you shouldn't be scared by what appear to be
signs of anti-Semitism in modern Germany. This and other nasty anti-racial
tendencies will be with us for as long as our genes are what they are.
Instead of imagining that we can somehow produce an ideal society by
wishing or planning for impossible 'moral' objectives, we should be more
honest and diligent in understanding what we are truly like as a species
and then endeavouring as best we can to fashion our modern institutions
around these uncomfortable features of our behaviour. Chekhov said
something (more pithily) along these lines, and I agree with him.
(I won't copy Grim's sick article again. The quicker it is forgotten the
better.)
Keith
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