Anti-Semitic victims are interchangeable outlets for objectless anger

Evidence

It is the blindness and lack of purpose of anti-Semitism which lends a measure of truth to the explanation that it is an outlet. Anger is discharged on defenseless victims. And since the victims are interchangeable according to circumstancesgypsies, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, and so onany one of them may take the place of the murderers, with the same blind lust for blood, should they be invested with the title of the norm. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1419 (#expands, via linked claim)

Anti-Semitism is based on a false projection. It is the counterpart of true mimesis, and fundamentally related to the repressed form; in fact, it is probably the morbid expression of repressed mimesis. Mimesis imitates the environment, but false projection makes the environment like itself. For mimesis the outside world is a model which the inner world must try to conform to: the alien must become familiar; but false projection confuses the inner and outer world and defines the most intimate experiences as hostile. Impulses which the subject will not admit as his own even though they are most assuredly so, are attributed to the object—the prospective victim. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 147 (#expands, via linked claim)

There is no genuine anti-Semitism, and certainly no such thing as a born anti-Semite. The adults to whom the cry for the blood of Jews has become second nature do not know the reason why any more than the young people who are called upon to spill that blood. Those in command who know the reasons do not hate the Jews and do not love their own followers. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 127 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-Semitic violence targets detached madmen symbolizing the Jews’ outside perspective. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1282; Anti-Semitic violence targets interchangeable defenseless victims rather than specific people — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1419; Anti-Semitism projects the subject’s own repressed impulses onto the victim — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 147 (+7 more)

Related

• Anti-Semitic violence targets interchangeable defenseless victims rather than specific people (similarity 0.90)
• Anti-Semitic violence targets detached madmen symbolizing the Jews’ outside perspective. (similarity 0.88)
• Anti-Semitism projects the subject’s own repressed impulses onto the victim (similarity 0.86)
• Anti-Semitism is a manufactured discharge of anger, not an innate disposition. (similarity 0.84)
• Antisemitic stereotype is the nationalists’ own self-portrait and displaced guilt. (similarity 0.82)
• Anti-Semitic violence is driven by fear that one’s own deeds are corrupt. (similarity 0.82)
• Anti-Semitism’s appeal is destructive pleasure, not material gain (similarity 0.80)
• Perceived Jewish weakness itself was seen as a key driver of anti-Semitic violence. (similarity 0.79)
• Anti-Semitic rage targets those who appear to enjoy happiness the masses were denied. (similarity 0.78)
• Adorno believed the anti-Semite’s psyche displays the cause of anti-Semitism. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Semitic violence targets interchangeable defenseless victims rather than specific people #expands (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1419
• Anti-Semitism projects the subject’s own repressed impulses onto the victim #expands (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 147
• Anti-Semitism is a manufactured discharge of anger, not an innate disposition. #corroborates (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 127
• Jewish mannerisms trigger visceral antisemitic reactions regardless of the person’s character #exemplifies (0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 927
• Ticket-thinking remobilizes defused anti-Semitic impulses into persecution #expands (0.78) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 164
• Antisemitism explains victim selection, not the crime’s nature #qualifies (0.75) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 703
• Anger targets individuals while hatred targets groups and persists #expands (0.75)
• Hatred differs from anger in duration, targets groups, and feels morally justified #expands (0.72)