Occasionally, when time permits (and it rarely does), I indulge myself by reading something non-work-related, something wonderfully distant from the carnage in the Middle East or the police state at home. Maybe something about art, or sports, or science. For instance, today I read a piece at Salon.com about male circumcision, arguments for and against. I have no position on the issue – and I don’t care what yours is, so don’t send me any foreskin screeds – it was just a way to kill five free minutes without thinking of politics (an ancient idiocy we libertarians are supposed to be trying to eradicate – with great success, you might have noticed).
Anyway, at the end of the piece, Slate’s editors posted a few of the most insightful comments from readers. And at the conclusion of the third comment, in reference to an upcoming anti-circumcision conference in Seattle, one of Slate’s all-star commenters writes,
Symposia such as the one in Seattle have more than a whiff of hysteria about them. I wouldn’t dare to suggest that there might be a small hint of anti-semitism as well.
Which, stripped of sophomoric coyness, means, The anti-circumcision movement is driven by hatred of Jews.
Ah, anti-Semitism: the one topic no discussion in this country is ever allowed to omit. Posterity will have a field day with us.
