Kristallnacht

Kishinev, Farhud, Kielce, Amsterdam...

Pogroms do not indicate an extreme in society. They are an indication of a societal sickness, of human depravity, and of the capacity for human evil.

A new twist to the modern pogrom is the filming of the violence and the evil that takes place.

Who films attacks on other human beings? Who is so sure of their righteousness when they go to harm other humans that they put their crimes down on film? Whether October 7, 2023 or in Amsterdam on November 7, 2024, these sick fucking assholes think they were on the side of the angels. And this is the problem society faces right there.

Yet, what of those who were charged with protecting society and who simply did nothing? Who turned away for whatever reason and let rampage and evil rule the night? What does that say about them? Are these cowards the best that society has to offer? We say thank you to the first responders, but what do you say to first responders who are too spineless to do the jobs they signed up to do?

Listen, we think that we are so much better than our ancestors. We think that we are civilized and educated. We think that we have gotten hold of our baser instinct. We think that we have climbed out of the slimy muck of the swamp. We think that we are superior, braver, and more righteous than those who came before us. We would be wrong.

What is it about the human psyche that allows us to glom onto a philosophy that allows us to dehumanize others and we think that we are noble for it? What is it about the reality that in order to feel accomplished we need to take from others their right to exist?

Isn’t this just another word for sociopath? Aren’t we taught by psychology/psychiatry that those who seek the unnecessary eradication of others is a form of psychopathology? Aren’t we taught that to take joy in killing is abnormal and abhorrent? Isn’t that why we have prisons for murderers and abusers?

Granted mother nature herself is cruel. The natural world is not always kind to every creature. Yet, while there is predator and prey in the animal kingdom, that is merely the instinct to survive. But in the end nothing can be totally destroyed if everyone is to continue to live.

Somehow humans don’t see it that way.

It’s really an interesting phenomena, this human need for zero sum games.

For those in the human community too many of us think that we cannot survive if others have the same right to life and to live. There are those who go out of their way to destroy any form of governance that says we are all entitled to the same future. They see quantification in humanity. They see tiers, castes, echelons, ranks, and stations.

What is it that we in the human community need to entitle ourselves to something better, but we can only achieve this goal by depriving someone else of their humanity?

Listen we have seen the sickening exponential rise in antisemitism over the last year. Not that there wasn’t the rumbling before. Many of us saw it. We screamed, yelled, begged others to listen. We were made fun of and derided because we knew that some old hatreds never die. We saw what was happening around the globe and figured for where we lived it was simply a small matter of time.

But the explosion of Jew-hatred was not what we expected. We truly were caught unawares. Thrown off guard. But to make matters worse, the embrace of it by large elements of major political parties around the globe left us shaken. Yes, we picked ourselves up and got on with the business of living, fighting, and celebrating life but no one ever answered the question of WTF happened?

I don’t think you can blame the explosion of hate on one thing alone. Many factors join together to create a reality. But it is up to humans to not succumb to their grosser side. It is above all the obligation of those who wish to propel civilization forward to make sure that humanity does better than they did the day before.

Much can be said for manipulation, abuse, and brainwashing. But the question still remains, why? Why is it to easy to blame others for your failings rather than review your shortcomings and vow to do better in this life? Why is it easy to blame others than to do the hard work of making yourself a better person? Why is it that humans are so fragile, so ill willed, and so vile tempered that we cannot rise above the fray?

Most of human history is the history of human failing. I think that is why the World War Two generation is called the “greatest generation.” For they rose to the occasion and gave up so much so the future can live free. The question is are we going to rise to the occasion of the issues put before our societies?

Are we able to right the ship and make sure that our children will have a future of freedom or are we only going to complain, and whine and make excuses for evil? I thought that we had stopped blaming the victim. But it seems that if the victim is a Jew then society tries to find ways to blame the victimized for those who want to kill them.

Society simply can’t acclimate itself to the truth that Jew-hatred simply stems from something as simple as “evil.” There has to be an underlying reason that Jews are hated. It can’t be that the hater is an inadequate human being, blaming others for their failings, or for their unrealized goals.

The brilliant philosopher Thomas Sowell was once asked if there was a way to get rid of antisemitism. His response was that there is, the Jews just need to stop being so successful. In other words, human jealousy is at the core of Jew-hatred.

But here we come back to the entire idea not one of jealousy, but of the zero sum game. Why is it that for so many in human civilization, the only way they see success is because of someone else’s failure, or because the successful had nefarious abilities or exploited and took advantage. Yes I know the Marxist loser credo. But Marx was not the first to think in these terms. He was merely the first to put it down for the masses to read.

There needs to be a full fledged reckoning by societies that allow hate to fester and who make excuses for hatred. Those that think they are on the right side of history who celebrate rape, torture, and slaughter need to be marginalized and in many ways excommunicated from modern human civilization. It will take bravery. It will take willpower. It will take every manifestation of a society whose allegiance is to democratic and universalist values to fight this fight.

Hopefully, the fight will be one of law, of politics, and societal derision for those who would upend freedom and good will. For if we cannot stop the onslaught of those who think only in terms of a zero sum game, our children will be forced to become another greatest generation, or we will doom the future to bondage and degradation.

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