Sowell, Powell, Finkelstein, and Chomsky

I have agreed with almost everything I’ve ever read by Thomas Sowell. An African-American whose political views obviously tilt rightward, Sowell has no doubt been the target of the same scorn that has been heaped upon African-Americans like Bill Cosby, or Condoleeza Rice, or Colin Powell—all of whom are “guilty” of being black conservatives, or at least of questioning some of the African-American community’s sacred cows.

The mainstream American Jewish community also has a few well-known dissenters, people who say things that are not easy for the Jewish community to hear. I refer to Noam Chomsky, or Norman Finkelstein. Are these people the Jewish versions of a Sowell, Powell, or Rice?

No. And here is why:

When all is said and done, Thomas Sowell—like the mainstream (leftwing) African-American leadership—wants what’s best for African-Americans. Sowell just has different ideas about how to go about it. Similarly, Bill Cosby created an uproar when he suggested that deficits in personal responsibility and sound values were the leading cause of African-American poverty, and not necessarily racism. You may agree or disagree, but there can be no doubt that both Cosby and Sowell desire the same ends as a Jesse Jackson or Kweise Mfume. Again, they just have different ideas about how to get there.

…Jewish elites in the United States have enjoyed enormous prosperity. From this combination of economic and political power has sprung, unsurprisingly, a mindset of Jewish superiority. Wrapping themselves in the mantle of The Holocaust, these Jewish elites pretend—and, in their own solipsistic universe, perhaps imagine themselves—to be victims, dismissing any and all criticism as manifestations of “anti-Semitism.” And, from this lethal brew of formidable power, chauvinistic arrogance, feigned (or imagined) victimhood, and Holocaust-immunity to criticism has sprung a terrifying recklessness and ruthlessness on the part of American Jewish elites. Alongside Israel, they are the main formentors of anti-Semitism in the world today. Coddling them is not the answer. They need to be stopped.

These words were not written by a neo or paleo-Nazi—they were written by Norman Finkelstein in his book Beyond Chutzpa: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History. These are the words of a man who hates Jews—period. The fact that Finkelstein was born of Jewish parents doesn’t change the fact that he’s an anti-Semite. Unfortunately, because of his Jewish ancestry, his odious views are given airtime on many a university campus, as are the words of Noam Chomsky.

People like Finkelstein and Chomsky do not want what is best for Jews. Both men advocate positions that, if realized, would result in the deaths of a lot of Jews and the loss of freedom for the survivors. Both men, for example, believe Israel has no right to exist. I don’t have the energy to go out and find more examples of their self-hatred—it’s all on record—but that is the primary difference between them and people like Sowell.