Anti-semites Strengthen Jewish Identity and Support For Israel

David "The Prison Bitch" Duke, Curtis "Shmurtis" Maynard and his little pool boy Chris Womak, Jayne "My Life is Crap" Gardener, Paranoid Patrick Grimm, etc., are too self absorbed in their hatred and envy to notice it, but they are the glue that bonds Jews together, and strengthens support for Israel, not just by Jews, but overall by the masses.

Eugene Volokh, of The Volokh Conspiracy, recently did an excellent opinion piece, published in the Wall Street Journal, called Anti-Semitism: Good for the Jews?.

Basically, what he concludes is that moderated free speech by anti-semites actually increases support for Israel and enhances Jewish identity in light of the fact that growing assimilation (including increased secularism) in the America (the West) should create less support for Israel and less Jewish identity:

"American help for Israel--especially private help--is also undermined by any decline in American Jews' emotional connection to Israel, a decline that can stem from (1) growing assimilation, (2) a declining sense that Israel is unfairly embattled and (3) a declining sense that Jews are unfairly embattled and need Israel as a defender and retreat of last resort. Likewise, what these days most undermines the welfare of the American Jewish community as an independent community (rather than just as individual people)? My sense is that the answer is assimilation and declining sense of common fate, rather than an unwillingness to identify as Jews for fear of ostracism or violent reprisal (a fear that was more serious some decades ago).

Modest amounts of anti-Semitic speech and unfair criticism of Israel, it seems to me, can strengthen American Jews' self-identity as Jews, and thus indirectly both support the preservation of the American Jewish community as a community, and strengthen support for Israel. Feeling embattled as a group tends to strengthen group solidarity. Hearing unfair criticisms for Israel tends to strengthen the sense that Israel is unfairly embattled and deserves more support. Feeling some fear of anti-Semitism reminds American Jews of the value of preserving American Jewish institutions. And it reminds American Jews of the value of protecting Israel, in case one day American Jews may need refuge somewhere just as European Jews once did. ("Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.")

If anti-Semitic speech became too common, these community-strengthening effects may be decreased (for instance, if American Jews became afraid to be publicly identified as Jews) or might be swamped by harmful effects (again, such as violence, ostracism, discrimination or fear suffered by individual Jews). But my sense is that at modest levels, the existence of this speech in America is a net positive (not an unalloyed positive, but a net positive) both for Israel and for the American Jewish community. And we are talking these days about such modest levels, if one looks at the big picture of Jewish existence in America today."

I really liked the piece because it rationalizes why I have this blog, Judeophobe Watch. Near the end Mr. Volokh states "if you think that increasing group solidarity is on balance one important thing (either as an end or as a means), the First Amendment rights of American anti-Semites help you rather than hurt you. You shouldn't be demanding speech codes; you should be shipping in more video cameras (and of course demanding protection from violence for those who use them), and publicizing the bad speech that you find."

So to the Judeophobic Internet Circus Freaks, Israel thanks you. And I thank you too, because you keep reminding me about why Israel needs to exist and why I need to support it, even as an atheist. You also help keep the memory of the Holocaust alive by mentioning it so much.

I guess the joke is on you. Are you sure you aren't a bunch of Zionist agents?, I know you occasionally accuse your own ilk of being such. Anyway, keep up the good work stooges.