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Would you mind explaining more what you mean? I’m half Jewish, so I feel confused because I didn’t get any antisemitic vibes from it at all. But I wasn’t raised

Would you mind explaining more what you mean? I’m half Jewish, so I feel confused because I didn’t get any antisemitic vibes from it at all. But I wasn’t raised in Jewish culture so I am still trying to learn about these aspects. It sounded like maybe you’re saying that since hitler’s focus was to eradicate my ancestors, Orwell should have at least mentioned that. But I don’t understand why it’s related to Orwell’s point — his thesis is that Hitler was a profoundly appealing leader.

josh_fyi 4y ago
Not antisemitic, just that it ignores Jews, who were Hitler's bête noire. There is a tendency to ignore the fact that Jews were a special target and say "Hitler did bad things to people." (The USSR was especially bad in this.) Kind of like "All Lives Matter" -- a fine slogan, but sometimes (not always) it holds a willful ignorance of specific suffering.
- rgbrenner 4y ago
  The world is completely unaware of concentration camps at this point in the war. It literally just started 6 months before his review.
  - detaro 4y ago
    Persecution of Jews in Germany didn't exactly start with the concentration camps... By 1940 it had been going on for quite a bit.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  But why do we need to be mentioned simply to be mentioned? I don’t understand why it was a bad thing that Orwell didn’t mention Jews in this essay. The essay was about hitler’s appeal as a leader, not his specific goals.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  True, but recall that the holocaust hadn't happened at the time Orwell was writing and the extent of conditions for Jews inside Germany wasn't fully known to the degree that it is now. In 1940 it probably looked as if Hitler had leveraged antisemitism to get elected and consolidate power, but then moved on from oppressing minority groups to a broader program of international aggression.

josh_fyi 4y ago

Not antisemitic, just that it ignores Jews, who were Hitler's bête noire. There is a tendency to ignore the fact that Jews were a special target and say "Hitler did bad things to people." (The USSR was especially bad in this.) Kind of like "All Lives Matter" -- a fine slogan, but sometimes (not always) it holds a willful ignorance of specific suffering.

rgbrenner 4y ago
The world is completely unaware of concentration camps at this point in the war. It literally just started 6 months before his review.
- detaro 4y ago
  Persecution of Jews in Germany didn't exactly start with the concentration camps... By 1940 it had been going on for quite a bit.
sillysaurusx 4y ago
But why do we need to be mentioned simply to be mentioned? I don’t understand why it was a bad thing that Orwell didn’t mention Jews in this essay. The essay was about hitler’s appeal as a leader, not his specific goals.
anigbrowl 4y ago
True, but recall that the holocaust hadn't happened at the time Orwell was writing and the extent of conditions for Jews inside Germany wasn't fully known to the degree that it is now. In 1940 it probably looked as if Hitler had leveraged antisemitism to get elected and consolidate power, but then moved on from oppressing minority groups to a broader program of international aggression.