Letter 1
From: S
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2020 10:28 AM
Subject: Anti-Semitism in LRC
Dear Dr. Block,
I call your attention to two excerpts from a Paul Craig Roberts article published in LRC today. This is only one of his articles and other authors’ articles published in LRC which are blatantly anti-Semitic. I pointed out another author’s to you a few months ago. His Jewishness was mentioned at least three times in this article. What does Jeffrey Goldberg’s Jewishness have to do with his lies about Trump? Do you think if Goldberg were Christian his religion would have been noted three times?
• Nothing better illustrates President Trump’s vulnerability than the fact that his own Defense Secretary has not rejected the unsupported anonymous allegation made by a Jew in the Atlantic that President Trump bad-mouthed American war dead and refused to visit a cemetery in France where many are buried. Even President Trump’s enemy, John Bolton, has refuted the Jew’s allegation.
• The Atlantic is part of the CIA’s media assets. The story was handed to the Jewish editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, and the two-bit puppet performed for his master. The two-bit puppet went on to say that he expects “more confirmation and new pieces of information” to come out in the coming days and weeks that will coroborate that Trump called US war dead “losers and suckers.”
Doesn’t it bother you that such articles are published in LRC, especially since anti-Semitism is spreading in this country and worldwide? These articles published in LRC are doing their not-so-subtle best to help promote it.
Sincerely,
S
Dear S:
This sort of reminds me of a headline in a French Canadian newspaper over a century ago. It was something like this: “The Jew Einstein….” And then it went on to describe something he said.
Yes, it bothers me, but not very much. Jews are disproportionately lefties, socialists, Democrats. Well, “bother” might not be the most accurate word. “Startles” might be better, I’m not sure. Maybe because “Goldberg” is so quintessentially Jewish, sort of like “Cohen” or “Levy” that it is so obvious that he’s Jewish. But why shouldn’t critics of commies, union leaders, lefties, socialists, Democrats, etc., point out that Jews, unfortunately, are overrepresented in such groups.
Suppose someone wrote that Jamaal Jones, a black man, was a street criminal. Should this “bother” members of this community. Maybe, because they are ashamed about the disproportional over representation of members of their group in crime.
In like manner I am ashamed of my co religionists for being such fervent supporters of leftish causes. Milton Friedman once wrote (paraphrase) that Jews have benefitted more from capitalism than virtually any other group, and yet are probably the most bitter enemies of this system. Yet, we Ashkenazi have the highest IQ of any group. Why are we so stupid in this one area?
LRC just as it is, right now, is by far my favorite blog. I read it avidly every day. I regularly contribute to it.
As for LRC in particular, and the Mises Institute in general, being Anti-Semitic, this is just plain silly. Mises was himself Jewish, and the MI is named after him. If ever the Mises Institute changed its name, it would be called in my assessment, the Mises-Rothbard Institute, since it promotes the views of both these men. Murray, also Jewish, has been the inspiration of Lew Rockwell ever since the MI was established, and even way before, of course. I am Jewish. David Gordon is Jewish.. We are amongst the many scholars who regularly advise, take part in seminars (AERC, Mises University) for the MI. Just take a peek at the LRC columnists (https://www.lewrockwell.com/columnists). You’ll see another half dozen or so members of our tribe.
Do I agree with every last word ever written on LRC, or published by the MI? Of course not. I’m sure Lew doesn’t either. For example, he regularly publishes Patrick Buchanan, a protectionist, while Lew of course is a staunch free trader.
Here is a biblio attempting to wrestle with why Jews are so wrong on political economy, smart as we are in many other fields:
Billingsley, 1998; Block, 2004; Frankel, 1983; Friedman, Manny. 2012; Friedman, Milton. 1985a, 1985b,1985c; Gabler, 1989; Hayek, 1988, 1990; Lefkowitz, 1993; Liggio, 1997; Lilla, 2001; MacDonald, 1998; Mises, 1972; Nozick, 1997; Podhoretz, 2009; Rothbard, 1990; Sombart, 1913; Stein and Stein. 1979; Twain, 1898; Van den Haag, 2000/2001
Billingsley, Kenneth Lloyd. 1998. Hollywood Party: How Communism Seduced The American Film Industry In The 1930s And 1940s; Prima Publishing
Block, Walter E. 2004. “The Jews and Capitalism: A love-hate enigma.” The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Fall, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 305-326; http://tinyurl.com/2zgs5s; http://tinyurl.com/25qdpq; reprinted as: Block, Walter E., 2005. “The Jews and Capitalism: A Love-Hate Relationship.” Business and Religion: A Clash of Civilizations? Nicholas Capaldi, ed. Salem, MA: M&M Scrivener Press, pp. 65-79; https://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block98.html
Frankel, S. Herbert, “Modern Capitalism and the Jews,” Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, 1983, reprinted as “Comment on Milton Friedman’s ‘Capitalism and the Jews’,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute: 1985, pp. 429-442
Friedman, Manny. 2012. “Jews DO control the media.” The Times of Israel, July 1; http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jews-do-control-the-media/
Friedman, Milton. 1985a. “Capitalism and the Jews,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 401-418.
Friedman, Milton. 1985b. “Reply to Frankel,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 443-446.
Friedman, Milton. 1985c.”Discussion,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute
Gabler, Neal. 1989. An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood; Anchor
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1988. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1990. The Intellectuals and Socialism, Fairfax, VA: Institute for Humane Studies; reprinted from the University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, Spring 1949; http://mises.org/document/1019
Lefkowitz, Jay P. 1993. “Jewish Voters and the Democrats,” Commentary, April, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 38-41
Liggio, Leonard P. 1997. “Market and Money in Jewish and Christian Thought in the Hellenistic and Roman Ages,” An Austrian in France: Festschrift in honour of Jaques Garello, Kurt R. Leube, Angelo M. Petroni and James S. Sadowsky, eds., La Rosa, pp. 283-294 (originally published in The Christian Vision: Man and Morality, T.J. Burke, ed., Hillsdale, MI: the Hillsdale College Press, 1986.
Lilla, Mark. 2001. The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics, New York: New York Review Books
MacDonald, Kevin. 1998. The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements, New York: Praeger
Mises, Ludwig von. 1972. The Anti-Capitalist Mentality, South Holland, IL: Libertarian Press
Nozick, Robert. 1997. “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism,” in Socratic Puzzles, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Podhoretz, Norman. 2009. “Why are Jews Liberals?” Wall Street Journal. September 10;
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203440104574402591116901498;
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/116672.html
Rothbard, Murray N. 1990. “Concepts of the Role of Intellectuals In Social Change Toward Laissez Faire.” The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2, Fall, pp. 43-67.
Sombart, Werner. 1913. The Jews and Modern Capitalism, London: Unwin
Stein, Ben and Benjamin Stein. 1979. The View from Sunset Boulevard: America As Brought To You By The People Who Make Television; Basic Books
Twain, Mark. 1898. “Concerning the Jews.” Harper’s Magazine. March;
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Concerning_the_Jews0.asp
Van den Haag, Ernest. 2000/2001. “The Hostility of Intellectuals to Capitalism,” The Intercollegiate Review, Vo. 36, Nos. 1-2, Fall/Spring, pp. 56-63
Best regards,
Walter
3:25 am on December 6, 2020
