Conservatives, too, must attack the roots of anti-Semitism and bigotry | Opinion

The fight against anti-Semitism has taken on a new sense of urgency following a series of troubling incidents. In Broward County, for instance, they included the all-too-common acts in which cowardly vandals spray paint Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic slurs on street signs and traffic signal boxes.

Yet far more troubling was the emergence nationwide of displays echoing the hateful anti-Semitic rants of the celebrity now known as Ye, aka Kanye West. From Los Angeles to Jacksonville last weekend, banners and electronic signs proclaimed that “Kanye was right about the Jews.”

Equally worrisome, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which tracks anti-Semitic incidents, reported that Florida saw a 50% increase in such incidents in 2021. Nationwide the number of anti-Semitic incidents rose 34%.

The Tampa Bay Times has reported that an ADL investigation “found that Florida is home to an overlapping network of white supremacists and anti-Semitic groups responsible for organizing numerous rallies and distributing hateful propaganda.”

Given the rising concerns, the ADL’s annual “Never Is Now Summit” on Nov. 10 in New York is especially timely since will follow one of America’s most divisive elections, one in which too many candidates have unabashedly peddled absurd conspiracy theories.

The Summit will feature a wide range of speakers and panelists. They not only include well-known public figures such as Liz Cheney, FBI Director Christopher Wray and actor David Schwimmer, but also rabbis, professors, journalists, college students and the ADL’s experts who track the activities of hate groups.

The timely topics include “After the Midterms: Elections, Extremism and Disinformation,” and “How Q-Anon and other Conspiracy Theories Fuel Anti-Semitism and Hate.”

The ADL’s hope is that this Never Is Now Summit’s participants will return home better informed on how to fight anti-Semitism in their communities and on their college campuses.

On the other hand, there’s an old saying — preaching to the choir — that may apply to this situation. Chances are that nobody who attends next week’s Summit will dispute the evidence that anti-Semitism, unchecked, could pose a serious threat to what’s left of our nation’s domestic tranquility.

However, the remedy must also include steps beyond merely deploring anti-Semitism — as well as racism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry against groups whose members are often targeted for abuses ranging from slurs and ostracism to vandalism and violence.

One step would include examining the root causes of bigotry directed at entire groups of people. Psychological studies suggest that such scapegoating is a way that some people deal with life’s frustrations.

In their troubled minds, the reasoning often goes like this: “I have problems. This can’t be my fault, so it must be somebody else’s fault. It must be the Jews … or the Blacks or all those illegal immigrants now pouring in, take your pick.”

At a time when the U.S. economy’s problems are causing widespread discontent, the cohort of people looking for someone to blame may well continue to grow, so the need for bipartisan cooperation to deal with those economic and societal problems is more urgent than ever — and, sadly, seems more unlikely than ever.

Political conservatives in Congress and elsewhere could play a helpful role — if they would detach themselves from the conspiracy theories and white nationalist leanings of some of those in Donald Trump’s inner circle.

There’s a precedent. During the peak of the Red Scare of the 1950s, a group known as the John Birch Society emerged touting conspiracy theories suggesting that even President Eisenhower was somehow soft on communism.

William F. Buckley, Jr., now regarded as “the father of modern conservatism,” denounced the John Birch Society and urged conservatives to distance themselves from it. It’s time for today’s conservatives to take a similar stand.

Meanwhile, the battle against anti-Semitism must begin to examine with the root causes of such scapegoating while also intensifying its educational campaigns if it’s to counter the possibility that the next wave anti-Semitic incidents will be even uglier — and far more dangerous.

Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point. It’s weekly, and it’s free. To subscribe, go to miamiherald.com/righttothepoint.