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| Paul Johnson |
Infectious antisemitism
Regarding the editorial “Political antisemitism” (March 29), the debate over the hyphen in “antisemitism” is not essential. The meaning as defined from the very start was as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.” The intended scope was limited to Jews alone.
Historian Paul Johnson put it best: “It is widely assumed… that antisemitism is a form of racism or ethnic xenophobia… But if antisemitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive. It is a disease to which both human individuals and entire human societies are prone.”
MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC
Beersheva
Regarding the editorial “Political antisemitism” (March 29), the debate over the hyphen in “antisemitism” is not essential. The meaning as defined from the very start was as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.” The intended scope was limited to Jews alone.
Historian Paul Johnson put it best: “It is widely assumed… that antisemitism is a form of racism or ethnic xenophobia… But if antisemitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive. It is a disease to which both human individuals and entire human societies are prone.”
MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC
Beersheva
And some of the Paul Johnson's books which I found excellent ...
