Sartre describes anti-semitism as the practice of channeling one’s anger and frustration towards persons of Jewish backgrounds because of the entrenched misconception that Jews are responsible for impoverishing them and their country. The outcome of such a practice is the increased disenfranchisement of Jews through denial of certain rights, exclusion from specific social and economic activities, denial of legal immigration status, and intigating violence against them based on the belief that these acts will remedy the state of affairs (Sartre, 1965).
Sartre believes that being an anti-semite is not a question of opinion because such a perspective has its numerous fallibilities. Opinion as a concept is used to diminish the complexity of the phenomenon of anti-semitism. It makes it palatable through a false assumption that the practice can be reduced to opinion, which is synonymous to taste or color that cannot be discussed.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
By referring to the anti-semitism campaign as a passion, Sartre highlights that some individuals who direct racial prejudices at the Jews have no basis for their actions. The only driving factor is that they have internalized their belief about Jews being bad. Consequently, they have developed a liking for directing for the hatred directed at the Jews.
According to Sartre the longing for impenetrability by anti-semites is due to the fear that the search for through may discredit the false ideology that they have come to regard as fact. They avoid being rational because they do not want the understanding and meaning they have come to associate with the Jews to be diminished by truth. They defend the status quo by avoiding dissemination of truth.
An anti-semite embraces inverted liberty, a concept that refers to social order obtained at the expense of mistreatment of others, by being a disciplined member of an undisciplined group. Liberty is not limited to any specific context, and may event exists within criminal gangs. However, such liberty is founded on the freedom to advance practices that harm others. Therefore, anti-semites embrace inverted liberty through recognition as member of social order groups that advance ideologies contrary to the norm.
Anti-semites relate to their sense of responsibility by thinking they have an obligation to the communists and capitalist imperialists to renounce Jews’ expectations and course of conduct by linking Jews to destructive evil. According to Sartre, an anti-semite person is burdened with an agonizing and infinite responsibility in the quest to attribute all that is evil to Jews.
Anti-semites fear standing out from the crowd in which they are not allowed to advance their evil interests. As a result, they strive to blend in by making their stature insignificant to avoid undue recognition.
According to Sartre (1965), no anti-semite claims superiority over the Jews. On the contrary, try to give credence to mediocrity by attempting to create an elite out of an ordinary individual. An anti-semite associates Jews with intelligence, hence by disenfranchising them, anti-semites believe they can get pride.
From Sartre’spoint of view, anti-semites comprise of the middle-class who suffer from inferiority complex. They form the lower cadre of functionaries and employees with no meaningful possessions. Therefore, they get a sense of proprietorship through misrepresentation of the Jews as criminals and themselves as likely victims.
Manichaeism is defined by Sartre as a concept that depicts the struggle between the principles of good and evil. The concept is applicable to anti-semitism because it operates on the basis of irreconcilable differences. Under the concept of Manichaeism, anti-semites or the Jews cannot both be triumphant because one must be eliminated. Manichaeism may be the reason anti-semites are intent on frustrating the Jews in all respects.
Not all anti-semites are violent, an assertion supported by the manner in which they use crowds. It is likely that anti-semites fear the backlash of their violent actions, hence seek to adopt some passivity in their treatment of the Jews.
Some anti-semites who decide to be passive are driven by need to blend into the crowd. As a result they practice subtle forms of prejudices that are difficult to associate with anti-semitism.
Sartre contended that the most concerning form of anti-semitism is the passive one. Unlike active anti-semitism where the acts of the perpetrator can be deciphered and addressed, passive anti-semistism assumes a subtle form, implying it can be instigated without recognition, hence difficult to address.
The statement by Sartre defining an anti-semite man means that these people seek to detach themselves from any associations with human consciousness. This makes it easy to justify their discriminative actions directed against Jews.
The analysis of anti-semistism is applicable to the other concepts of racism and prejudices because it highlights the complexity of these phenomena. Moreover, the analysis shows that perpetrators of the prejudices have complex personalities devoid of normal human consciuonesss.
References
Sartre, J. P. (1965). Anti-semite and Jew. New York , 97 , 102.
