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The Mob
This week I’ve had three seemingly unrelated scenarios drifting through my mind. The first is the recent tragic story of the teenager in Las Vegas who was killed by an angry mob for coming to the rescue of his smaller friend. The second scenario is an ancient Biblical one that I was discussing with the study group I facilitate; we discussed the nature of Sodom and its destruction. And the third scenario was any one of the pro-Palestinian protests roaming through a city’s streets. Let me share how they are related, and how they bode danger for the future.
In the first story, we learn how events played out for a young man who tried to help a friend:
Jonathan Lewis, a 17-year-old student at Rancho High School, died last Tuesday — less than two weeks after he was savagely beaten by a mob of 15 kids, his father, also named Jonathan Lewis, confirmed to 8 News Now on Thursday.
‘One of his smaller friends had something stolen by this group of 15, and they threw the small boy in the trash can, and our son confronted them and he was attacked,’ according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family.
Alarming footage from the Nov. 1 attack — only blocks from Lewis’ high school — shows the teen confronting one of the alleged bullies before throwing a punch.
Seconds later, the mob of violent kids swarmed Lewis and began hitting and kicking the outnumbered teen repeatedly in the head as he lay defenseless on the ground.
A pathetic act of harassment suddenly changed into an angry murderous mob when its power was challenged. That not one person in the mob tried to stop the blows is telling. The mob dictated the actions and the results.
When we turn to the biblical story of Sodom, you might recall that Abraham tried to convince G-d not to destroy the city, because there might be innocent people who lived there. After an ardent exchange, G-d could assure Abraham that there was not one person who should be saved. Everyone had been corrupted. Later in the story, when a mob accosted Lot at his home and wanted to attack his guests, G-d’s decision was validated. Lot was barely able to stop the mob, and shortly thereafter Sodom was destroyed. Justice was realized.
In the last scenario, I point to the mobs in the streets that have been attacking Jews and defending the cause of the Palestinians, including Hamas. The mobs have been driven by lies about conditions in Israel, the history of the area, and they ignore any information that will contradict their intention to liberate the Palestinians (who don’t need liberating) and punishing Israel (for simply wanting to live in safety and security). The willingness of these protestors to accept the lies of their leaders; the determination to destroy not only Israelis, but Jews anywhere; the passion that dominates every protest, cannot be quelled.
* * * *
All of these scenarios describe more than a simple lawlessness. They reflect a complete abandonment of any moral code. These activities are tribal, primitive and violent. They suggest that the potential of acting on our hatred and anger is available to any of us, and we are free to punish anyone who tries to stop us. Truth is irrelevant; the facts play no role in our pursuing these mindless acts of destruction. And we have mobs of people who are willing to join in, to shout vicious and immoral diatribes. The rewards for these people are a sense of invincibility, endless power and the freedom to act out their basest desires.
In the first scenario described above, several boys have been arrested, but will they be charged as adults if they are underage?
In the second scenario, we know that destroying Sodom was successful, but it didn’t stop the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt or destroy the potential for evil.
In the third scenario, we watch the protests continue all over the world. Every Jew is guilty—of being a Jew.
Evil reigns and is relentless. Will the protestors do their work mostly peacefully? Or will their obsession deepen, demand another more violent outlet than chanting in the streets?
In this protest last night, police were punched and pepper sprayed.
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Published in Religion and Philosophy
The response to mobs has to be brutal and harsh. We no longer seem to want that. Indeed, when a songwriter sings about “Try that in a small town” he is attacked from the conservative right.
We have a dying nation in a dying civilization, mostly controlled by a dying generation clinging to power at any cost. In times past, the 70+ year olds would be dead or have let go of power. Not now. Now they continue to rule us. And they rule without faith in anything. They are in it just until they die, and will leave the destruction of everything built by their forebears in the dust.
I wish I could justify arguing with you, Bryan, but I can’t. It is pretty dark. I thought that it was bizarre hearing about the protest in DC this morning when I’d just finished writing how the protests were going to move to violence. [sigh]
Violence will be allowed against the citizens.
This is end of the Roman Republic stuff. The Senate used its mobs to terrorize the people. Caesar was welcomed by the citizens of Rome as a man who heard their voices. His troops brought order that had been lacking for years. Remember, it was the political class who murdered him.
I think it should be noted that, from what I find, both of the victims were white and the mob was “of color.”
Is there any evidence that people like those that did this are ever reformable?
Not sure what the law is on this, but assault as part of a mob should be treated far more severely than individual assault.
Savagery is gaining a cachet it hasn’t had since 1945. It never went away. It exists here and there. But the worship thereof is what is reappearing.
It’s fascinating how often the desire for power factors in. We have a generation that has felt lonely and powerless, and they are making sure that they get as much back as they possibly can. Morals be damned.
