{"id":47578,"date":"2019-01-15T13:02:32","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T11:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47578"},"modified":"2022-08-07T11:05:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T08:05:30","slug":"deceptive-demagoguery-and-the-politics-of-false-nostalgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deceptive-demagoguery-and-the-politics-of-false-nostalgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Deceptive Demagoguery And The Politics Of False Nostalgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[622,628,794,402],"acf":{"old_id":"47578","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46249,"related_cahpter":"133","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Motivated by petty Levite tribal jealousy, Korach was a dangerous political hack","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korach is Jewish history\u2019s Disreputable Rebel. But for a tradition proud of producing mavericks like Abraham and Baruch Spinoza, Theodor Herzl and Menachem Begin, Betty Friedan and Natan Sharansky, rebellion is not necessarily wicked. In fact, what Shimon Peres called the \u201cJewish dissatisfaction gene\u201d generated 66 volumes of Talmudic debate, billions in start-up revenue, innovations galore in theology, technology, philosophy, philanthropy, academia, science. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What then is Korach\u2019s sin in mutinying against Moses and Aaron? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note Numbers 16:13.<\/span><b>\u201c<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is it not enough that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert,\u201d Korach charges. \u00a0Peddling such false nostalgia for Egypt to a people clearly vulnerable to such fantasies is unforgivable. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">True, leaders good and bad love evoking Golden Ages \u2013 whether they existed or not. Donald Trump\u2019s promise to \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d echoed Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s very different 1932 campaign vowing \u201cHappy Days are Here Again.\u201d In <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>On Revolution<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the philosopher Hannah Arendt taught that the word revolution evokes a cycle, returning to purity, to first principles. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Korach perverts a common rhetorical riff into treasonous propaganda. He builds his Politics of False Nostalgia with an ideological hijacking. He steals God\u2019s vision of future grace \u2013 arriving in a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. He then manipulatively applies it to describe the enslaving Egypt the unsettled children of Israel know and now miss rather than the redemptive Israel they\u2019ve been promised. Such deceptive demagoguery is subversive, creating a clash of mutually exclusive visions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Korach\u2019s categorical, sweeping, all-or-nothing, us-versus-them, approach to politics explains Chapter 16\u2019s opening word \u2013 <em>VaYikach<\/em> \u2013 and Korach took himself, separated himself from the Mosaic status quo. That petty Levite tribal jealousies motivated him and his co-conspirators made them ordinary political hacks. That he used his dissent to repudiate our community, our leaders, our values, and our vision so thoroughly made him, extraordinarily \u2013 dare we say it &#8212; revolting. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May Korach\u2019s destructive deceit caution us to beware those who reject categorically rather than criticize constructively. Let\u2019s keep political critiques of healthy democratic communities contained and patriotic \u2013 except when forced by an evil Korachian leader or policy. May we usually be guided by the wisdom of my rebbe. New York\u2019s former mayor Ed Koch, who advised, \u201cif you agree on 9 out of 12 issues, vote for me; if you agree on 12 out of 12 issues \u2013 see a psychiatrist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47579,"id":47579,"title":"demagogue-2193093_1920","filename":"demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deceptive-demagoguery-and-the-politics-of-false-nostalgia\/demagogue-2193093_1920\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"demagogue-2193093_1920","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47578,"date":"2019-01-15 11:02:14","modified":"2019-01-15 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Demagoguery And The Politics Of False Nostalgia","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Motivated by petty Levite tribal jealousy, Korach was a dangerous political hack","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":47579,"id":47579,"title":"demagogue-2193093_1920","filename":"demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/demagogue-2193093_1920.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/deceptive-demagoguery-and-the-politics-of-false-nostalgia\/demagogue-2193093_1920\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"demagogue-2193093_1920","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47578,"date":"2019-01-15 11:02:14","modified":"2019-01-15 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