Bronner calls this infamous forgery The Manifesto of Antisemitism. The cause of much violence and bloodshed, the Protocols targeted Jews and Freemasons; it remains the most notorious conspiracy of all time. The text represents a risible level of discourse characterized by tortured prose, lack of logic, banal stereotypes & imagery plus projection of pathological proportions. Its value ultimately resides in the insight it gives into the psychology of antisemitism.Part 2 provides selections from the text. Stylistic similarities to contemporary conspiracy theories like those of the 911 Troofers jump hissing and snarling at the reader. Whilst it is primarily an attack on enlightenment values, its portrayal of Jews as omnipotent is significant. The word "goyim" appears all over and implies a helpless flock of sheep. Nowadays it's cattle as I learnt from a recent encounter with a conspiracist. Goats next I suppose, if the Ayatollah Khomeini would kindly permit.Part 3 looks at varieties of antisemitism, the cultural atmosphere of the time and the rejection of modernity. Judeophobia existed in classical antiquity, infected Christianity soon after its birth and triumphed along with the victory of the Constantine version. It is present in the foundational texts of both Islam and Christianity in a web of contradictions, historical impossibilities, suspiciously vivid imagery and venomous language which is the very opposite of the authentic words of Jesus, as far as those can be identified.The roots of the calumnies are in the New Testament, from deicide to blood libel to replacement theology. A series of "saints" like Melito of Sardis, Tertullian, Chrysostom and Augustine as well as the reformer Martin Luther kept Anti-Judaism alive or inflamed the hatred. These powerful myths & images eventually entered the collective subconscious of the West. They migrated to Christianity's secular Salvationist offspring like nationalism, fascism, socialism and the First Church of the Boiling Globe.By integrating the existing religious, social and political dimensions of Anti-Judaism and associating prominent trends of modernity with "the Jewish spirit" the Protocols rearranged the DNA of the virus to help produce the genocidal race-based mutation embraced by Hitler. Antisemitism's move from the traditionalist & counterrevolutionary side to the anti-establishment and revolutionary infused the phenomenon with an apocalyptic impulse. It eventually took on all the characteristics that the Protocols ascribed to the Jews: the desire for a Leader, chauvinism, racism and revolutionary totalitarianism: the seeds of genocide.Part 4 investigates its origin and permutations from 1890 to 1913. Most likely compiled between 1894 & 1898, the text first appeared in a Russian newspaper in 1903. Most of the text was plagiarized from Dialogue in Hell: Conversations between Machiavelli and Montesquieu by Maurice Joly, a 1864 book critical of Machiavelli. Part 5 traces its path to fame, initially as bridge between the romantic nostalgia of the old right & the neo-romantic racial obsession of the new. Fascism as Salvationist movement promised to end class conflict, economic chaos and the threat of anarchy; it also infused antisemitism with a new missionary zeal. Fascist organizations across Europe promoted the pamphlet; even churches endorsed it. It was published by newspapers worldwide, French writers like Celine loved it, Henry Ford sponsored its publication in America, it inspired Ezra Pound and "Father" Charles Coughlin used it in his broadcasts. Its popularity lasted through the 1920s and the next decade. Contemporary antisemitism is examined in the final chapter. Since the publication of this book in 2000 the plague has returned with alarming intensity in virulent new strains. It appears to me as if the author is aware of a new variety but is unwilling to name it. Bronner believes that antimodernism and Judeophobia are twins and that Jews are safest in cosmopolitan cultures with powerful liberal institutions. After having read Menace in Europe by Claire Berlinski I am not convinced of the idea's universal validity anymore. He warns against postmodern interpretations of the Protocols, arguing that claims must be measured with reference to empirical reality. Amen! This would have been the ideal place to use those "verboten" words: Liberal Antisemitism. Suspicion of conservatives and "the right" permeates the book. I respectfully disapprove of such bias. Of course there are some ghoulish things on the right like the Paleotards but postmodernism is not on their menu of abominations.The author's distrust of Christianity is understandable but like Abraham Foxman he ignores the threat from the religious left that is openly hostile to Israel. Jimmy Carter is just as scary as the Paleotards but far more dangerous and destructive. Traditional American Christianity contains Philosemitic strains that will forever stick closer than a sibling to both the State of Israel and the diaspora community. Never underestimate the power of archetypes, in this case Ruth who clung to Naomi.Penultimately, the unwarranted agonizing in The Vanishing Jew wearies the soul. Bronner is concerned about " ... an eschatological orthodoxy and an expansionist xenophobic Zionism" that holds the constitutional state and multicultural society in contempt. Maybe a tiny minority like that exists but there has been almost no evidence of such attitudes in the USA or Israel where the rule of law stands firm in the face of terrorism and escalating existential threats. As for multiculturalism, I'm sure he means positive qualities like tolerance, mutual respect and the intellectual/spiritual riches to be gained from cultural sharing.On the other hand the word is rapidly acquiring sinister shades of meaning on account of the type of fruit it is bearing in Europe. Since it is a matter of definitions, I highly recommend the illuminating books Icarus Fallen and Unlearned Lessons of the Twentieth Century by the French philosopher Chantal Delsol. It is also thus with his use of the word liberalism by which I am convinced he means classical liberalism. Without the adjective the meaning is in a process of shape shifting - just like antisemitism which is a champion shape shifter - according to Nick Cohen in What's Left or Jonah Goldberg in Liberal Fascism.

A Rumor About the Jews: Reflections on Antisemitism and "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" PDF

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