Oct 22, 2022·edited Oct 26, 2022Liked by John Ganz
An older relative was enamoured of Ernest van den Haag's "The Jewish Mystique", which argued for Jewish 'racial' superiority in some worthy matters. After reading it I told her that I found it disturbing, as I thought that such were just a step away from arguing Jewish superiority at, say cheating Gentiles….
Now, I just say that the necessary precondition for anti-Semitism is belief in 'The Jews'—see also 'The Blacks', 'The Queers', 'The Arabs', and so on. All are about members of groups mattering only as participants in action collective, monolithically-minded, and all-but-guarantied malign-to-outsiders….
[EDIT:]
Shorter: Once you believe in The Jew, you can believe anything you want to about 'him'.
Alan Dershowitz is evidently now claiming that he could not get Mr Trump to understand that American Jews were more concerned about what Trump and his party were doing to the U.S. than what the President was doing for Israel.
That Mr Dershowitz seems seems to be trimming the sails of his support for Trump is actually a bit of encouraging news, indicating as it might A.D.'s expectation of the future direction of the wind.
Not sure where to leave remarks about Unclear and Present Danger, so I thought I'd leave this here--really enjoyed the episode on The Firm, which I fucking love. One thing I thought worth mentioning, that you guys didn't discuss so much, was the theme of "The New South" in the 90s. The idea was, the out of time pockets of racism that you guys mentioned in the Passenger 57 episode were becoming a minority, and instead Southern metropolises like Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, and the North Carolina Research Triangle were attracting top Northern talent by offering a warm, soulful alternative to the harshness of coastal metropolitan life. (Cf. The scene where Mitch is charmed by that kid doing back flips on Beale Street and joins him in a display of exuberant racial comity.) At the national level, obviously that was embodied by Clinton and Gore, both "New Southerners," plus John Edwards. In culture, you had the overwhelming cross-over dominance of country music like Garth Brooks and Leann Rimes, paving the way for Shania Twain (not a Southerner) and Taylor Swift (also not a Southerner) down the line. And though, on the whole Grisham himself--his stuff mostly takes place in the South, no?--takes a pretty jaundiced view of this whole phenomenon, it does seem to be an obvious precursor to contemporary trend pieces about Blue Georgia, and the reconfigured role that the South plays in American politics in the age of urban/rural and educational polarization. So the Firm is great because you get this snapshot of this big shift from the narrow perspective of the legal guild.
An older relative was enamoured of Ernest van den Haag's "The Jewish Mystique", which argued for Jewish 'racial' superiority in some worthy matters. After reading it I told her that I found it disturbing, as I thought that such were just a step away from arguing Jewish superiority at, say cheating Gentiles….
Now, I just say that the necessary precondition for anti-Semitism is belief in 'The Jews'—see also 'The Blacks', 'The Queers', 'The Arabs', and so on. All are about members of groups mattering only as participants in action collective, monolithically-minded, and all-but-guarantied malign-to-outsiders….
[EDIT:]
Shorter: Once you believe in The Jew, you can believe anything you want to about 'him'.
Yeah - good piece. Well said.
Alan Dershowitz is evidently now claiming that he could not get Mr Trump to understand that American Jews were more concerned about what Trump and his party were doing to the U.S. than what the President was doing for Israel.
That Mr Dershowitz seems seems to be trimming the sails of his support for Trump is actually a bit of encouraging news, indicating as it might A.D.'s expectation of the future direction of the wind.
Not sure where to leave remarks about Unclear and Present Danger, so I thought I'd leave this here--really enjoyed the episode on The Firm, which I fucking love. One thing I thought worth mentioning, that you guys didn't discuss so much, was the theme of "The New South" in the 90s. The idea was, the out of time pockets of racism that you guys mentioned in the Passenger 57 episode were becoming a minority, and instead Southern metropolises like Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, and the North Carolina Research Triangle were attracting top Northern talent by offering a warm, soulful alternative to the harshness of coastal metropolitan life. (Cf. The scene where Mitch is charmed by that kid doing back flips on Beale Street and joins him in a display of exuberant racial comity.) At the national level, obviously that was embodied by Clinton and Gore, both "New Southerners," plus John Edwards. In culture, you had the overwhelming cross-over dominance of country music like Garth Brooks and Leann Rimes, paving the way for Shania Twain (not a Southerner) and Taylor Swift (also not a Southerner) down the line. And though, on the whole Grisham himself--his stuff mostly takes place in the South, no?--takes a pretty jaundiced view of this whole phenomenon, it does seem to be an obvious precursor to contemporary trend pieces about Blue Georgia, and the reconfigured role that the South plays in American politics in the age of urban/rural and educational polarization. So the Firm is great because you get this snapshot of this big shift from the narrow perspective of the legal guild.
Please keep the bangers coming!