Anti-Semitism Debate
From time to time I debate with a former classmate, because he said he welcomes such a discussion. I do it because he reminds me of myself when I was his age. I get to say the sorts of things I wish someone had said to me. He's even an aspiring animator, which makes me feel particularly protective. I was a fundamentalist Christian, and he's a Muslim. My Chick tracts had conspiracy theories about Catholics and humanists, and he prefers his conspiracy theories of the racist variety.
Despite their differences, Christianity and Islam share the same three basic moral intuitions: authority, in-group loyalty, and sanctity/purity. They're known as the group-bonding moral intuitions, which I'll call GBMI for short. Survey respondents who report religious and political conservatism overwhelmingly report GBMI. Survey respondents who report liberal religious views and liberal or libertarian politics also report assigning very little moral stature whatsoever to GBMI.
I'd like this kid to avoid my mistakes, but I don't claim that I would have any ability to turn his life around just with words. If the goal is for him to become a citizen of the human race rather than defined entirely by a narrow group membership, that happens by broadening his viewpoint with life experiences. Scary authoritarian moral values are seldom dislodged by debate. But at the very least I can inoculate him against some basic rhetorical trickery.
This time he posted a video to Facebook. The resulting conversation was as follows.
Me: Seriously? You're linking to the views of a Neo-Nazi, David Duke?
Him: But what's wrong with what he just said?
**Me:**Duke has two premises: 1. That we would be better off with the old values (authority, group loyalty, sanctity/purity); 2. That Jews are responsible for the change.
Point one is an opinion which he makes no attempt to establish, because he expects you to share his values. (I don't, and I have a lot of reasons to back that up.)
To establish premise two, he quotes a series of irrelevant opinions from Freud and several Jewish people.
The quotes are cherry-picked out of the hundreds of thousands of non-Jews he could have chosen in the entertainment industry, academia, or any other cultural institution. The video never states even one fact to establish that non-Jews lack control of anything whatsoever.
Furthermore, Freud and the others quoted were purely and simply wrong about how cultural psychology works, and even if they weren't, quotes of their opinions prove nothing about Jews, culture, or whether Freud or Jews are "in control".
As someone who works with video, you should have noticed how the music and color are sensationalized in a ham-fisted, over-the-top attempt to manipulate your emotions to distract you from thinking. It works entirely by the emotional misdirection of your attention to patch over the holes while waving a scapegoat in your face.
Him: Thank you gentlemen for your well appreciated opinions, it's always good to hear the other side of an argument. And although I disagree with you guys on this subject I will just leave it at that.
Me: All I'll say is this, and hold my peace. A guy with brown skin throwing in his lot with skinheads is not the best plan for your future. "Gee, what could possibly go wrong?" :P
Comments
tlatoani on Nov. 25, 2010 1:50 PM
I like that last line a lot.
pstscrpt on Nov. 26, 2010 4:16 PM
Following the links a couple of steps, I ran across this:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/experiments-in-philosophy/200804/what-s-the-matter-little-brothersister-action
I wonder what it says about my moral instincts that the thing I found most repellent in the description was the creepy euphemism "Making love". As for the incest, it's kinda hot as long as I'm not actually a participant.
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