Here We Go Again--Andrew Young and anti-Semitism
Moss David Posner M.D.
August 27, 2006
This article is dedicated to Rabbi Levi Zirkind, who awoke within me that which I could not find by myself.
I saw a marvelous article by Cythia Tucker, who writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was shocked at the anti-Semitism of Andrew Young, who held Jews among other minorities responsible for the behavior of proprietors of businesses in Watts in South Central Los Angeles.
It is a brief respite and sadly remarkable, coming, as it does, from a minority perspective. She was amazed at Andrew Young's comments, given his integrated and well-educated background.
I am not so amazed. With the spectacular exception of Malcolm-X, (and of course, Dr. MLK,) it is sadly the rule that anti-Semitism can be found--at least as frequently in minority communities. The irony lies in the fact that, as she points out, one would expect empathy as a logical and emotional extrapolation.
As a Jewish writer, I have given this a good deal of thought over the years. Anti-Semitism is really in a class by itself. It is protean and omnipresent, lying dormant, as it often does, in the human psyche, virtually spliced and insinuated in the human genome, waiting, dormant, to be activated by threatening events, proximate or remote, a Jungian archetype. For this reason, anti-Semitism could be regarded as a meme. There are even people, in Japan, who have never seen a Jew, yet who are anti-Semitic.
Anti-Semitism spares no one. Louis Lomax, prominent talk-show host in the 60's in Los Angeles, shocked and bitterly disappointed me on the occasion of the Watts riots by having on his show a rabbi who contended that the proprietors in Watts were the cause of the problem. His exact words were,
"So, in other words, Rabbi, Jews are responsible for the riots in Watts." In this regard, your incredulity and disappointment on hearing Andrew Young was almost nostalgic to me.
I have concluded that anti-Semitism is a sign, a measure of human insecurity, and an expose of fear of the world, fear of being, at root, incapable of survival. In its simplest incarnation it can represent a groupthink, global insecurity, shared collectively, and passed on to other members of the group; and what groups have more insecurity than beleaguered minorities fraught with self-doubt?
It is because of the similarity--not despite it--that we can see this in such groups. The Jewish minority is vulnerable because of its miniscule size coupled by its central focus on education and self-improvement as manifest by its accomplishments out of all proportion to its numbers.
Conversely, the absence of anti-semitism is the sign of a truly independent thinker and human being. There appears to be no middle ground. The seminal and most tender and dear example of this independence and of its preconditions lies in the character of Huckleberry Finn, in Mark Twain's book of than name. Huckleberry's soul-searching soliloquy after his refusal to give up "Nigger Jim" from their skiff shows the true mark of character of a man, in the absence of which, all measures of manifestations of human doubt and insecurity will inevitably appear.
It is a noteworthy irony that in the California penal system, where I work as a physician, that group that is most receptive to me and most cordial and curious--is the black minority. In keeping with my premise, above, it would appear that these men--because or despite their experiences--are inevitably very warmly receptive to me and to my interest in them as people. I do care about them, but it is still surprising.
I have a nagging suspicion that many of these men may very well be in prison precisely because of their individuality, other, legal elements notwithstanding.
There is something of the rogue in all independent thinkers. Our country was supposed to have cherished that quality. Indeed, that very independence of thought has been a threat to more than one government; and ours wouldn't be the first by any manner of means. George Orwell's prophetic "Brave New World" was a garish demonstration of what pressures there exists to which sovereign intellects are put.
There is an old Yiddish story: Risa Shoen grew up in the Shtetl (small community) in Soviet Russia. When he died, he went to heaven. The Almighty greeted him and offered Risa the answer to any question he might ask.
"Is it true that the Jews are the Chosen People, Your Honor?" he asks.
"Yes," the Benevolent One responded.
"Well, can you do me a small favor, Your Honor?"
"Of course," was the reply. "You have only to ask."
"Would you mind choosing someone else for a while?"
My sentiments exactly.
I saw a marvelous article by Cythia Tucker, who writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was shocked at the anti-Semitism of Andrew Young, who held Jews among other minorities responsible for the behavior of proprietors of businesses in Watts in South Central Los Angeles.
It is a brief respite and sadly remarkable, coming, as it does, from a minority perspective. She was amazed at Andrew Young's comments, given his integrated and well-educated background.
I am not so amazed. With the spectacular exception of Malcolm-X, (and of course, Dr. MLK,) it is sadly the rule that anti-Semitism can be found--at least as frequently in minority communities. The irony lies in the fact that, as she points out, one would expect empathy as a logical and emotional extrapolation.
As a Jewish writer, I have given this a good deal of thought over the years. Anti-Semitism is really in a class by itself. It is protean and omnipresent, lying dormant, as it often does, in the human psyche, virtually spliced and insinuated in the human genome, waiting, dormant, to be activated by threatening events, proximate or remote, a Jungian archetype. For this reason, anti-Semitism could be regarded as a meme. There are even people, in Japan, who have never seen a Jew, yet who are anti-Semitic.
Anti-Semitism spares no one. Louis Lomax, prominent talk-show host in the 60's in Los Angeles, shocked and bitterly disappointed me on the occasion of the Watts riots by having on his show a rabbi who contended that the proprietors in Watts were the cause of the problem. His exact words were,
"So, in other words, Rabbi, Jews are responsible for the riots in Watts." In this regard, your incredulity and disappointment on hearing Andrew Young was almost nostalgic to me.
I have concluded that anti-Semitism is a sign, a measure of human insecurity, and an expose of fear of the world, fear of being, at root, incapable of survival. In its simplest incarnation it can represent a groupthink, global insecurity, shared collectively, and passed on to other members of the group; and what groups have more insecurity than beleaguered minorities fraught with self-doubt?
It is because of the similarity--not despite it--that we can see this in such groups. The Jewish minority is vulnerable because of its miniscule size coupled by its central focus on education and self-improvement as manifest by its accomplishments out of all proportion to its numbers.
Conversely, the absence of anti-semitism is the sign of a truly independent thinker and human being. There appears to be no middle ground. The seminal and most tender and dear example of this independence and of its preconditions lies in the character of Huckleberry Finn, in Mark Twain's book of than name. Huckleberry's soul-searching soliloquy after his refusal to give up "Nigger Jim" from their skiff shows the true mark of character of a man, in the absence of which, all measures of manifestations of human doubt and insecurity will inevitably appear.
It is a noteworthy irony that in the California penal system, where I work as a physician, that group that is most receptive to me and most cordial and curious--is the black minority. In keeping with my premise, above, it would appear that these men--because or despite their experiences--are inevitably very warmly receptive to me and to my interest in them as people. I do care about them, but it is still surprising.
I have a nagging suspicion that many of these men may very well be in prison precisely because of their individuality, other, legal elements notwithstanding.
There is something of the rogue in all independent thinkers. Our country was supposed to have cherished that quality. Indeed, that very independence of thought has been a threat to more than one government; and ours wouldn't be the first by any manner of means. George Orwell's prophetic "Brave New World" was a garish demonstration of what pressures there exists to which sovereign intellects are put.
There is an old Yiddish story: Risa Shoen grew up in the Shtetl (small community) in Soviet Russia. When he died, he went to heaven. The Almighty greeted him and offered Risa the answer to any question he might ask.
"Is it true that the Jews are the Chosen People, Your Honor?" he asks.
"Yes," the Benevolent One responded.
"Well, can you do me a small favor, Your Honor?"
"Of course," was the reply. "You have only to ask."
"Would you mind choosing someone else for a while?"
My sentiments exactly.
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