https://www.nysun.com/article/the-cocktail-party-contrarian-125-years-after-zola-it-is-time-for-americans-of-all-faiths-to-confront-identity-politics-
In January 1898, Emile Zola published an open letter titled “J’accuse” in a French newspaper, L’Aurore. It called out the antisemitism that inspired false charges of treason against a Jewish officer in the French army, Alfred Dreyfus, accused of passing secrets to the Germans. Zola’s morally courageous declaration shamed those who hid their rank bigotry behind a façade of enlightened patriotic allegiance.
Zola’s cri de coeur ultimately led to Dreyfus’s freedom. It was a close call. Antisemitism has always been a powerful force. Dreyfus was twice convicted before being pardoned, and Zola himself was charged with libel and forced to flee to England for a time.
“J’accuse” was ultimately effective — not because 19th century France was persuaded to love its Jews, but because Frenchmen still loved the idea of France. They believed in the legitimacy of their system more than they hated their Jews, and they chose to honor the French commitment to justice by refusing to corrupt it.
Today, Jews in America rely on allegiance to democratic ideals as preconditions for their safety and security no less than did Alfred Dreyfus. Yet once-revered American values like personal responsibility, the sanctity of the individual, blind justice, religious freedom, and free speech — which have long served as traditional guardrails against antisemitism in this country — have been decolonized.
In their place, identity politics and diversity, equity, and inclusion have been mainstreamed. We see the results across academia, and the broader culture: division along racial and ethnic lines, loss of national pride, and the upending of the American idea itself. The oppressor/oppressed model of social organization legitimizes hatred of the designated “guilty” class and allows antisemites not just to blame the “white, colonialist” Jews for their list of grievances, but to do so righteously and brazenly.