Letters to the Editor6/19/1998
Don't forget Richard Wagner's anti-Semitic views
Editor:Richard Wagner's four-part operatic cycle, "Der Ring des Nibelungen," was performed by Arizona Opera in Flagstaff this month. It has been heralded as a work of great 19th century art and mythic vision. Wagner was an anti-Semitic German composer who founded the Gobineau society (named after a French racist) in Bayreuth in 1881. The avowed purpose of this group was to spread the mythic creed of Teutonic or Aryan supremacy to the world. Wagner's vision of Aryan supremacy was embraced by Adolph Hitler and the National Socialists. In describing Jews, Wagner coined the phrase "der plastich daimon des verfall der Menscheit" When all the hundreds of people from all over the world come to enjoy this gigantic undertaking, I would hope that they do not forget the 6 million Jews and millions of others who perished as a result of the mythic visions of Aryan and Teutonic supremacy promulgated by men like Richard Wagner. Stephen Yulish, Ph.D. Flagstaff (Via the Internet) Word choice shows bias against IsraelEditor:What is the most commonly used adjective for Israel and Israelis found in the Western media? Well, no, I did not do a Nexus search, but I am willing to bet that any such search would reveal that the answer to this question is "intransigent." According to the Western media, the entire Middle Eastern conflict may be boiled down to one phrase Benjamin Netanyahu is intransigent, even while pursuing Oslo Lite and making concessions at nearly the same pace as Shimon Peres. The Los Angeles Times, as a typical such Israel-bashing media outfit, interweaves "intransigent" into its news reporting (which of course is mere disguised editorializing). So the question is, of all the names that the media could latch onto, why "intransigent"? The answer is simply that the one word for Jews that is more deeply embedded than any other in the two millennia of Christian anti-Semitism is "intransigent." The Jews are intransigent because they refuse to accept the arrival of the Messiah in Christ. Jews are stiff-necked, irrational, obstinate, and must be forced to see the light, through medieval sermons, inquisitions, burnings at the stake, pogroms, expulsions, etc. Prof. Steven Plaut University of California (Via the Internet) |