The victims didn’t follow one of Derbyshire’s rules, likely some kind of a corollary of:
I hate to agree with this, but it is true. Just like the kids in Palestine, these kids have been fed the victim line nearly from birth. Now they see they are not punished for anything they do. It breeds a culture of violence and that’s what you get. Sad, but true.
Scott Adams was cancelled for expressing this kind of thinking.
Good to see the article is still accessible.
https://www.takimag.com/article/the_talk_nonblack_version_john_derbyshire/
The Dems can’t control their monsters.
The Democratic National Convention will be in Chicago in 2024.
There’ll be a hot time in the old town that night.
The progessives have over 100 year start on this – they have been attacking the basic foundation of this country for years, It going to take a long time to repair.
I am currently reading the three volume set of Max Dimont’s History of the Jews. Since the three volumes are compressed into one 1000 page book on the Kindle, I am not sure which of the three volumes I am currently in, but I am pretty close to the middle of the book as presented. Dimont tries to explain antisemitism and its rise beginning some time in the early 19th century. He contends that prior to that time Jews were hated by various groups, the Greeks because they refused to accept the Grecian life style, the Romans because they revolted against the rule of Rome, the Christian sects because they were in competition with them at first, but later because their unwillingness to convert delayed the return of Christ. Since the rise of communism they are hated because their conception of individualism and moral responsibility seems to be causing a delay in the coming of the perfect state as defined by Marx. They are, in effect, standing in front of the arc history and saying Stop.
I am not sure I particularly buy that. Hatred of the Jews and the occasional pogram were pretty common in czarist Russia. There they were used as a scapegoat to take pressure off the government. In Germany in the years following WWI they were blamed to the defeatist attitude that led to the “disgraceful” surrender to the allies. Jews had come out of the ghettos a brief time before and had fully integrated into German culture. Like the Asians in modern America, they were highly motivated, hard working, and sought education at its highest levels, and they succeeded. They rapidly rose in society, gained wealth and position as doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.
I have always believed that the greatest seed to prejudice was economic competition. If someone is doing better at accumulating assets than you are they are better able to feed their families, in essence, to survive genetically. If there is some identifiable characteristic that you can use to differentiate them from you and yours, then it is far easier to see that difference as a way of targeting your resentment. We have seen that in the competition for positions in the top schools in the U.S. with Asian students being openly discriminated against. It isn’t hard to project that in Germany and other European countries that when Jews assimilated into the general culture it didn’t take long for the resentments to grow.
Now taking that view, it is pretty easy to see why Israel stands out as it does in the Middle East, and why Muslim leaders see Israel as a threat to their power. Why those same leaders would use their enormous petroleum wealth to influence the politics of other countries against Israel and the Jews in general since they are essentially the same in the eyes of the imams.
As always, a thoughtful comment, Eugene. BTW, your belief about economic competition was a motivator for Theodore Herzl creating Zionism. He thought if the Jews weren’t competing with the gentiles, anti-Semitism would lessen. Oh well.
Added: I read Dimont’s book years ago. Good for you!
And it is easier to believe that that accumulation came through something other than diligence, hard work, sacrifice — particularly if you are unwilling to do so. In my 30s and early 40s I had some expectation of living at much higher means, attaining what seemed at that time to be desirable to me. But by my mid 40s I had the insight that those who were doing better than me (and I was doing OK) were doing things that I really didn’t want to do. No, it wasn’t that they were doing anything illegal. They organized their lives in certain ways, they spent a lot of energy in securing and maintaining lucrative relationships, they cultivated (to the extent it was not natural) an extrovert personality that I did not possess. I considered that there were certain things I could not do, but mostly there were things I did not want to do. If you can make this realization then there is no basis for envy. And absent envy, there is no economic-based hatred.
Excellent observations. I realized the same things as I matured. The steps I would need to take to have more “success” or income were simply steps I chose not to do. And I realized that I had chosen to limit my future in some ways, but the things I did instead were well worth it.
I have had very much the same experience. I chose a life that granted me greater freedom to do the things I wanted to do, climb mountain, sail, and cycle. I had friends and others that I knew whose lives were quite different, made lots of money, but now, in retirement, I see exactly what their lives yielded as opposed to mine, and I have no discontent with my choices or their ultimate consequences. I have a very small bucket list of unfulfilled desires.
I am just getting into Hertzl in the book now. I read Dimont’s shorter book, Jews, God and History many years ago. This is much more thorough treatment of the history, and quite fascinating. I started reading it a few days before 10/7, and was particularly struck by the coincidence of the choice. Though being raised a Catholic, I have been married to two Jewish women, and have been a Zionist for a very long time.
How does he explain all the antisemitism in the centuries before that?
Tradition. And because the Jews were successful and different.