dangerous thoughts

To my friends in the liberal blogosphere who have trouble recognizing anti-Semitism in their ranks, I would recommend reading this article by Bret Stephens on The New Republic website

Stephens, an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, reviews the growing public debate about whether the charge of anti-Semitism is being leveled too loosely in our politics today (re: the controversial Walt-Mearsheimer academic paper on the Israel lobby to Jimmy Carter's use of the word apartheid in his new book title), and provides a compact, compelling defense of today's anti-anti-Semites.

In doing so, Stephens provides a smart primer on the insidious nature of the canards that too often are casually tossed around on so-called progressive blogs, and explains why these hurtful comments, even if they do not betray anti-Semitism on the part of the writer, help advance that ugly cause.