https://lettersblogatory.com/2018/10/27/what-to-do-now/ The Blog of International Judicial Assistance Mon, 29 Oct 2018 03:07:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://lettersblogatory.com/2018/10/27/what-to-do-now/#comment-3201 Mon, 29 Oct 2018 03:07:04 +0000 https://lettersblogatory.com/?p=27600#comment-3201 It is astonishing to me that people (some Jews included) do not see the undeniable and irremediable link-up between “neo”-fascism [sic] and anti-Semitism. A friend of mine who is an independent Arab journalist phoned me when he heard about the Tree of Life Attack to say: “YOU PREDICTED THIS! How did you know?” I answered, “how could anybody NOT know?”
As soon as you have a demagogue stoking hatred, fanning the flames of xenophobia and fear-mongering, celebrating, glorifying and even calling for violence, and turning political adversaries into “enemies” who need to be “locked up,” you will have the concurrent rise of anti-Semitism. It never fails — unless there are no Jews available. And even then, it can flourish if only in the fevered imagination of terrorized, inadequate, cowardly people. My friend the Arab journalist points out that Arab populations being brutalized by their own governments carry protest signs saying “Death to the Jews” when the people killing them are not the Jews, but their own people, most often their own rulers. Yemen is an example right now. At war with Saudi Arabia, being attacked by American drones and Saudi firepower, “the Jews” are still the convenient distraction.
I’m frank to say that not only did I expect this but I expect more, and, if such a thing is possible, and God forbid, even worse. The present level of rage, fear, resentment, ignorance and easy acceptance of brutality in this country is simply too big to be “toned down” or controlled at this point (even if there were any actual governmental desire to “tone” it down. And the on-line sources of screaming rage and hatred are dizzying and inexorable. I call it the “Loser Rage-Net.” It is robust and, to terrorized stupid people, irresistible.
There will be a dozen explanations of this massacre that will “work” for the neo-fascists who have taken over our country: I have already heard that this has been caused by the insecurity everybody feels because of the mid-terms. Naturally, the idea that absolute power might be tempered with free elections will make people want to kill, right? Other conspiracy theories will arise quickly. I’m sure Soros will be targeted as the cause of the “problem” — the conspiracy theorists are probably cranking them out as I type, only faster.
An old story: Let people get away with murder and they will. Oh sure, this shooter won’t “get away,” but those who inspired and “radicalized” him will go on to train and inflict cadres of others who, like him and like Dylan Storm Roof, find their reason to live, their manhood, in the only place it could ever be found.

]]> https://lettersblogatory.com/2018/10/27/what-to-do-now/#comment-3200 Sun, 28 Oct 2018 13:34:14 +0000 https://lettersblogatory.com/?p=27600#comment-3200 I’m terribly sorry about this. My prayers with the victims’ families and friends.

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