Jews are dirty, weak, poor, uncivilised

The argument

The two most important tenements of identarian antisemitism are its deep roots in the historical and the political. Jewish stereotyping, in the sense that qualities that many perceive to be true about the Jewish people make them unfit for mainstream society, comes from historical contexts and political beliefs. Jewish stereotyping in the mainstream society is based within the historical contexts of antisemitism as opposed to mythical representations. Jewish stereotyping within the realm of literature has little to do with actual literary interpretations but the political implications of the time. Much of identarian antisemitism steams changes within a society. For example, antisemitism in 19th century England was largely due to the changing ideas about what Victorianism meant to England. One of those changing ideas had to do with immigration, especially considering a mass Jewish immigration into England during the 1870’s. It was this concern that ultimately ended the concept of a refugee’s right for asylum in England. The Great Depression of 1873 and growing British imperialism also factored into these changing ideals within Victorian England, specifically the idea of promoting a more homogenous society.

Context

Identarian antisemitism has its origins in many different stereotypes. Early modern British literature played on Jewish stereotypes through imperialism, Social Darwinism, socialism, proto-Zionism, and mainstream depictions of sexuality. Identarian antisemitism is a link between modern antisemitism and traditional Christian views of the Jewish people.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Two difficulties here: one of presentation, one of accuracy. The presentation problem is that the heading states a set of slurs with no framing to mark them as the baseless content of a prejudice being catalogued. In a reference work organised as a taxonomy, a title read on its own — in a list, a search result or a link — reproduces the stereotype rather than describing it. The other entries in this taxonomy name the form ('conspiracist', 'anti-Zionist', 'religious'); this one voices it. The taxonomic claim also does not hold. Identitarian anti-Semitism is distinguished from the other forms on the ground that it is 'historical and political rather than mythical' — but every form catalogued here has historical and political causes, and the entry's own explanatory materials, economic depression and imperial ideology, are shared with the anti-capitalist and conspiracist forms it is being distinguished from. Nor are the stereotypes free of myth: the imagery of Jewish uncleanness, disease and defilement descends substantially from medieval religious libels — well-poisoning during the Black Death, blood libel, ritual desecration — which are mythical in the most direct sense, and which supplied the vocabulary the nineteenth century inherited. The historical detail is inaccurate in several particulars. The large Jewish migration into Britain came principally from the Russian Empire following the pogroms of 1881 and continued into the 1900s, rather than occurring 'during the 1870s'. The 1873 downturn is conventionally called the Panic of 1873 or the Long Depression; 'the Great Depression' in most usage refers to the 1930s. And the restriction on asylum being alluded to is the Aliens Act 1905 — two decades later than the passage implies, and a statute that retained an exemption for those fleeing religious persecution rather than ending the right of asylum outright.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Every form catalogued in this taxonomy has historical and political causes, so that feature does not distinguish this one. The stereotypes named are also not free of myth, descending substantially from medieval religious libels — well-poisoning, blood libel, ritual desecration — which supplied the imagery of uncleanness the premise treats as politically generated. [Rejecting P2] The historical detail is inaccurate: the large Jewish migration to Britain came principally from the Russian Empire after the pogroms of 1881 rather than during the 1870s; the 1873 downturn is conventionally the Panic of 1873 or Long Depression; and the restriction alluded to is the Aliens Act 1905, two decades later than implied, which retained an exemption for those fleeing religious persecution rather than ending asylum.