The name given by scholars to the phenomenon whereby individuals who appear to define themselves by their compassion, somehow withhold it from Jews.
The Russian author was himself self-consciously
uber-compassionate, indeed could be said to have devoted himself to
compassion and vicarious suffering , and yet made a pointed exception when it came to Jews. He would vehemently deny hating Jews even as he was making rather
obviously hateful statements about them.
While he’s very much not the only example of this phenomenon, he has given his name to it.
When pushed, he would say he had no ‘preconceived’ hatred of Jews, which permitted him to hate specific real world examples, usually collectives rather than individuals, and perhaps even ‘the Jewish idea’.
While he’s very much not the only example of this phenomenon, he has given his name to it.
When pushed, he would say he had no ‘preconceived’ hatred of Jews, which permitted him to hate specific real world examples, usually collectives rather than individuals, and perhaps even ‘the Jewish idea’.
Some
say that the underlying problem has been that Jews, with their
messianic views and their unique historical suffering, offer a sort of
implied rivalry to the Russian culture Dostosevsky saw himself as
belonging to.
You often witness something similar today with identity politics and anti-racism movements, which tend to regard Jews as a threat rather than as fellow travellers, and this is in part because Judaism is relatively isolationist and does not easily lend itself to more universally conceived movements of liberation or salvation. It is the one monotheistic faith which has not gone out of its way to make converts.
You often witness something similar today with identity politics and anti-racism movements, which tend to regard Jews as a threat rather than as fellow travellers, and this is in part because Judaism is relatively isolationist and does not easily lend itself to more universally conceived movements of liberation or salvation. It is the one monotheistic faith which has not gone out of its way to make converts.
Throughout
the Middle Ages antisemitic violence attended almost every moment when
Christians engaged with the millenarian fantasy that the world was about
to be cleansed and made perfect.
Dostoevsky’s own ideology of compassion
comes with a vehement rejection of utilitarian logic, which he came to associate
with Jews, along with materialism, something which has stuck with many
modern believers in the socialist utopia.
Staunchly Christian, he nevertheless hated the Crucifiction as a Jewish utilitarian idea: that God
would sacrifice his own child for the greater cause.
A lot of antisemites today share his apparent obsession with children and yet appear absolutely unwilling to see how Hamas has been applying the utilitarian logic against the Jewish state, sacrificing their own people so that their cause might better thrive.
A lot of antisemites today share his apparent obsession with children and yet appear absolutely unwilling to see how Hamas has been applying the utilitarian logic against the Jewish state, sacrificing their own people so that their cause might better thrive.
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