By Andrew Faas
This article follows up on Is Canada an Antisemitic Nation?, published on December 27, 2024.
The reaction to that piece was disappointing. The most depressing was the deathly silence from the many non-Jews I am and have been associated with, who I know received the article via email just in case they did not see it in Ottawa Life or on social media, where it received extensive exposure. Now, I get that with the myriad of stuff that is being sent to us and posted, we don’t have the time or energy to respond to everything; I fail to understand why only a handful out of a few hundred on my contact list reacted.
To the very few who did reach, you helped keep a flame of hope alive, even though it’s now down to a flicker.
Another huge disappointment was the minimal amount of pushback by non-Jews on the many vile and vicious comments the article generated on social media. This is the bystander effect in action, resulting in the cultivation of antisemitic and hate.
That’s the question I have been wrestling with (read: brooding about) over the last couple of months.
To do this, conversations were initiated with a number of close associates, including the people referred to in the article who had provided input and motivation for the piece. Anticipating criticism on the tone, length and complexity, the exact opposite was expressed. Indicating this was not a fishing exercise for compliments; rather, a quest for brutal honesty to understand the deadly silence, I received some telling input.
Readers identified an awakening (read: woke) in that, as one put it, “you hit a raw nerve”; and another, “it was an uncomfortable read”; and a few suggested that many may not be able to separate the issue of antisemitism from the situation with Gaza. On why people did not reach out or post a comment, most indicated the fear of recording or registering anything in writing. Some suggested people may be too ashamed to come out on this. One captured it for most, with “I just did not have the emotional capacity to deal with such a complex and controversial issue.”
The awakening for me was the realization that most of the emotions expressed were common and relatable to readers and the writer alike. I experienced the same complex and conflicting feelings in composing the article. The recognition of my own biases and past history of stereotyping, forced much debate with myself. This helped me frame what I hoped to be an objective challenge to others to initiate similar debates with themselves and others.
The awakening also helped me translate the science of emotional intelligence from the abstract to the hard realities of human nature. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you.
While being emotionally intelligent is an essential skill, there is also a dark side.
Where Emotional Intelligence is used to influence or manipulate others’ emotions for a questionable or evil outcome, trouble or destruction can follow. In a historical context, when Hitler and the Nazis manipulated the emotions of German citizens by creating chaos in pretty much every aspect of their lives and then, through propaganda, blamed the Jews for everything bad that was happening, the dark side of Emotional Intelligence was demonstrated. What is occurring today is an eery reminder of the past.
“In May of last year, the Canadian spy agency (CSIS) reported, “Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremists routinely weave antisemitic commentary into their narratives in order to inspire violence and recruit individuals.
The report says, “The continual increase in incidents targeting the Jewish community will normalize antisemitism in mainstream Canadian society and will likely be exasperated by the conflict in the Middle East”.
Another dark side is a psychological term known as “positive toxicity”. Positive toxicity is the pressure to only display positive emotions, suppressing negative emotions, feelings, reactions, or experiences. As we have focused on the implications of developing and exercising Emotional Intelligence, many therapists and econometrics have overly stressed the need for positivity and self-support. I would argue that this reaction has eroded our emotional capacity to deal with the hard realities of life and our capacity to be empathetic. It has also made us more self-absorbed.
Given that most of us have been “influenced” by the dark side of emotional intelligence, our silence on antisemitism is understandable. Understandable but unacceptable.
One of the main reasons I refuse to be silent on antisemitism is a nagging foreboding of history repeating itself and people claiming after the fact, as they did in post-war Germany and the occupied countries, “We did not know”.
Your silence now will allow people to make this plausible deniability claim when what looks to be inevitable happens again.
The recently announced election gives us the opportunity to find a voice by challenging the candidates on the issue of antisemitism separate and distinct from the conflict in the Middle East.
The issue needs to be part of the national debate on who we are as a nation — antisemitic or a “North Star” in how to combat the evil forces who are manipulating our emotions.
Photo: Gary Sankary, Unsplash
