3min chapter

Prevail with Greg Olear cover image

Elon Remix: Diamond Droogs & Human Wallets (with Aja Raden)

Prevail with Greg Olear

CHAPTER

Antisemitism Before Fascism

" antisemitism doesn't cause the fascism. It just predicts it," he says. "We're historically suspicious because we're stateless." Anti-Semitism is not about Jewish people, but that nobody likes and nobody wants to admit this kind of like they want a blood diamond,. Nobody likes foreigners. They freak out about it. He adds: "You can pretty much sell anybody on, you know, like them, right?"

00:00
Speaker 1
The thing is every time that happens, sort of
Speaker 3
the way, you
Speaker 1
know how right before it starts to rain, it gets really windy out of nowhere. Yeah. And then you're like, oh shit, it's going to rain. The wind didn't cause the rain. It was just a really good predictor that that was about
Speaker 3
to happen. And these big
Speaker 1
blowups and antisemitism were all of a sudden out of nowhere. There are real Nazis, you know, slapping flyers on my door or waving banners or marching in Charlottesville or whatever. People who 10 years ago either kept their thoughts to themselves or didn't even think they were antisemites.
Speaker 3
When that happens,
Speaker 1
it's like wind before rain. It's antisemitism before fascism. It always happens. They always correlate. And the antisemitism doesn't cause the fascism. It just predicts it. Because well, for a few reasons, but you know, one of them is that people don't realize they are being whipped up into a frenzy by individuals who have a stake in democracy going away in any given place in any given time or whatever system of government they have. And part of it is, I think, I think the way I said it to you was just that word, it doesn't really even have anything to do with us. It's not even about Jewish people. It's just that we're the people everybody can get behind getting against.
Speaker 3
We're
Speaker 1
the one group. You can pretty much sell anybody on, you know, like them, right? Do you think they caused COVID? And we live everywhere. So it works. Yeah, I think that's the key. I think that's more the key. I was thinking about it, you know, knowing we were going to talk about it. And it's like these fascist governments and these movements rise up. And one of the first things they do is blame someone for supposed grievances. And the person has to be something that someone, some group that's inauthentically part of the larger group. Oh, yeah. We're historically suspicious because we're stateless. So, you know, that's a big part of anti-Semitism is questioning your alliance to the country you live in. People are like, they're not really German, you know, really French. It's like, well, okay, but where am I from? I was born here. I'm American. Yeah. And the other part of it is, yeah, you're absolutely right. It's, you know, we live everywhere. And that's also, I think it's an important component of genuine anti-Semitism, not the kind you whip people into a frenzy over. And then they later go, why did I do what happened? You know, like after World War II. But genuine anti-Semitism, I think a lot of it is just it has nothing to do with us. And it has nothing to do with people who don't like us. It's just that nobody likes and nobody wants to admit this kind of like they want a blood diamond. Nobody likes foreigners. They freak out
Speaker 3
about it.

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