Self-Sealing Logic
Antisemitism has an immune system.
It’s not only true that in our American mental shorthand, Jews are “white” and “privileged,” so we don’t react to Antisemitism like we do to down-punching forms of racism that are central to our historical experience.
And it’s not only true that today we are seeing general actuation of trends that began in 1967 with the conclusion of the Six Day War, in which Israel transformed from David into Goliath and the Soviet Union perfected the progressive Antisemitism of the 19th Century in its propaganda of “anti-Zionism”—making the Jew once again the enemy of history and reattaching Antisemitism to the idea of progress.
It’s also true that Antisemitism is a conspiracy theory. That means it has a kind of immune system. Because it lacks dialogue with reality, it carries with it ideas that immunize it from critical attack. These are instances of circular reasoning common to all conspiracy theories, in which disconfirming information is refigured as evidence of a conspiracy to conceal the conspiracy.
With Antisemitism, these immunizing ideas take popular forms: Jews are exaggerating or misidentifying their experience of Antisemitism. Zionists are “weaponizing” Antisemitism to deflect criticism from Israel. The self-sealing logic of Antisemitism is that Jews are diabolical conspirators, so everything they say—including and especially about Antisemitism—is suspect.
As Antisemitism continues to rise, now is the time for you activate your bullshit detector. Not against claims of Antisemitism, but against the idea that Jews are making it up because of oversensitivity or allegiance to Israel.
You don’t have to be a Zionist to oppose Antisemitism expressed in an idiom of “anti-Zionism.”
* On July 24th, Raul Morales stabbed two men—one Asian and one visibly Jewish, just leaving a synagogue. He was seen near the synagogue, saying, “Justice for Islam!”