“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
‘Anti-semite’ here being in 1940’s 1920s(?) terms, and more or less equivalent to ‘fascist’ or ‘far/alt right’ in today’s terms. All around excellent quotation.
I think Sartre said that in the 40s, possibly after WW2 had ended, and of course, almost certainly said the original phrase in French, but basically yes.
… Yes, this was in a Vanity Fair interview in 1990, resurfaced and got a lot of press … before Trump got elected, the first time.
Not too long after this, people started calling him a fascist or way too familiar with facsists… and then basically everyone acted like that was a hyperbolic overreaction, that discredited you as a serious political commentator.
They don’t understand or recognize it. They good. We bad. Its that simple. Nothing they say is bad and any time the orange infant gets upset its because of bad people.
I swear, if there’s an afterlife, you won’t be judged based on how good or bad you were. It’ll be based on your hypocrisy.
Example 1
Death: “You were a mob boss. You had many people injured, tortured, and murdered. Did you ever try to fool anyone into thinking you were not a mobster? That you were innocent?”
Mobster soul: “Only law enforcement! I mean, everyone knew I was the head of a criminal organization. I was a proud mob boss! I acted accordingly and never misrepresented myself!”
Death: “You will be reincarnated. We have many worlds in need of villains.”
Example 2
Death: “You were a politician, fraudster, and serial philanderer. You took many lovers in secret. Made many promises you never kept. That you never intended to keep.”
Politician soul: “Guilty as charged! But hey, I gave millions to charity! I was super polite and never personally physically harmed a single person. I mean, so many people thought I was great! Obviously, that means I was!”
Afterlives are just something people invented to make themselves feel better while living in an unjust world. They hope there is some sort of cosmic justice in the afterlife that will compensate them for the injustices of their current lives. Over time the concept was coopted by the powers that be to keep the masses compliant with the promise of a reward that will realistically never come.
Is there an afterlife or do your final thoughts, fears and regrets just echo for a perceived eternity that is actually seconds, like when a computer hangs during a video and the last played sound repeats over and over and over …
Or there’s nothing, whatever, sometimes it’s fun to imagine terrifying nonsense.
You know, I actually don’t think hypocrisy is sin, or even a moral failing. We all do it, and it’s almost always symptomatic or indicative of other deeds we feel guilty of. It’s always better to not be a hypocrite because it’s a more honest assessment of what is happening and why, but in both of those examples there were very real moral injuries or sins to address before the hypocrisy that obscures them. I think we confuse the “gotcha” nature of calling out hypocrisy with the actual sin we are deobfuscating by calling it out.
They don’t care about the hypocrisy.
They never will.
They do, actually. The ability to be so hypocritical is a demonstration of raw power.
And that? That they love and care about dearly.
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
‘Anti-semite’ here being in 1940’s
1920s(?)terms, and more or less equivalent to ‘fascist’ or ‘far/alt right’ in today’s terms. All around excellent quotation.*edit: See below commentary
I think Sartre said that in the 40s, possibly after WW2 had ended, and of course, almost certainly said the original phrase in French, but basically yes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semite_and_Jew
Ah, wrote it in '44, after the liberation of Paris, but not widely published till '46.
Maybe this is a … more digestible but also more thorough breakdown of many key concepts:
https://snugfam.com/12-timeless-sartre-quotes-on-antisemitism-profound-insights-from-jean-paul-sartres-anti-semite-and-jew/#quote2
But uh yeah, he’s very clearly talking about the literal Nazis.
You wanna understand Nazi brain?
The psychology of fascists, bigots?
Set aside some time to read Sartre.
Fascists wield language as a weapon, not as a means of communication.
Read some Hitler or Goebbels if you wanna see how that works, in their own words.
Reminder that Trump quite literally kept a collection of Hitler’s writings/speeches in his bedside table, for years, according to his ex-wife.
https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8
… Yes, this was in a Vanity Fair interview in 1990, resurfaced and got a lot of press … before Trump got elected, the first time.
Not too long after this, people started calling him a fascist or way too familiar with facsists… and then basically everyone acted like that was a hyperbolic overreaction, that discredited you as a serious political commentator.
… Oops.
The ghostwriter of one of his books mentioned that was the only book he ever saw in the apartment.
Werd, yo.
They don’t understand or recognize it. They good. We bad. Its that simple. Nothing they say is bad and any time the orange infant gets upset its because of bad people.
I swear, if there’s an afterlife, you won’t be judged based on how good or bad you were. It’ll be based on your hypocrisy.
Example 1
Death: “You were a mob boss. You had many people injured, tortured, and murdered. Did you ever try to fool anyone into thinking you were not a mobster? That you were innocent?”
Mobster soul: “Only law enforcement! I mean, everyone knew I was the head of a criminal organization. I was a proud mob boss! I acted accordingly and never misrepresented myself!”
Death: “You will be reincarnated. We have many worlds in need of villains.”
Example 2
Death: “You were a politician, fraudster, and serial philanderer. You took many lovers in secret. Made many promises you never kept. That you never intended to keep.”
Politician soul: “Guilty as charged! But hey, I gave millions to charity! I was super polite and never personally physically harmed a single person. I mean, so many people thought I was great! Obviously, that means I was!”
Death: “You will serve in hell.”
Afterlives are just something people invented to make themselves feel better while living in an unjust world. They hope there is some sort of cosmic justice in the afterlife that will compensate them for the injustices of their current lives. Over time the concept was coopted by the powers that be to keep the masses compliant with the promise of a reward that will realistically never come.
Is there an afterlife or do your final thoughts, fears and regrets just echo for a perceived eternity that is actually seconds, like when a computer hangs during a video and the last played sound repeats over and over and over …
Or there’s nothing, whatever, sometimes it’s fun to imagine terrifying nonsense.
If the universe is infinite, then the pattern of molecules that make up your memories and thought processes will eventually be repeated.
That would be nice
You know, I actually don’t think hypocrisy is sin, or even a moral failing. We all do it, and it’s almost always symptomatic or indicative of other deeds we feel guilty of. It’s always better to not be a hypocrite because it’s a more honest assessment of what is happening and why, but in both of those examples there were very real moral injuries or sins to address before the hypocrisy that obscures them. I think we confuse the “gotcha” nature of calling out hypocrisy with the actual sin we are deobfuscating by calling it out.
Not until it affects them directly like in the pocket book.