Keith, I appreciate the fact that you are, apparently, trying to comfort me and allay my fears about anti-Semitism, but, given your assumptions, you may very well have said the same thing to Jews living in Germany during the thrities.
Selma ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith Hudson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Selma Singer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 12:03 PM Subject: William E. Grim is sick ( was Re: Fw: Hitler's Children > 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 > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ------------ > > Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com > 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England > Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________
