Saturday, December 19, 2009

Watch out kids, here comes Kenney

Denyse O'Leary has some spirited commentary on Jason Kenney's speech to the Global Forum for Combating anti-Semitism in Jerusalem. Among other things we learn that Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenhip, Immigration, and Multiculturalism reports that
We have articulated and implemented a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism.
For now this just seems to mean a de-funding of certain leftist, Arab and Muslim organizations. But why stop there? Real zero tolerance would entail some de-funding of universities, among other bodies, and perhaps a new election law that penalizes parties that pander to the "anti-Zionists". But maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea, from a pragmatic point of view. Kenney is doing a good job but perhaps his tongue is getting ahead of certain realities, given the widespread nature of antisemitism. The victim-worshiping ideologies of our times are, at best, incipiently antisemitic as a general rule. But this is just to suggest that antisemitism is not ultimately about Jewish people, in any specific sense, but about what the Jews, in general, represent to Western and world history as the first serious developers of monotheism and national (not ethnic) identity. Antisemitism, most generally, is the hatred of the "firstness" that creates a difference between one historical innovator and another less notable party. Such differences are necessary to humanity but they are so often the source for the scandals of victim mongers.

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