Anti-Semitism resists rational explanation because it is a ritual of civilization

Evidence

But the form of the social and individual spirit reflected in anti-Semitismthe prehistorical and historical connections which it cannot escaperemains obscured. If a malady which is so deep-rooted in civilization has no known justification, the individual would not rationalize it even if he were as well-intentioned as the victims themselves. All the rational, economic, and political explanations and counter-argumentshowever accurate they may be in partcannot provide a justification, because the rationality associated with domination is also based on suffering … Anti-Semitism is a deeply imprinted schema, a ritual of civilization; the pogroms are the true ritual murders. They demonstrate the impotence of sense, significance, and ultimately of truthwhich might hold them within bounds. The idle occupation of killing confirms the stubbornness of the life to which one has to conform, and to resign oneself. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1418

Categorization

• XREF: This is the anthropological theory of anti-Semitism core claim — connects back to the failed-civilization analysis threaded through earlier chapters of this book. — connects to: Anti-Semitism expresses civilized people’s hatred for reminders of civilization’s failures — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1420; Collective delusions like anti-Semitism persist because they function as tolerated outlets within a culture — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1793; Rational counter-arguments fail against anti-Semitism rooted in domination — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 126 (+1 more)
• SEED: The ‘pogroms as ritual murders’ framing — modernity as ritual restaging of archaic sacrifice — could anchor an essay on how regressive violence masquerades as civilization’s self-defense.

Broader Connections

• Anti-Semitism expresses civilized people’s hatred for reminders of civilization’s failures #expands (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1420
• Collective delusions like anti-Semitism persist because they function as tolerated outlets within a culture #corroborates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1793
• Rational counter-arguments fail against anti-Semitism rooted in domination #corroborates (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 126