[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] In Vienna: Hitler and Hertzl vs Mozart, Popper, and Freud

[David Green]

"Which I found interesting."

Yes, but do you really know why you found it interesting?

Welcome back.

DG





________________________________
From: Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
To: Peace-discuss List <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Mon, July 5, 2010 11:41:48 AM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] In Vienna: Hitler and Hertzl vs 
Mozart, Popper, and Freud

Qumsiyeh was visiting Vienna, representing, as usual, the Palestinian cause,
and wrote:

> …But back to Hertzl who contributed to 110 years of conflict and suffering
> for millions of people.  Hertzl wrote in his diaries that “Anti-Semites will
> become our surest friends, anti-Semitic countries our allies.” Instead of
> working to better life for all people, he chose to mimic ethnocentric
> chauvinistic nationalism in Europe and export it to another land whose
> people had nothing to do with what was happening in Europe.  Another famous
> Austrian Jew, father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, rejected Zionism
> because it has within it the same seeds of human frailty that he could
> easily comprehend.  To wit, Freud wrote once to a Zionist who tried to
> recruit him:
> 
> *“I cannot do as you wish. I am unable to overcome my aversion to burdening
> the public with my name, and even the present critical time does not seem to
> me to warrant it. Whoever wants to influence the masses must give them
> something rousing and inflammatory and my sober judgment of Zionism does not
> permit this. I certainly sympathize with its goals, am proud of our
> University in Jerusalem and am delighted with our settlement’s prosperity.
> But, on the other hand, I do not think that Palestine could ever become a
> Jewish state, nor that the Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be
> prepared to have their holy places under Jewish care. It would have seemed
> more sensible to me to establish a Jewish homeland on a less
> historically-burdened land. But I know that such a rational viewpoint would
> never have gained the enthusiasm of the masses and the financial support of
> the wealthy. I concede with sorrow that the baseless fanaticism of our
> people is in part to be blamed for the awakening of Arab distrust. I can
> raise no sympathy at all for the misdirected piety which transforms a piece
> of a Herodian wall into a national relic, thereby offending the feelings of
> the natives. Now judge for yourself whether I, with such a critical point of
> view, am the right person to come forward as the solace of a people deluded
> by unjustified hope.”*

Which I found interesting. 

--mkb

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