Saturday, December 14, 2019

Chapter VI The Cause of Friction upon Our Side

CHAPTER VI
The Cause of Friction upon our Side     123

This department of our inquiry often neglected through an error—it is presumed that, because we are the hosts and the Jew alien to us, no responsibility falls on us—this error forgets that the Jew is permanently with us and that every permanent human relation involves responsibility.

The first cause of friction on our side is disingenuousness in our dealings with the Jew—examples of this—we conceal from the Jew our real feelings—we deceive him—the richer classes who intermarry with Jews and enter into business partnership with them especially to blame—the populace more straightforward—this deceiving of the Jew leaves him troubled when the quarrel comes to a head—he has not heard what is said behind his back.

Disingenuousness in our suppression of the Jewish problem in history—gross examples of it in contemporary life and particularly in the popular press—Jews called "Russians," "Germans," anything but what they are.

Unintelligence a second cause of friction—example: our treatment of Jewish immigration—we hate it, yet allow it because we dare not give it its right name—unintelligent treatment of the Jew in fiction—unintelligence in our astonishment at his international position—example of the cabinet minister's cousin who got into trouble.

Last cause, lack of charity—people won't put themselves in the shoes of the Jew and see how things look from his side—we do not (as we should) mix with Jews of every class and address their societies—Summary—A warning against the idea that the friction between the Jews and ourselves is unimportant—it has bred catastrophe in the past and may in the future.

And now that we're back on our regular schedule, next week we will pick up with Chapter VII The Anti-Semite. I was thinking, since he's such an expert on the topic, maybe we should invite Lawrence Bond back for that chapter. What do you think?

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