The. Healthy Taste
for the
Next Generation!
Meeting The Enemy from page 63
endless stream of naïve, ignorant
and easily manipulated people
around the world — no laughing
matter.
Especially after the events of Sept.
11 spawned the canard that no Jews
died in the World Trade Center, and
gave some people more "evidence" to
fuel their suspicion and hate.
Shocked by the rise of anti-Jewish
sentiment in New York in the
months after the attack, Levin set
out to meet and confront a wide
cross-section of people who sub-
scribe to anti-Jewish beliefs. The
lineup includes white supremacists,
evangelical Christians, militant
Islamists, Palestinian expatriates
and bitter African-Americans.
The veteran filmmaker serves as
our on-camera guide, as a way of
challenging the hate-spewers and
rumormongers to express their
ridiculous philosophies out loud. He
seems to harbor the hope that once
people meet and debate an actual
Jew, their belief systems will
implode.
Yes, prejudice is often based on
abstractions and can be shaken by
direct experience with a member of
the target group. So perhaps Levin
shifted the views of, oh, 50-odd peo-
ple he met and argued with.
But Protocols of Zion will have no
effect on a bigot who stumbles
across the film on television. (There
are, no doubt, some Jew-haters
among HBO's affluent, educated sub-
scribers, but it doesn't seem like the
best outlet to.reach the masses.) All
too often, the film evokes a man-on-
the-street approach that serves up
colorful opinions in lieu of unshak-
able information.
Granted, Protocols does offer a
moving response to the claim that
Jews weren't killed on 9/11. And the
documentary, which premiered out
of competition at Sundance, recalls
how the tycoon Henry Ford used to
hand out the Protocols upon request
with the purchase of a new automo-
bile.
Those who say, "Know your
enemy" may find Protocols of Zion to
be a useful, up-to-date survey Of the
usual suspects. Frankly, I have no
great desire to better understand
anti-Semites. I do wish, though, for a
fact-packed rebuttal of The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion and the other
lies that fuel anti-Semitism. E.
Vileil, 8
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December 15 s 2005 65