ARGUMENTS
257
cult to answer because Miss McCarthy is so promiscuous
in
her use of
"slander." Not only is honest criticism of Miss Arendt impossible but
almost any criticism becomes a form of slander and a confirming in–
stance of the hate and slander campaign. So once again there can be
no grounds for honest disagreement. We are given no criteria to dis–
tinguish criticism from slander and, significantly, Miss McCarthy makes
no attempt to establish the correct use of "slander" in the way she so
carefully goes about clarifying "monster" for Mr. Abel.
Miss McCarthy believes there is a peculiarly Jewish hate and slander
campaign against Miss Arendt carried out in parlor and print.
It
is
peculiarly Jewish because with the exception of a few tainted non-Jews,
Gentiles don't find Miss Arendt's book offensive. Only Jews do. Why?
Could it be that Jews are hyper-sensitive about the Hitler period? Do
they take a simplistic view of the Holocaust and believe that all J ews
were martyrs? Perhaps, but what appears to be the main reason for
Jewish dissatisfaction with Miss Arendt's book is simply that the Jews
are not Gentiles. They don't have the proper Christian moral attitudes.
If
they did there wouldn't be such a hue and cry. A Christian can see
the book in true perspective; a Jew, deficient
in
Christian virtues, can–
not. As for Miss Arendt, she is really a nice Jewish girl with Christian
virtues. After all, doesn't she take pity on Eichmann?
As Miss McCarthy exposes the "campaign" against Miss Arendt
she appears to accept some of the most banal and stereotyped views of
Jews and Judaism. She constantly writes of the attitudes of J ews towards
Miss Arendt as if all Jews held common beliefs on the subject and could
not significantly disagree because they wcre Jews. Obviously, Miss Mc–
Carthy doesn't believe such nonsense and yet it is a clear implication of
several of her arguments. Notably, Miss McCarthy omits any reference
to Norman Podhoretz's excellent article on Miss Arendt's book in
Com–
mentary,
a Jewish-sponsored publication. Can Mr. Podhoretz be ac–
cused of slandering Miss Arendt in that article? Is
Commentary
in on
the hate campaign?
Miss McCarthy also appears to accept the discredited view that
Christian ethics are superior to Jewish ethics. The J ews still have the
Pharasaic stigma clinging to them. Pity is a uniquely Christian virtue
and so is forgiveness. "And if Miss Arendt, a Jew, found it in her heart
to pity Eichmann, is this a sin? Is this 'aesthetics'? To a Christian, it is
ethics; can this be the Gentile 'blind spot'? A Christian is commanded
not only to pity but to forgive his enemies." The implication is clear;
Jews are incapable of Christian pity and forgiveness and their tradition
lacks the proper moral commandments. But this is preposterous and
