The Confrontation

 

On 10/2/24, Breitbart News carried at article entitled: Dennis Prager Confronts Candace Owens On Antisemitism In 15-Page Letter. I will quote the entire  article and then comment on it. Joel B. Pollack wrote the article.

 

Pollack: “Conservative radio host and author Dennis Prager has published a 15-page letter that he wrote to former colleague, Candace Owens, confronting her about her recent antisemitic statements and her crusade against Jews and Israel.

 

The letter, according to Prager, was made public with Owen’s consent after she failed to respond for several weeks. It is dated September 3, 2024. In it Prager debunks many of Owen’s outlandish claims, including medieval blood libels about Jews murdering Christian children, and the idea that Israel exists to protect pedophiles.”

 

My response: I have always liked and respected Candace Owens, but it seems that she has fallen off the deep end. People that believe slanderous lies and repeat them about certain individuals or ethnic groups do so sometimes because they believe such lies, or, cynically to gain power and popularity from certain fringe groups. She may resent Ben Shapiro.

 

I know not what is the situation with Candace, but, we need to emphasize the need for each citizen to live as an individuator, fair and rational; it is groupists, especially true believers that are capable of believing anything and accusing anyone of anything, but they are to be opposed fiercely and early so their lies do not become public, accepted “truth” in society.

 

Why antisemitism or racism of any kind is so dangerous is that when you say outrageous, false, and outlandish things about groups long enough, many people come to accept such lies, as truth. When a hatred of a group becomes entrenched, popular, and widely accepted, then these accusations—if unopposed—could lead to pogroms or the liquidation of minorities. If what haters say is wild enough, repeated long enough, and goes unchallenged, then the haters will eventually do to the innocent minorities any cruel thing imaginable.

 

This does not mean we should censor hate speech or putative misinformation—that leads to totalitarian evil as government curbs free speech. But other citizens need to speak up to refute and counter actual hate speech and misinformation—that is how to curb fringe haters spewing their mendacious filth in the public space and online.

 

Pollack: “Prager concludes: ‘You may not consciously intend to engender hatred of Jews and Israel. But that doesn’t really matter. I cannot think of anyone in public life engendering as much suspicion of Jews, Zionism, and Israel as are you.

 

All of my life, I have tried to teach people that motives rarely matter. Actions matter. Communist killed one hundred million people and enslaved and ruined the lives of more than a billion. Yet, many communists and their supporters have good motives. It turns out that the amount of evil done by people with good motives is far greater than the amount of evil done by people with evil motives. I suspect that few people wake up in the morning planning to do what they consider evil.”

 

My response: What Prager is identifying here is the Communists and others true believer pushing their cause upon others are true believer and ideologues using totalitarian government to force the public to adopt their murderous ideology. The motives of the true believers may be noble, but their violent, coercive means of spreading their message bring about horrific outcomes. When motives, good or evil, are held totalistically, they operationally become evil motives. The actions of the prevaricating haters are evil actions leading to evil consequences.

 

Most perpetrators with evil motives are individuals, but the isolated individual cannot cause near as much damage as millions of mass-movementized ideologues controlling a nation of captive citizens, brutalized by the ideologues serving or ruling the totalitarian government.

 

Pollack: ‘So, I don’t impugn your motives. I don’t even judge them. But, to my shock--and that of every Christian and Jew in my life—our once-adored Candace has done great harm to the Jews., whether intentionally or not.

 

Candace, this is one of the most difficult letters I have ever written. After you read this, I am open to dialoguing with you privately or publicly.’

 

Prager was one of many conservatives who embraced and worked with Owens after she emerged as a prominent black conservative voice. She had a podcast on his education platform, Prager U. He defended her as she became the focus of criticism for controversial statements on a variety of issues.

 

Owens emerged as a full-throated antisemite in the months since October 7, making a number of false assertions about Jews. This author debated her in May on X (formerly Twitter) about her false claim that Jews were responsible for the Soviet gulag.”

 

My response: Prager the wise is reminding us that motives are irrelevant (I think that is an overreaction on his part: moral motives are better than immoral motives, but he is spot on that consequences of choices and actions are what counts, not one’s motive.).

 

Because people are group creatures that run in packs, and are morally guided by altruistic morality, if their actions are benevolent and not coercive, then the general consequences are a win for society.

 

The rub comes in when altruistic fanatics, embedded in an activated, awakened, ambitious mass movement, or cynically operating as members of an army, terrorist organization or authoritarian regime, use force and violence to inflict their values involuntarily upon reluctant, resistant members of the public. The consequences then ripple out, and they can be very unjust and even bloody.

 

In the collectivist, totalitarian arena, the consequences of altruistic but noble intentions lead to murder and hell on earth.

 

When fanatics are 100% against a cause, an individual, or a race or group of people (like Candace is demonstrating in blaming the Jews for everything that happens in the world), these racist and discriminatory haters can whip the masses into a frenzy of rage and desire to hurt the minority blamed for everything, though they are guilt of near nothing, but pogroms and gas chambers, and firing squads can follow.

 

 

The bigoted mindset is the fanatical mind of a liar, and she who is filled with mendacity, passion, radical positions, and excess emotion is the mindset generally of a joiner that has gone drastic.

 

They are too pro-friends and insider joiners, and too hating of enemies or rival groups, or independent individuals.

 

The individuator, rational, temperate, moderate, and truth-loving, will not likely be to for friends and to against enemies. They try to see groups and individuals as they are and to speak about them accurately, truthfully, and fairly—and this is not how Candace is talking about modern Jewry.

 

We must inform the public not to love one’s favorites too much, or to loathe and rage against one’s rivals so much, because both these extremes are groupist, altruistic, hateful, and hating.

 

We do not love ourselves or anyone else if we are too for or too against ourselves and others, especially when their views, character and actions do not cohere with our stereotyped description of such persons.