Name-calling over debate

ALDOUS Huxley wrote that 'the purpose of propaganda is to make one set of people forget that another set of people are human.'

-  KEVIN TOWELL

This dehumanisation is a prerequisite to oppression and atrocity. If a people's humanity is upheld in its fullness then we will cherish them as equals of like kind to ourselves, and permit no harm to them.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an antisemite as one 'characterised by prejudice, hostility, or discrimination towards Jewish people on religious, cultural, or ethnic grounds; anti-Jewish'.

I am fortunate to have met very few truly characterised by prejudice, hostility, or discrimination towards anyone on such grounds - those with persistent malice towards other races or faiths have a distinct, unpleasant vibe.

Our experiences of other's vibes are real and important, yet being subjective, they are hard to objectify. Yet, even before his hatred manifested in persecution and mass murder, it was obvious that Hitler was a rabid antisemite. Such hatred rightly evokes disgust in good people whose hearts are attuned to love and wisdom.

Evoking disgust is the most potent tool in the propagandist's armoury (with fear a close second), so smearing opponents as antisemites is a potent ploy.