The Canary in the Coal Mine

Tens of thousands of pages related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy were released this week. Not to spoil it, but the President dies in the end. In the process of reviewing the documents, it is apparent that the government kept much private because the names of CIA agents in the field, their sources, methods of collecting data, etc. were all in the documents. An unredacted release when those agents were alive could have jeopardized them.¹ Perhaps not surprisingly, some commentators were convinced the documents themselves were a coverup protecting supposed Jewish assassins.

Last week, Joe Rogan interviewed Ian Carroll, a conspiracy theorist who blames the Jews for 9/11, among other things. Previously, Rogan interviewed Darryl Cooper, who got national exposure on Tucker Carlson’s podcast for claiming Churchill was the bad guy in World War II and Hitler was misunderstood. Cooper has a long history of engaging in holocaust revisionism.

Rightwing podcaster Candice Owens claimed Jews did not go to work in the World Trade Center on 9/11 because, apparently, they had advanced notice of the attack. The rightwing Turning Point USA organization has had numerous employees who, online, espoused serious antisemitism and even some who downplayed the October 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas on Israel.

On the left, progressive activists are chasing Jews on American college campuses. Academic administrations are making excuses for the harassment. At Cooper Union in New York, Jewish students had to hide in a library as antisemitic progressives pounded on the door. At another institution, Jewish students were denied access to the library. Still, at another, they were told they could hide in an attic to avoid harassment from progressive students. The Anti-Defamation League just released a report on antisemitic editors at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia doctoring articles to smear Jews. Congressional Democrats have Ilhan Omar and other members of the progressive Squad who regularly make antisemitic remarks and side with Hamas sympathizers.

Both the right and left have become, in part, infected with antisemitism. The antisemitic mind virus is the canary in the coal mine for civilizations. When hatred of Jews rises, soon, a lot of other bad things fester in society. Progressives who scream that Trump is a threat to democracy start burning down Tesla dealerships. Trump supporters storm into the Capitol rioting. Main street gets burned down. Antisemitism is one of the first indicators that society has turned unhealthy. It began before those events mentioned above and has spread further.

Thousands of years ago, Jews were bringing law and order to civilization. They inhabited the land of Canaan and created the Kingdom of David. They were conquered, disbursed, returned home, conquered again, and then ultimately driven out by the Romans in AD 136 after a series of rebellions. The Romans changed Judea, derived from the Kingdom of Judah, into Palestine. Now, disparate Arab tribes and antisemites use “Palestine” to lay claim to an area where both Biblical and historical archeological claims show the Jewish people lived before the Romans forcibly dispersed them through the Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne allowed Jewish settlement in Europe. Because Christians were not to lend money to each other, Jews were prodded into becoming the money lenders. Likewise, because acting was considered sinful, the Jews were enlisted. Shut out of professional and tradecraft guilds, Jews got good at finance and entertainment. It was not by choice but by circumstance in a Christian Europe where antisemitism festered, and people blamed Jews for killing Jesus, even though the Romans nailed Christ to the cross.

Now, due to historical circumstances, Jews are smeared for controlling banks and Hollywood. Then, they were pushed into it and denied access to other tradecrafts. It is a historic catch-22. They got good at the trades they were forced into and now get blamed for being good at those trades. Jews were blamed for the plague. They were blamed for the Mongol invasion of Europe. They were blamed for the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem. They get blamed for 9/11. They have been the historic scapegoat for others. The common tie is this — when antisemitism rises, it is a harbinger of bad things coming if left unchecked.

Across the political spectrum, the antisemites must be shunned for the sake of a healthy society. History shows us, again and again, an antisemitism that is left to fester ends badly for everyone, not just the Jews.

1. Likewise, a whole lot of Central and South American leaders were, at the time, publicly denouncing the American devils fighting Castro while privately begging Washington to assassinate Castro.