The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

I (Still) Hate Illinois Nazis

Posted on | February 1, 2022 | Comments Off on I (Still) Hate Illinois Nazis

In case you missed it, Whoopi Goldberg (née Caryn Elaine Johnson) surprised everyone who thought she’d already reached the nadir of ignorance, boldly going where no one had gone before, and doing it on live TV:

GOLDBERG: Well also, if we’re going to do this, then let’s be truthful about it because the Holocaust isn’t about race.
HAINES: No.
GOLDBERG: No. It’s not about race.
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: They considered Jews a different race.
GOLDBERG: It’s not about race. It’s not about race.
BEHAR: What is it about?
GOLDBERG: It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. That’s what it’s about.
ANA NAVARRO: But it’s about white supremacy.
[Crosstalk]
NAVARRO: It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies and Romas
[Crosstalk]
GOLDBERG: But these are two white groups of people. How do we —
BEHAR: Well, they went after black people too.
HAINES: They did not see them as white though.
GOLDBERG: But you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point. The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley. Let’s talk about it for what it is. It’s how people treat each other. It’s a problem. It doesn’t matter if you are black or white because black, white, Jews, Italians, everybody eats each other.
So is it — if you are uncomfortable if you hear about Maus, should you be worried — should your child say, oh my god, I wonder if that’s me? No. That’s not what they’re going to say. They’re going to say, I don’t want to be like that.

Everybody has weighed in on this, and Whoopi (who is not, and never has been Jewish, whatever her stage name might lead anyone to imagine) is reportedly in “deep s**t” at ABC because of her remarks. But this was not really the most stupid or offensive thing she’d ever said on The View, it just so happened that her stupidity in this case was offensive to Jews and — oh, boy! — you don’t want to do that at ABC. Conspiracy theorists would have you believe that all media organizations are controlled by the worldwide Zionist cabal, but I think some would say ABC more than most. (If I’m wrong, you’ll excuse me for not being up-to-date on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but I’ve been busy lately.) What’s interesting in all this is how someone like Whoopi could think she was adding something helpful to the discussion (about a Tennessee school district removing the children’s book Maus from its curriculum) by saying what she said. “I’ve watched this three times and have no idea what she’s getting at,” says Allahpundit. Oh, but I have some idea.

Whoopi grew up in New York City, where there are more Jews than any other place except Israel. And, from the perspective of a black person from New York, Jews are just another group of white people who nevertheless tend to think of themselves as victims of discrimination. And that annoys the hell out of the kind of black person (e.g., Al Sharpton) who makes a career of exploiting claims of victimhood. Sharpton was able to exploit the black resentment of Jews which emerged in the wake of the success of the 1960s civil rights movement. Most people don’t realize how active Jews were in the civil rights struggle, and know nothing of the aftermath, when “Black Power” radicals like Stokely Carmichael took over SNCC and kicked out all the white people.

Many years ago, I interviewed a woman (the wife of a prominent black politician in Atlanta) who had participated in SNCC’s sit-in protests, and she cited this period — the “Black Power” takeover circa 1965-66 — as the moment when race relations in America went wrong. This gave rise to a far-left tendency that led many black radicals to side with the Arabs against Israel in 1967 and beyond, becoming de facto allies of Yasser Arafat’s Jew-hating PLO, with consequences that are still with us.

Having boiled down a lot of complex social history into two paragraphs, I’ll leave it at that, except to note that Whoopi still doesn’t seem to understand exactly why her comments were so offensive to Jews.

Whoopi Doubles Down On Holocaust
Remarks — Despite Apology: ‘They Had
Issues With Ethnicity, Not With Race’

Look, I’ve found myself in trouble in situations where what I said did not properly convey what I meant, and had to cope with being branded a “white supremacist” on the basis of such a misunderstanding, but was persuaded to take heed of Denis Healey’s First Law of Holes. Yeah, maybe there was some nuance in what you said that you feel like has been missed in the controversy, but your attempt to “clarify” your meaning is not likely to help you in the midst of a firestorm. Whoopi wants it to be understood that she was trying to highlight differences between the historic experiences of blacks and Jews — and how racism in America is different than what was going on with Hitler in Europe — but she’s not doing a good job of it, apparently because like so many Americans her knowledge of European history is almost non-existent.

This is something I’ve tried to explain to the sort of “white supremacists” who think they’re going to usher in some kind of Fourth Reich here in America. The particular historic conditions that made possible Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s simply don’t exist here, but good luck explaining that to the kind of idiots who think they’re going to win over the masses by flying swastika flags and shouting, “Sieg Heil!”

Besides neo-Nazis, the only people who think such a thing is possible are liberal Jews, which is why the Democratic Party and its media allies devote so much effort to depicting Republicans as would-be Hitlers. Why do you think Ana Navarro kept trying to interrupt Whoopi by talking about “white supremacy”? That particular phrase has connotations of anti-Semitism that the word “racist” doesn’t have, which is why liberal Jews who might roll their eyes at accusations of “racism” will take the accusation of “white supremacy” more seriously. Democrats know this!

Whoopi Goldberg’s gaffe completely screws up this narrative, which is why she’s in so much trouble at ABC now. And as I was enjoying the spectacle of her twisting in the wind, I couldn’t help but think of that classic scene in The Blues Brothers, where Henry Gibson plays the neo-Nazi leader speaking through a megaphone to an angry mob:

“The Jew is using the black as muscle against you, and you are left there, helpless. Well, what are you going to do about it, whitey?”

Alas, there are actually people who think that way, who see crafty Jews as the secretive sinister force behind everything, and I wonder what they’ll say if Whoopi Goldberg actually does get canned by ABC? At the same time, the executives at ABC must realize how bad it would look — I mean, not just in terms of confirming anti-Semitic conspiracy theories — to fire Whoopi for this, when she has such a long track record of saying stupid and offensive things, some arguably even worse than this.

As for me, well, there’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark out, and we’re wearing sunglasses.

 

(Hat-tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)




 

Category: Celebrities, Racism

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