256
HAROLD WEIS BERG
HAROLD WEISBERG
SIRS:
One is tempted to dismiss Mary McCarthy's "Hue and Cry"
as an exercise in indignation bordering on temper tantrum. But this
would permit some of the most outrageous writing on any side of
the Arendt controversy to stand unchallenged. Indignation, no doubt,
does account for the irresponsibility of much of Miss McCarthy's piece
but it cannot excuse the abuse she heaps on Miss Arendt's critics nor
justify the introduction of snide comparisons of Jews and Gentiles and
crude generalizations about Jews and their values in an article pro–
claiming the superiority of Christian ethics.
Miss McCarthy is so wholly lacking in charity and almost as much
in logic that she will not permit an honest disagreement with Miss
Arendt. The critic is either a propagandist (Abel and Syrkin), has a
vested interest (Trevor-Roper), is brainwashed by climate (Crossman ) ,
or is just maliciously engaged in promoting a hate and slander cam–
paign (every Jew except a few kosher pro-Arendt ones). Nor can you
dispute Miss McCarthy's remarks about Jews and Jewish attitudes with–
out inviting her charge that you have dragged in the red herring of
anti-Semitism ("Second because I am a Gentile and fear that this fact
will only rejoice her enemies, since are not all Gentiles anti-Semitic?" )
Every critic of Miss Arendt, on this account, is tainted and there are no
conditions under which a critic, especially a Jewish critic, can be above
reproach. Only those who agree with Miss Arendt indicate by their
agreement that they are unbiased seekers of truth.
But it is a very substantial agreement that Miss McCarthy demands,
for she is also quite critical of "moderate parlor critics." They are guilty
of a failure to defend Miss Arendt against slander and perversely prefer
to attack her for her criticism of the leadership of the
Judel1rate.
Miss
McCarthy is astonished by such a false sense of values. Miss Arendt is
alive, she reminds us, and can be hurt by slander while the leaders of
the
Juden.rate
are quite dead and beyond pain. This is a curious atti–
tude. One would think that the living have an opportunity to defend
themselves and enlist the support of others while the dead obviously
do not. (Miss Arendt certainly is not without defenders, nor is she in–
capable of defending herself.) But leaving aside Miss McCarthy's some–
what literal-minded approach to the effects of slander, what about the
charge itself? Is there a hate and slander campaign against Miss Arendt
and if so, is it peculiarly Jewish as Miss McCarthy alleges? This is diffi-
