Last month's MSM scandal du jour involved the re-election campaign of Senator George Allen in Virginia. In my post The Scent of Desperation I suggested that the attempt to accuse Allen of hiding his Jewish background was a "dirty trick" that failed. The "outing" of Allen's Mother's Jewish background had the dual goal of alienating the predominantly Democratic Jewish vote from crossing over to Allen while at the same time appealing more subtly to anti-Semitism among the Republican base, especially Christian conservatives. This month's MSM scandal du jour is the Foley Page scandal. Here the attempt is more overtly to appeal to the supposed homophobia of the Republican base, especially Christian conservatives. I believe this appeal to bigotry will fail and for much the same reason as the Allen scandal has failed to generate widespread disaffection with the Republican candidate.
First, a brief look at American anti-Semitism. In the 1950s and 60s American anti-Semitism was the province of the right. The John Birch Society was famously anti-Semitic and the KKK saw Jews as only marginally more of a threat than Blacks. However, just as the Chinese character for opportunity is reportedly the same as for crisis, a crisis in American Jewry has turned out to be a major opportunity.
The American Jewish community periodically reports on the various dangers facing the Jewish population. Since the 1950s (and probably even further back but that pre-dates my awareness) the major dangers to American Jewry have been considered to be two fold:
1) Anti-Semitism, both overt as from the far right, and the more genteel covert anti-Semitism of the Upper Class ("Gentleman's Agreement") variety.
2) The loss of Jewish identity caused by inter-marriage.
American Jews have always had a high rate of inter-marriage. This should not surprise anyone since America has been particularly accepting of Jews. There is no real tradition of passionate Jew hatred in America, a nation built upon a belief in freedom of religion enshrined in our Constitution, as there is in Europe (which is why the reassertion of traditional Continental anti-Semitism is more the norm than the exception.) As Jews have successfully become assimilated Americans, their rates of inter-marriage naturally increase. This is especially true among the non-observant, "sophisticated," secular Jewish population. One result of such inter-marriage is that more and more American families have Jewish relatives within their extended family.
My post yesterday touched upon the phenomenon of Jewish anti-Semitism, the proverbial self hating Jew. I suspect some small number of Jews who convert and marry out of the faith carry such anti-Semitism with them, though the majority simply have a weak tie to their faith (or religious faith in general.) Even in people who harbor some mild anti-Semitism which they inherited from their parents and/or societal attitudes of the past, it is difficult to be an anti-Semite and think poorly of "the Jews" when you have them in your family. I have no way of knowing how many American Christians have Jewish (or ex-Jewish) family members but I suspect the number is quite high.
For the paranoid anti-Semite, this presents an opportunity for a new conspiracy theories: Jews are infiltrating American Christian families in order to spread their nefarious control.
I somehow doubt this is the goal of such inter-marriage, but perhaps the failure of the Allen scandal to work is a reflection of this increased integration of Jews into the American fabric.
You can probably guess where I am going with this in relation to the Foley scandal. In the case of homosexuality, while many people probably still have difficulty with the idea that homosexuality is the equivalent to heterosexuality, the advent of greater openness and acceptance of homosexuality has allowed people who are homosexual to more easily "come out" to their families. Just as there are still Jewish families who will cut off contact with a relative who marries out of the faith (and vice versa), there are families who will cut off contact with a relative who comes out as a homosexual. However, in both cases, such atavistic reactions are increasingly rare. And just as it is difficult to remain an anti-Semite and propagate anti-Semitism when you have Jews in your family, it is also difficult to maintain and promulgate homophobia when you have homosexual relatives who you love.
My educated guess is that the appeals to anti-Semitism and homophobia that were the covert aims of the Allen and Foley scandals have failed to do what was intended by the MSM because, in America in the 21st century, familiarity has bred, not contempt, but acceptance.
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