The scapegoat and eternal-antisemitism theories mirror totalitarian denial of human agency

Evidence

There appear few causal links more transparent than that between antisemitism and the Holocaust. The Jews of Europe have been murdered because the Germans who did it, and their local helpers, were Jew-haters. The Holocaust was the spectacular climax of a centuries-long history of religious, economic, cultural and national resentment. This is the explanation of the Holocaust that first comes to mind. It ‘stands to reason’ (if one is allowed to indulge in paradoxes). And yet the apparent clarity of the causal link does not survive closer examination. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 114 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Totalitarianism’s ideal subject cannot distinguish fact from fiction or true from false; The scapegoat theory collapses when it explains a specific choice; The commonsense antisemitism-explains-Holocaust causal link collapses under scrutiny. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 114 (+8 more)

Related

• Scapegoating a Jewish parasite class let the corrupt system continue unchanged (similarity 0.85)
• The commonsense antisemitism-explains-Holocaust causal link collapses under scrutiny. (similarity 0.84)
• Antisemitism explains victim selection, not the crime’s nature (similarity 0.83)
• The scapegoat theory collapses when it explains a specific choice (similarity 0.82)
• The eternal-antisemitism thesis survived refutation because it absolves victims of complicity (similarity 0.80)
• The Holocaust fused antisemitism with social and political mechanisms of an entirely different character. (similarity 0.80)
• Antisemitism acted as a catalyst for Nazi rule, world war, and genocide (similarity 0.80)
• Antisemitism was added to Pan-German program rather than foundational to it (similarity 0.79)
• Social factors, not just politics, turned antisemitism into extermination (similarity 0.79)
• Holocaust death rates tracked Nazi control, not local antisemitism levels. (similarity 0.79)
• Traditional antisemitism negatively correlates with willingness to perpetrate genocide (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The commonsense antisemitism-explains-Holocaust causal link collapses under scrutiny. #expands (0.82) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 114
• Crisis-time scapegoating of religious out-groups masks political and economic causes #corroborates (0.80)
• Ideological scientificality overrides factual reality in totalitarian action #corroborates (0.78)
• Antisemitism explains victim selection, not the crime’s nature #expands (0.78) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 703
• Totalitarian ideology coerces through the fear of abandoning a first premise #corroborates (0.75)
• Traditional antisemitism negatively correlates with willingness to perpetrate genocide #qualifies (0.72) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 521
• Social factors, not just politics, turned antisemitism into extermination #qualifies (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 273