Background to the hatred: the right as the new Jews
In the wake of the Kirk assassination, I’ve been thinking about how the background has been to stir up hatred against the right and especially white people as a group. White people themselves are supposed to hear the message and to feel guilty about their supposed “privilege” and even their very existence, whereas people of other races are encouraged to blame all their woes on white people – not just historically, but now.
So much has happened since the year 2020 that it’s easy to forget the whole “anti-racist” movements which – as with so many projects on the left – had an Orwellian looking-glass sort of title, because it represented the furtherance of racist thought. It looked at people as almost nothing but their races, and all white people were judged harshly because of being white. At the time, I wrote a post titled “White privilege, white guilt: whites as the new Jews.” You might want to go back and read it, but here’s an excerpt:
I know the analogy of anti-white feeling to historical anti-Semitism is far from perfect. But it’s still relevant. Both have as a prominent feature the sweeping idea of inherent and collective guilt of an entire people and/or race. How can this guilt ever be erased? Perhaps never, although public self-humiliation is felt to be a small start. …
No need to prove that Trump is a white supremacist, despite all he’s done to help black people. The Harvard Gazette‘s readership knows it’s true, everyone says it, so the argument doesn’t even need to be made properly, just stated. The incomparable Thomas Sowell, who retired from writing in 2016 at the age of 86 (and who originally had not liked Trump and yet urged people to vote for him in 2016), had this to say in March of 2019 which I think is spot on:
“In March 2019, Sowell commented on the public’s response to mainstream media’s allegations that Trump was a “racist”: “What’s tragic is that there’s so many people out there who simply respond to words rather than ask themselves “Is what this person says true? How can I check it?” And so on.” One month later, Sowell again defended Trump against media charges of “racism”, stating: “I’ve seen no hard evidence. And, unfortunately, we’re living in a time where no one expects hard evidence. You just repeat some familiar words and people will react pretty much the way Pavlov’s dog was conditioned to react to certain sounds.”
As usual, Sowell describes it well. That was six years ago, and we’ve seen cries of “racist,” “transphobe,” “hater,” “Nazi,” and “Fascist” increasingly weaponized against the right in general and Kirk in particular, both before and after his killing. This is the way that groups are dehumanized in order to prepare a population for their destruction, and to cheer it on. That’s what we’ve been seeing now from the left towards the right. The problem for the left is that the right isn’t a minority, as the Jews were in Europe (most people aren’t aware, for example, that prior to the Nazi takeover the Jews of Germany numbered less than one percent of the German population). The right is half the population – and perhaps growing as a reaction to leftist extremism.
Jews in the US have been prominent on the liberal side of things for a long time. Gratitude for their courage and energy in the civil rights activities of the Fifties and Sixties has not been forthcoming. But people know.
Today, in the view of some or many, “liberal” shades into “progressive” and thus to BLM/Antifa. From the outside, the lines of separation are not clear and not likely obvious on the inside.
Perhaps it would be useful for Jews on the conservative side to be a bit more visible. Offset the prevailing, if antiquated, view of how “they” think.
we’ve seen cries of “racist,” “transphobe,” “hater,” “Nazi,” and “Fascist” increasingly weaponized”
We need to be wary of
transgendersgender dysphorics, given their disproportionate representation in mass shootings and assasinations. It is not a phobia. Brett Kavanaugh’s would-be assassin now claims to be a woman.“The right is half the population –” More people voted for Trump than for Ms. Harris.
“– and perhaps growing as a reaction to leftist extremism.” From your keyboard to God’s eyes!
Richard Aubrey:
Are you kidding me? Jews on the conservative side are very visible and have been for a long time. Just to name a few, writers (from the older generation) Podhoretz (Norman) and Kristol (Irving); David Horowitz, Dennis Prager, Ben Shapiro, various foreign policy people, many large donors (I wrote a post on that but don’t have time to find it at the moment), Roger L. Simon – I could go on and on.
Hey, there’s even Roseanne Barr, who may not be a great thinker but who is visibly politically conservative and Jewish.
Many conservative Jews are Orthodox and are visible and active in those communities but are probably not on your radar screen.
“The right is half the population – and perhaps growing as a reaction to leftist extremism.”
I believe the words of Rapper Tom McDonald hold true:
“They may have killed an soldier; but that man had an army”
Given how many people around the world have held vigils for Charlie Kirk we know that his reach was wide, very wide. And is growing.
Gender “dysphoria” is a serious symptom of the West’s cultural and moral decay.
Why is there this dysphoria? The Oxford definition of dysphoria is “generalized dissatisfaction with life”. I think this is correct. Way too many of us have become disconnected from time-honored customs and standards, isolated ever more in individualism and self-serving. No satisfaction there! The digital AI life is shallow and shabby, often with inverted values and garbage posed as deep-thinking, and that is all that’s left after the sacred cultural icons have been taken out and shot. But wait! maybe you suffer from MAGA Nationalism. I am proud of it.
“I know the analogy of anti-white feeling to historical anti-Semitism is far from perfect. But it’s still relevant. Both have as a prominent feature the sweeping idea of inherent and collective guilt of an entire people and/or race. How can this guilt ever be erased?”
Implicit to the demonization is that ‘atonement’ can only be achieved through racial, cultural and ethnic suicide.
The tragic irony is that in declaring Jews and whites to have no right to life, they voluntarily forfeit their own claim to have a right to life.
neo
I get writers. But they don’t make the headlines. The folks you mention are familiar to scholars and I, at least, recognize most names. But unless one has read their work, who knows?
I can’t imagine another Charlie Kirk, but somebody getting out there in some fashion, with similar exposure–figuratively speaking–or even a lot less is the sort of thing I’m picturing as necessary to make the point.
Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, may God bless them, came and went in public consciousness pretty quickly except in the civil rights community. Which was small as it was,
How about a do-over of Firing Line, with a Jewish host? Or when Tucker’s schtick was to invite a liberal on to the show to talk himself into knots.
A conservative Jewish columnist isn’t going to make it in the MSM, but they exist and some kind of breakout thing might be designed.
Call your, or every one you have time for, and see that they have all the works of those writes you mentioned. Talked to a librarian recently. If they get a request for a book they don’t have, somebody in acquisitions usually, will look it up, check copies run, author’s record, other books by the same and decide to acquire it. Or not but without the call, the process might not start.
Point is being out there for people who aren’t necessarily looking for you.
I would not compare what’s happening now in America to the Right or to whites with persecution of Jews in any way. I don’t think the historical parallel is very good, for many reasons. And I think the unintended rhetorical effect is to minimize the historical persecution of Jews.
Hutus and Tutsis might be a little better but too few remember any of that, and the enormity of what happened in Rwanda is just nothing to compare against hurtful words and isolated violence.
@ Niketas > “The enormity of what happened in Rwanda is just nothing to compare against hurtful words and isolated violence.”
True.
But if the Left succeeds in pushing the Right to get kinetic in our own defense, the Rwandan (and Balkans) example could quickly become the norm.
Hitler’s Demonization of the Jews was similar to the Hutu Demonization of the more successful Tutsis. Emotionally driven by envy, verbally and “rationally” driven by lies. If the lies were true, the punishment might even be justified as fighting evil.
But the lies are not true.
This is the Democratic Demonization Strategy, against Trump, now also Kirk. Please name it as such, or coin a different phrase. Krauthamer was correct in claiming Liberals think Conservatives are evil, but mis-labelled Bush Derangement Syndrome, now Trump DS. It’s Dems, not Trump nor Bush nor Kirk who are deranged. As the Hutus & Nazis were deranged. Because of their Demonization Strategy.
Satan’s biggest lie is to get so many to believe he doesn’t exist.
We must clearly name, and oppose, the Dem Demonization Strategy.
Rwanda has not improved. Seems there is a free-for-all chronic slaughter going on, especially tough on Christians.
“The right is half the population…”
and we are generally armed to the teeth.
Come on Left Bros, we don’t really want to go there, do we?
I bet 51% of the people who had animosity towards Kirk and said he deserved what he got, or shrugged their shoulders and said “well he said hateful things so I’m not too surprised,” can’t even properly quote what he said on any given subject. If a right of center person gets big enough to catch the left’s eye, they’ll isolate you and then dehumanize you. Alinsky Rule #5, #9 and #12.
well the Wandering Coma, and his acolytes called us Gusanos, Worms, which is probably even worse that Kulaks I reckon
emmett tyrell called it the kultursmog, and it’s gotten thicker since I started reading him the 90s, frankly the Spectator, which was subject to the first round of lawfare on spurious grounds never really recovered its mojo
Here is a useful summary of things Charlie Kirk is being quoted as saying, with the full quotes to provide context:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-173842063
@ David Foster – thanks for the link. A very interesting essay, and one which conservatives should read to see how the “other side that is still sane” sees the issues that Charlie Kirk, and many of us, talk about.
The author, David Dennison, doesn’t agree with any of Kirk’s assertions that I could see (he is milder in his disagreement with a few), but I don’t agree with everything Charlie put forth either, although mostly in terms of emphasis rather than general principal.
He does a very thorough job of researching all of the Left’s hyperbolic claims, however, and that is something we also need to do when criticizing anyone Left, Right, or Center, before making decisions about them.
And he most definitely does not think that anything Charlie believed or said should have been a death sentence; the fact that so many Democrats apparently do worries him as much as it should worry anyone who dares to deviate from the narrow party line, much less those who are in a completely different ball field.
I recommend checking out his Substack to anyone else interested in following a progressive liberal who doesn’t seem to have succumbed to all of the group-think.
I followed my own advice and read the other posts by Mr Dennison from September 1 up to the one David linked form September 16.
Just, wow.
He is giving the same advice to the Left and especially “normal” Democrats as we are seeing from other astute members of their “team,” which they aren’t taking to heart.
His writing is well-structured and he seems to have a real regard to finding out the facts before sounding off about the topic he’s exploring. He reminds me a lot of Matt Taibbi, who is another “sane progressive” that I read daily, and others have also noted here at Neo’s.
I particularly recommend two posts that are kind of matched parentheses for this year.
The first is a chastisement of the Democrats who “can’t understand how Trump got elected” not just once but twice! The second is why they are going to continue to lose elections (competitive ones, not Democrat locks or heavily frauded ones).
Basically the first one points out how they got on the wrong road, and the second confirms that no one paid attention to his warning, and went even further in the wrong direction.
The dramatic arc epitomizes the MAGA catchphrase, “This is how you get more Trump.”
https://dennisonwrites.substack.com/p/why-people-like-trump
“The president’s appeal explained in a meme.”
January 21, 2025
https://dennisonwrites.substack.com/p/for-cheering-liberals
“You are radicalizing the normies. The right has boiled over.”
September 10, 2025
Scrolling through the news feed that morning, he found a earlier tweet from Charlie Kirk with the sadly familiar picture of Iryna Zarutska just before she died, with the caption, “America will never be the same.”
Almost immediately after, he saw a series of tweets with memes mocking Kirk’s murder.
I note several nations have supported the formation of a Palestinian state. Trying to figure this out….
How about this? If you’re going to abandon people because supporting them is too difficult or too expensive, maybe you make excuses and feel better about it if you condemn them for various non-existent of grossly exaggerated offenses.