Just Hypocrisy

The unrest on college campuses seems to have grown in the last week, and again it centers on antisemitic sentiments hidden under a veil of pro-palistine rhetoric. They say they are for the underdog. They say they are for the oppressed. They say they are for the ‘little guy.’ We Americans are often fond of supporting the underdog, the oppressed, and the little guy. We like seeing bullies get their comeuppance and we like to see the good guy defy the odds and come out on top. Unless it serves our purposes. We also hate oppression and unfairness. Unless it serves our purposes.

Condemning antisemitism and genocidal doctrines is also a basic American value, or at least they were from the end of WWII until very recently. Prior of the beginning of the Second World War, even during and after, there were a stunning number of prominent antisemites or even outright nazi sympathizers in this country and in western society. For example, Irénée DuPont (president of the company that bears his name), Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Walt Disney, and TS Eliot just to name a few Americans that were not simply antisemitic but also pro-nazi. The administrations and faculties of many American universities in the 1930s and 1940s were quite antisemitic and often either pro-nazi or pro-soviet. Other nations had similar elites that were pro-nazi: easily recognizable examples include Coco Chanel in France and former British King Edward VIII (the one that abdicated the throne to marry an American woman who was already twice divorced) who were both openly pro-nazi.

Understandably, being antisemitic and especially being sympathetic to the nazis fell from favor after the Holocaust. But not entirely. More likely it simply just went unspoken and lived on quietly in the hearts of all too many people. Given the cancel culture that has been on the rise in the last few decades, why haven’t we seen calls for exterminating the legacy of these famous antisemites? Why is Ford Corporation still called Ford or Chanel Ltd still called Chanel or DuPont Chemical still called DuPont or Walt Disney Corporation still called Disney? Why does Charles Lindbergh still have so many things named after him – streets, neighborhoods, high schools, an airport, a train station, and so forth – despite his deplorable views? Does flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean somehow cancel out his antisemitism and nazi sympathies? If statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had to be toppled, why are there any statues of Lindbergh, Ford, or Disney left standing? Quite simply, antisemitism has been and continues to be fashionable.

It is hard to explain. Just like we are fond of the underdog and the little guy while despising oppression, we also have a capacity for hypocrisy. We don’t always side with the little guy, cheer on the underdog, or oppose oppression. These young people siding with Hamas, the ones who have tasted no real discrimination, who feel oppressed when they don’t get their daily organic sustainably-sourced oat-milk boba mocha lattes, and want to be part of something larger than themselves simply can’t see the folly of their acts. They are useful idiots in many cases. They are much like the throng that yelled “Crucify Him, crucify Him” on Good Friday. The students share precious little in the suffering caused by that age-old conflict just as the crowd calling for Jesus’ death had not been harmed by Him in any way. They are simply being led by manipulators, by the chief priests on Good Friday and by professional agitators on our college campuses. The crowd is being led to think that Jesus has harmed them in some way while the students firmly believe they are siding with righteousness. Both are convinced that justice is on their side or that they are on the side of justice.

Our capacity for hypocrisy, made worse by being swept away by emotion, needs to be something we remain vigilant against. Those calling for Jesus’ crucifixion would have done well to ask why they were clamoring for this Man’s execution. Those students chanting ‘from the river to the sea’ ought to be asking why they are calling for genocide. He needed to die, they need to be exterminated. In the name of holiness and to keep the peace they call for the execution of Holiness Himself, the Prince of Peace? In the name of justice, they demand the execution of millions of innocent people? Really? Really, really?!?

—Fr Booth