Understanding Liberal Politics

there has to be a victim

John Podhoretz, son of the great Norman Podhoretz, wonders why the left abandoned The Jews and Israel. It wasn’t the DSA.

It started back in the 1980s, he writes, when Jesse Jackson came out against the Jews.

“In 1984 [Jackson] had grown powerful enough to keep the Democratic convention from considering a resolution against antisemitism.”

But it wasn’t just black leaders going against the Jews. Back in the day, Zionism was considered anti-colonial. No after the 1967 Six-Day War.

Zionism was reframed by radical thinkers in the 1970s as the ideology of a colonial oppressor of stateless Palestinians—the idea that gave rise to the notorious 1975 “Zionism is racism” resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Then came “intersectionality.”

In 1989, UCLA professor Kimberlé Crenshaw devised the theory of “intersectionality,” according to which all political oppression stemmed from an imbalance between the powerful and powerless. Its application to the Middle East conflict was obvious: Israel was powerful, the Palestinians powerless, and therefore Israel was, by definition, an oppressor.

Then in the mid 2000s came the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. It was modeled on the anti-apartheid movement of the 1960s and 1970s. For instance, former Presiden Carter published a book entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid in 2006. Then came Obama and his Iran deal. Then in 2018, Nancy Pelosi had to redraft a House resolution against antisemitism to include Islamophobia.

Podhoretz seems to be asking us to be shocked, shocked, that the Democrats have gone antisemitic.

I don’t agree. To me, it’s in the jeans. Of left-wing politics.

Left-wing politics in the 19th century starts with Marx and the workers as the victims. The socialists were going to create a new world that ended the oppression of factory workers. And then it was women who were oppressed, and the blacks. And now Palestinians.

It took until about 1990 to generalize this political ideology into “allyship” where the left is always the ally of the oppressed in their fight against the oppressors. Grok:

Allyship ideology refers to a framework within contemporary social justice activism that encourages members of socially dominant or “privileged” groups (e.g., White, male, straight, cisgender) to actively support and advocate for members of marginalized groups. It emphasizes recognizing unearned privilege, deferring to marginalized voices, engaging in ongoing self-critique, and taking actions to dismantle perceived systemic oppressions such as racism, sexism, and heteronormativity.

Do you see that Allyship is not just political, but religious? It allows believers to confess their sins of oppression and obtain absolution by joining in the fight as allies of the oppressed.

This is not unusual. Most wars and politics are not just fights against the enemy, but just wars against an evil enemy.

But, the genius of our lefty friends is to combine politics — the fight against the enemy — religion — the fight against evil — and the cause of the helpless into one secular ideology. It justifies the power of the educated elite because they are using their power to help the helpless.

And the war is endless, because there are always helpless victims needing the allyship of the Allies to fight against the powerful. And there always will be.

But back to the Jews and Israel. Do you see that when the Jews were being killed in Nazi death camps they were helpless victims and thus the left was all in to fight for them. Do you see that Zionism in the late 19th century was an almost hopeless effort to rescue the Jews from antisemitism and form their own nation state in the ancient land of Israel. So, back then, the Jews fit the bill as an oppressed people suffering under the knout of vile oppressors.

And then there was the genocide to end all genocides, the Holocaust.

But once the Jewish state got established, and fought off the Arab states that tried to conquer it, and then got a right-wing government and became a successful technological miracle. Not a victim, any more.

And somehow, our liberal friends aren’t quite as energized about the Holocaust as in the olden time.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians and the Gazans lost their battles against the new Jewish state: again and again. And Gaza has been leveled by Israel blowing up Hamas military tunnels. So Gazans are helpless victims and the Israelis are committing “genocide.” Is it true? Are the Palestinians helpless victims? Is Israel committing genocide? You are missing the point.

The point is that the whole political and moral framework of our ruling class, the educated class, is based upon the political formula that

We, the wise rulers, rule in order to fight for the oppressed peoples — anywhere in the world — against the (usually white) oppressors that are oppressing them.

The notion of “political formula” was invented by Gaetano Mosca in his book The Ruling Class.

A political formula is the moral or legal basis for the ruling class’s power.

And really, the Allyship formula says it all. I think the real genius is that it clearly appeals to women: helping the oppressed. Of course! Who doesn’t want to help the oppressed?

But the problem is that our beloved educated class can create an oppressed people out of anything. And they do.

We, the real wise ones, need to develop a pushback against the rulers’ endless search for helpless victims. Although the Mikado says it should have boiling oil in it, I say that it should be in the form of a devastating joke when you are talking to a liberal man, and “I can’t believe you said that” if you are talking to a liberal woman.