Tolerating the Radically Intolerant

Hamas’ attack on Israel shined a light on the left’s war on liberalism.

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Cal State Long Beach students hold a campus rally in support of Palestinians amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Dear Reader (excluding any of you who “sign” protest letters anonymously), 

Someone pointed out the other day that in certain quarters of the left right now, it is more acceptable to shout “gas the Jews” than to say “men can’t get pregnant.” 

Call me crazy, but this strikes me as suboptimal. 

I need to make some distinctions and clarifications because there’s a lot of nutpicking out there. There is a good number of left-wing people saying truly indefensible things. And a lot of right-wing people are delighting in claiming that these gargoyles are representative of the broader left. For instance, there’s a self-described “tranarchist” named Jemma Decristo who purports to teach at UC-Davis who thinks it would be just dandy to have a domestic campaign of violent terror against “Zionist journalists” here in America. “They have houses [with] addresses, kids in school. They can fear their bosses but they should fear us more.” Decristo concludes the post with emojis of a knife, an ax, and some drops of blood. If you have a more favorable interpretation of what that’s supposed to mean, I’m all ears. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Another great “news” letter!

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  2. Nycsym

    Much of this duplicity on campuses harkens back to Herbert Marcuse's 1965 essay, "Repressive Tolerance" which he dedicated to his student at Brandeis College. According to Marcuse, the process of “liberating tolerance” would involve “the withdrawal of toleration of speech and assembly from groups and movements” on the Right, and the aggressively partisan promotion of speech, groups, and progressive movements on the Left (Repressive Tolerance, p. 81).

    All of this, of course, was meant to further democracy and pluralism --- NOT! Marcuse states: “Impartiality to the utmost, equal treatment of competing and conflicting issues is indeed a basic requirement for decision-making in the democratic process--it is an equally basic requirement for defining the limits of tolerance.”

    This reminds me of Berthold Brecht's play, "The Decision," and how duplicity and deceit was considered perfectly fine if the aims and goals of communism benefited from such. When truth becomes fungible in the service of a particular ideology we shouldn't expect good outcomes.

    Moreover, let's remember Dr. King's view of Israel when he said, "Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality. I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews, because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all.” Israel is one of a handful of nations that have an annual MLK birthday observance. I've attended a number of such celebrations in New York City that were produced by the Israeli Consulate.

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    Charley Warns

    If you insist ... You're crazy. On twitter, I was making a distinction between getting fired because of cancel culture and getting fired for justifiable cause. I was saying Ramesh made an optimal (if you will) point in that we need to rely on good judgement:

    Justified: An attorney with the Illinois Comptroller’s office on Thursday, October 19, 2023 was fired for this comment: “Hitler should have eradicated all of you.”

    Cancel Culture: Getting rebuked or fired for simply commenting that Lia Thomas shouldn't be competing in women's swimming as it seems unfair.

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  4. Tracy Clifton

    Show me someone on “the left” who is shouting “gas the Jews!” I read the rest of this diatribe with great skepticism of anything else stated as fact.

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      Charley Warns

      Google: illinois-comptroller-fires-attorney-antisemitic-instagram-messages

      She said: “Hitler should have eradicated all of you” and “All you zionists will pay.”

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      Ralph S

      Tracy, Here's one reference: https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/reprehensible-protestors-chant-gas-the-jews-outside-sydney-opera-house/

      Of course, you may not find the NY Post a reliable source. But there are many other (what I find as reprehensible) statements that are not exactly saying, "Gas the jews" but are similar in tenor.

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      1. Tracy Clifton

        First off, the post you reference is Australia not US. Second, is it a true statement that all Pro-Palestinian people are on the left? Or that all Palestinians are anti-Jewish? Especially American-Palestinians? And what is it about “conservative” men and their obsession with the idea of “men having babies”?

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        1. Ivar Gilhuus

          Of course all the pro-Palestinians are not on the left. Putin are pro-Palestinian, and therefore I suppose many Republicans, who admire and support Russia also are. And many of the antisemites on the Right.

