Ralph Dumain wrote:

> On this note, I had a chance to peruse the first three chapters of GERMAN
> IDEALISM AND THE JEWS, concluding with the chapter on Hegel. It's not a
> pretty picture. I'll have more to say later.

***

Please do so, I am interested in knowing your opinion on this book.

I only read an abstract on the internet and I got the (probably false)
impression that it ranges among those sensationalist works that sell
millions of copies just accusing everybody talking about the Jews of "hidden
Antisemitism", sometimes only because this "somebody" is German. A sort of
plead "a la Goldhagen", who in his unfairly acclaimed "Hitler's Willing
Executioners" incriminated a whole nation accusing her of hating the Jews,
in this sense practicing a sort of "Anti-Germanism" in reverse.

It is probably linked to Hegel (the Hegel of "Who thinks abstractly?, for
instance); or probably it is not, but I must add something in any case.

It is rather common in this beginning of century to interpret any problem in
term of "race" and "anti"-something. It is a technique we mutuated from
Israeli politicians, chiefly Ariel Sharon, for whom any attack on the his
policies and the Israeli occupation of Palestine is, generically speaking,
"Antisemitism". It is a stance that suits very well to TV debates, and it is
also comfortable for conservatives (and well-meaning liberals) to use it,
because when one speaks about "race" and its attributes, he/she is normally
dealing with something that he/she considers as unchangeable. Therefore this
forced interpretation of everything we see around us in terms of "races" and
racism is a cozy way to stop analysing a very complex reality objectively
(and dialectically) and just cling to propaganda and cliches.

In the case of Likud this is amazing. Likud is the direct descendant of the
"Revisionist Zionism" of W. Jablotinsky, a "fascist" Israeli who -- because
opposed to the allegedly pro-Arab stance of British in Palestine -- decided
to strike an alliance with Nazi Germany. Was he an "Antisemitic" Jew? Or is
this category of "Antisemitism" that, if used unproperly (as it is done
today), has a very, but VERY low heuristic value? So much so that we are
under the threat of watering down the horrible reality of Holocaust, because
we start comparing isolated and stupid acts with it...

I am probably wrong - neither I read the book - but GERMAN IDEALISM AND THE
JEWS is probably another work of this awful series of anti-philosophy.

All the best,
Maurizio Canfora