WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MITZVA ? >From: "Jonathan P. Gill" <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine > <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Anti-Semitism: getting started understanding it >Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 09:37:00 -0400 > >Fellow Poundians: > >I fear from Tim Romano's letter that some of us may be getting our >knowledge of Judaism from Pound--a very bad idea. > >As regards interest and gentiles, the Hebrew Scriptures have hundreds of >laws, articulated in a variety of confusing ways (hence the secondary, >tertiary legal literature). For every rule that talks about charging >interest only to gentiles, there's one that says Jews are obligated to >treat gentiles better than fellow Jews. > >As for alleged Jewish shame about coition, this seems to be some sort of >retroactive Pauline or Augustine influence. Far from being considered a >bad thing, sex is part of man's side of the covenant--every observant Jew >knows that heterosexual intercourse in considered a mitzvah--especially on >the Sabbath! > >I'm not blind to the restrictions in Jewish law on other kinds of sex >(homosexuality, onanism, etc.)--but I suspect that, as usual, Pound was >alot closer to the Jews on this issue that he was willing to admit. > >By the way, I'd like to hear from Leon Surette more often on this list. >For now, I wonder how he compares his own view of Pound's "conversion" to >anti-semitism (apologies for the paraphrase) to that of Wendy Flory, who >dates it to 1935 and gives Ethiopia as the reason. > >Jonathan Gill >Columbia University > > > >On Mon, 18 Oct 1999, Tim Romano wrote: > > > Tim, > > I won't suggest any literature that addresses your basic incomprehension >of > > the related hatreds. But hatred (racial, tribal, etc) does not seem > > unnatural to me -- it seems more the anthropological rule than the > > exception. The Jews considered themselves the Chosen Race. African >tribes > > massacre each other. Many Koreans despise whites. The Japanese consider > > themselves superior. Many whites consider blacks to be inferior. The >ancient > > Saxons thought the dark-skinned Britons were an inferior race. Not a >modern > > phenomenon by any means. Genocide is nothing new. These feelings are > > perhaps instinctual. > > > > But I have not encountered anything that I would regard as racial or >tribal > > hatred in Pound's writings, though I've yet to read the Agresti letters >and > > am not very far into Pound's wartime radio broadcasts, and maybe there >is > > evidence of this kind of hatred to be found in the things I haven't read > > yet. In one of his wartime broadcasts, Pound actually speaks out against >the > > physical stereotyping of the Japanese in Zukor's animated cartoons. > > > > In what I have read of his, Pound's "anti-Semiticism" is > > culturally/economically based. Deuteronomy permits the Jews when > > moneylending to charge interest to Gentiles only. Pound had great >antipathy > > for Jewish monotheism and the shame in which it shrouds the human act of > > coition. There are things one might reasonably hate about Jewish culture > > which have nothing to do with racial or tribal hatred, or hatred of any > > individual human being who happens to have been raised as a Jew, just as >one > > might despise the practice of female infanticide or female genital > > mutilation or the chopping off of the hands of petty thieves or the use >of > > the flagellum. Some cultures are more humane than others, if not more > > human. > > > > Tim Romano > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Tim Bray <[log in to unmask]> > > To: <[log in to unmask]> > > Sent: Monday, 18 Oct 1999 12:27 AM > > Subject: Anti-Semitism: getting started understanding it > > > > > > > As a well-read non-humanist in his 40s who has spent time in the third > > > world and seen tribal hate at work, the problem I have with all the > > holocaust > > > literature is that it fails to address my basic incomprehension as to >how > > this > > > could have happened. I.e. how intelligent well-educated people (eg >EP, > > nuts > > > maybe, smart probably, well-educated definitely) can have thought such > > > silly things and done such evil things? The tribal hate I've seen >could > > not > > > survive in the absence of real immediate grievance (they killed my > > brother) > > > and the presence of a decent education (history and ethics are > > complicated). > > > > > > So, on the assumption that people who agonize over EP know something >about > > > this subject, what would be a good recommendation for literature to > > address > > > this basic incomprehension? -T. > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com