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          Ralph S

          What? I thought this was an international problem. No big deal it was Australia. It is a western nation culturally. I was just trying to point out that Jonah wasn't using hyperbole as I thought you were suggesting.
          You are also (angrily) arguing points I did not take:
          A) all Pro-Palestinian people are on the left? I did not say that and it is not true (I think I'm agreeing with you...maybe)
          B) all Palestinians are anti-Jewish? No. I had an American-Palestinian manager some years ago who never hinted any anti-Jewish sentiments. (Maybe I am agreeing with you again)
          C) “conservative” men and their obsession with the idea of “men having babies”? This doesn't even enter into consideration in my comment that was a reference trying to show there was some substance and fact to what was said in the article.
          I suggest using arguments against actual statements of position or interpretation rather than just being argumentatively full of rage. But to each their own.

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        BrandonAlleman

        I guess this is relevant if the American left now includes Palestinians in Australia. It looks like this was widely condemned by the locals for what it's worth (without any caveats about male pregnancy).

        I take the overall points on media bias and leftists in academia but none of this is going to be as important as the actions in Israel and Gaza over the coming days and weeks.

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          Ralph S

          As I noted in my response to Tracy, I did not remember reading any restrictions to Jonah only writing about the American left. I took it as a general comment on the culturally western left. Of course, there is no left or right leaners as we know them outside of what is generally considered "western" culture.
          For what it's worth, I agree that what happens in the next few weeks is critical. Genocide is wrong regardless of who the perpetrators are. However, if you are on the side of Israel not having a right to exist, I will have to disagree. Also there is no honor in a cause that begins with shooting civilians, killing and beheading children. Hamas just didn't arouse any sympathies from me.

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            BrandonAlleman

            I guess this reads like a continuation of Jonah's longstanding arguments about the American left and specially American universities to me In Goldbergism fashion, Ill say there are perfectly good argument to be made here (and I've read some here before) but I didn't think the nitpicking ballyhoo about gasing and male pregnancy was a useful starting point.

            I'm hoping the commentary is going to expand to what exactly Israel can do and the reporting to what Israel actually is doing in response as opposed to using the violence to just rehash priors about domestic politics which I feel I've read a lot of in the past few weeks.

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  5. Ken Motamed

    Great column, Jonah. What's more illiberal than double-standards?

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    Kahster

    One of your best, Jonah. Thank you. 🙏

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    PJ

    The testimony of imaginary sky daddies is amazing to watch. Best from a good distance.

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    Stephen Maturin

    It does make one's head spin to see this about-face on US campuses with regard to "free speech". THEY should be allowed to shout slogans that threaten actual physical violence against Jews, but if someone on a college campus puts a sign on a table that says men can't have babies they will be shouted down and campus police will remove the sign, table, and individual who set up the table. Shortly afterward the campus administration will hold a hearing with said individual during which their continued enrollment at the university will be in question. Free speech indeed.

    One a different note, I'd like to see a Remnant episode in which Jonah goes through the history of Israel (the country in its current iteration). I'm pretty much the same age as Jonah but I don't have a good grasp on why the left thinks that Israel is colonialist and why they are accused of being an apartheid state. I didn't grow up as a Jewish kid in New York City so I haven't paid much attention to why the left hates Israel so much. There must be a reason, however specious, for the attitude of the global left toward Israel.

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      Dan Baldwin

      It all has to do with the perception of "oppression". To the anti-Israeli Left, a bunch of white European men who just happened to be Jewish descended upon innocent peace-loving non-white Arabs in 1947 and carved out their own nation-state, then inflicted an Apartheid-style tyranny.

      The reason China doesn't get hit with this, is because China is controlled by its own native people and "shook off the bonds of colonization". If a Campus Leftie attacks China based on its oppression of the Uyghurs and the Manchurians, then the same logic inevitably leads to Africa and criticizing Africans--which at that point, just burn down the entire campus.

      In my experience, the loudest anti-Zionists tend to be people of the LGBTQI/Autistic spectrum who grew up in repressive, abusive households with no hope of escape or changing the status quo on their own. The only way they got out was a confluence of external forces (turning 18, the social expectations of going to college, getting accepted to college, getting enough financial aid to escape), because nothing they could do on their own would ever free them. They were entirely dependent on external forces.
      So when they see the Palestinians, they intuitively and instinctively side with the Palestinians against the overwhelming might of Israel, because they are reminded of what it was like to be powerless, dependent on a hostile power for the very necessities of life, and the only way to be saved was for an outside power to step in.
      It's not fair to Israel at all, but it is what I've observed.

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  9. Jnmccollum66

    Thank you for bringing to light why the response of “respected” institutions of “higher” learning have been so insipid and convoluted in responding to heinous human behavior.

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  10. DALE Nathan SWITZER

    That paper literally said that freedom is slavery.

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