The other day, an 18 year old hate filled bigot anti Semitic head of an organization called The Base, was arrested and talked with the FBI. At 18 years of age he has managed to maneuver himself into a position of authority over other bigots, and ordered them - ordered - to tag the s**t out of two synagogues with more plans to bomb synagogues to follow swiftly on the heels of these actions.
One wonders. How does one get to be so hate filled, so determined to take actions of hate at the age of 18? How does one gain control over others, even older people, at 18? Who has taught this child, for that is essentially what he is, a child who will willingly kill, to be this way? Did it come from the teachings of the home? Did he read something - if he can read - and allow it to bloom and blosson in the toxic air of the Trump regime?
Have we allowed these kinds of hate groups to prosper these days, importing the worst of the Old World back into the New World?
More importantly, is the question of why there is this awful murderous growth of the ancient virus of anti Semitism once more? Or is it always here, just allowed to ferment and boil with toxic fumes, waiting for its perfect moments, its time, shall we say, when the haters are allowed to prosper, when gun use, threats and ugliness is even praised - at times by the highest people of the land? Towards that , we can ask why Stephen Miller, a man so filled with hate, so contrary to the background of his family, is backed by the WH.
I wish I had the answers. I wish I knew why this virulent poison is still around. Asked the other day why there is anti Semitism, for if we knew why, we could respond to the causes and cure it, I had to respond that there is no logical answer. We Jews have survived the depredations, the destructions, the exiles, the persecutions, the pogroms, even Hitler, through the millenia. Always there has been a yearning for peace, a return to our land and our Temple, for even in the concentration camp of Terezin there was a secret synagogue, with the words of hope to return to Zion painted on the wall.
Stubborn. Capitalists. Communists. Leaders of social safety net organizations. Philanthropists. Culture advocates. Doctors. Lawyers. Businessmen. Rabbis. Thinkers. Storeowners. Professors and teachers. Inventors and scientists. Valuers of education and books. Pushed for most of history into crowded areas called Ghettos, derived from an Italian word where the first ghetto was established by Venice. Asked why Jews tend to live with other Jews, I point to all the other nations and peoples of the world who also live with their own people, a natural phenomena, so why should it be bad when it is done by Jews? And how could Jews learn any differently when until Napoleon gave rights to French Jews and allowed them to move out of the ghettos they could not have done that?
Jean Paul Sartre tried to answer the question. So did Mark Twain and Bari Weiss, There has been tome after tome trying to explain what is unexplainable. It appears that the good Lord left this blemish in the soul of people, left His creations to fight against this evil within and unfortunately, most of the time mankind has failed, with exceptions, though not nearly enough.
In fact, there is truly no need for hate. Notice that every time there is a conflict for whatever reason - for land, for treasure, for gain - the hatred, the demonization and dehumanization of the "other' - the enemy_ becomes state and nation policy. And we here in America are no exceptions to that rule of history, shameful enough, is it not?
So. Is this kid an aberration? A genius? A madman in the making? Will he be stopped? How to stop him? How to insure that others like him do not begin in the first place? Dang, but I wish I knew. Deeply wish I had those answers for more than ever before I am worried.
I look at pictures of groups, of clubs, of families, taken a few years, even weeks, before the Holocaust began for them, smiling, loving each other, happy in their shared interest, in the dreams of the future, in the plans of parents for their children - and then go five years into the future, if that long is necesary, and the percentage of those pictured left alive is miniscule, if any. I look at today's Jewish community magazines, organizations, schools, at the smiling faces and I wonder now, even as we should have worried then, read the signs, and I wonder, what will be five years from now?
It is not for me that I fear. My life is at its tail ending. I have lived. But the young? The unborn? The world itself? My kids. My beautiful grandkids. All the other kids and grandkids out there. So is this an 18 year old twerp to be swatted away, not such a threat, just a simple pimple on the face of mankind, a zit to be popped? No. Definitely no.
If we do not realize that hate grows apace, that it must be stamped out, fought against, then we are lost. Hate knows no bounds. None at all. All are eventually encompassed by the growing fires of that hatred. Burning books are replaced by the fuel of people. No, not a twerp at all and hopefully, if we do what must be done, not a harbinger of a dreadful future that will arise out of our own aborted original future. It is incumbent upon all of us. Remember, when the haters finish with one group, there is always another and in one group - there shall you be. No exceptions. No survivors.
No comments:
Post a Comment