On Thu, 11 Jan 2001, Peter van Heusden wrote:
> > I was using the quote to illustrate that the separation of finance
> > from production, and the demonization of finance, serves a similar
> > psychological role to what a kind of anti-Semitism does - it becomes
> > a repository for social guilt about the evils of capitalism. That is,
> > "The Jew" is figured as greedy, cold, conniving, etc. - all features
> > of the mindset encouraged by capitalism, but externalized in some
> > figure of evil. (I stole this analysis of anti-Semitism from Zizek.)
> >
> Hm - who got to this first: Zizek or Moishe Postone? I read an excellent
> analysis of anti-Semitism along these lines in a Postone essay reprinted
> by B.M. Chronos.
Um, maybe I'm missing some of the subtleties, but this analysis is at least a century old. It used to be summed up in the adage "Anti-semitism is the socialism of fools."
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com