Know Your Enemy
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In Search of Anti-Semitism
🕑 Added 2023-10-13 17:07:01 +0000 UTCIn a 1991, William F. Buckley, Jr. dedicated almost an entire issue of National Review to an essay entitled "In Search of Anti-Semitism." In its pages, Buckley attempted to adjudicate a conflict that was then roiling America's right wing intelligentsia — over whether two of its leading lights, Pat Buchanan and Joseph Sobran, were guilty of antisemitism in their syndicated columns and speeches. (Never one to miss an opportunity to antagonize an enemy or blame the left, Buckley threw in Gore Vidal for good measure.) The article, despite its meandering prose and fuzzy-headed conclusions, sparked an enormous response from NR's readership, some of whom felt Buckley was too hard on Pat and Joe, others who thought he was not hard enough.
The following year, Buckley combined the essay, several of the responses, and a few new thoughts of his own... and sold it as a "book." And thirty-one years later, we read that book — carefully — and recorded a podcast about it with our friend John Ganz, author of the forthcoming book, When the Clock Broke, about the derangement of American politics in the 1990s. (You can pre-order it here. It's sure to be excellent).
Unfortunately for us all, In Search of Anti-Semitism is not a good book; it's hardly a book at all. But it is a fascinating artifact of a fleeting post-Cold War moment in which conservatives furtively faced their own demons — before turning right back around.
Further Reading
William F. Buckley Jr., In Search of Anti-Semitism (1992)
John Ganz, "The Year the Clock Broke," The Baffler, Nov 2018
Joshua Muravchik, "Pat Buchanan and the Jews," Commentary, Jan 1991
Matthew Sitman, "There Will Be No Buckley Revival," Commonweal, July 2015
Comments
Ben Rhiger
“Insularity” as responsible for no one knowing what the sukkah is, almost sounds like an antisemitic dogwhistle tbh 👀
Matthew Schownir
No, but also, yes
DannyK
On a silly note: when I was a kid, National Review had TV ads promising “In Search of Anti-Semitism” as a gift to subscribers, and Leonard Nimoy’s TV show “In Search Of…” was on TV, and I thought they were the same thing and there was a special episode of the show only available to subscribers.
Jesse Peterson-Brandt
Lots of interesting tidbits in this one, including a couple recurring themes of the conservative movement: 1) The "adults in the room" performatively trying to wrangle the more extreme elements while doing nothing substantive to rein them in. 2) The centrality of power to the Right's values. The unwillingness of Buckley and others to grapple seriously with serious issues gives rise to the amoral, power for its own sake modern Republican party
Benjamin Pletcher
This is really excellent
Matt Gately
A show called Know Your Enemy should know that an obvious lightweight such as Bill Buckley is not the real enemy. The real worry is that the puerile nastiness that passes for ideals and ideas in conservatism can take hold despite the obvious failings of their advocates. The likes of Buckley are just a suppurating rash; the underlying systemic disease is thing to look at.
Benjamin Pletcher
Politics Theory Other’s interview with Richard Seymour is a good antidote to what you’re describing: https://overcast.fm/+Mu6S325g4
Ted Westervelt
As a major fan of the podcast, I hope I can just say that I think you focused a bit more than necessary on how bad the book is. WFB’s books as books are not why he mattered - rather it is his use of his charisma to wrangle the great conservative beasts into a movement (as has been stated in earlier episodes). The books are of value as what, when & why he chose his topics reflect what he felt he needed to do as wrangler/leader at a given time. Spending time on how bad his books are as books is a distraction from your otherwise excellent insight into a key figure whose importance is still relevant if we want to know why we are here
Samuel Kessler
Thanks for saying this. I was disappointed that the core of this episode’s intro prioritized veiled criticism of the left over direct discussion the forced displacement of more than a million Palestinians, another Nakba. We Jews should be able to recognize the horror of this moment, a mirror of the Shoah, and yet…. This piece by Gabe Winant is a better response then I am capable right now: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/a-response-to-joshua-leifer/
MD
Sam's note at the beginning about not being required to harden your heart against the death of innocents - indeed its necessity, has been exactly what I've thought but couldn't verbalize about recent discourse and I quite appreciated him saying it.
Lisa M
Great ep! Love it when Matt gets pissed off
Dan Anderson
Fascinating. Even for someone with limited education, quite clear. Because you guys are awesome, esp w Ganz
Scot Sedley
I listened to that one on a plane and let out a laugh so loud at that line that my wife smacked me in the arm.
pixlaw
When I was a kid, Buckley was THE GUY, and it seems clear that point of view was profoundly wrong-headed.
pixlaw
Really enjoyed this one. I've been wondering if you guys ever heard Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamsiri's takedown of *God and Man At Yale* which came out in the last month or so, in which Peter utters a brutal description of WFB's career: "It's amazing just how far a mid-Atlantic accent will take you."
Brady Root
Podcast equivalent of the Summertime Spurs. Everyone at the top of their game, sharing the ball (microphone) and crushing all competitors. A real treat
erik w bjorke
I am keeping a list of journalists and commentators who have been calling out the Left’s bad behavior. It is very prevalent in the mainstream media. To call a spade a spade, there has been a part of the left that has been “very vulnerable to criticism”; let me put it that way. Underlying these “you are not condemning Hamas enough” complaints I feel is a lack of understanding of the root causes of this whole catastrophe. The mainstream media coverage has been appalling. I highly recommend Peter Beinart’s recent video essay on his Substack and a recent Jewish Currents editorial by Arielle Angel. I know this post refers to the introduction to this podcast and not its main content. It reflects what is on my mind.
DJM
I love how fired up everyone gets when John Ganz is on.
Rick Perlstein
I guess WFB didn't know that Ronald Fucking Reagan compared Israeli war crimes in Lebanon in conversation with Mrnschem Fucking Begin!
Gagortion
did he find it yes or no?
