Exchange: Tony Greenstein – More Errors Than Paragraphs, Cont. Previous: “Mikey” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony Greenstein is among the thickest people I’ve ever met. The last time he cropped up on this blog, so far as I recall, was in an early discussion about the antisemite Gilad Atzmon. Someone mentioned Greenstein’s opposition to Atzmon, so I pointed out that Greenstein is a crank of the first order who welcomed the Brighton bombing of 1984 and the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister. Greenstein then posted an indignant comment here that confirmed my recollection (the indignation was on account of my suggesting there was anything wrong with his position on the issue). He then insulted another commenter who had referred to the notion of Jewish “self-hatred” (which is not a term I ever use, as I consider it illegitimate to invoke psychological explanations for political opinions). Greenstein claimed that “self-hatred” was a concept first used by the Nazis against their domestic opponents. He was talking rubbish, of course: the term certainly dates from before WW1, and was popularised (though not coined) by the Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing in his book Der jüdische Selbsthaß. (Lessing was murdered by the Nazis in 1933.) When I pointed out Greenstein’s error on this site, he responded by sending me numerous emails comprising several thousand words of semi-literate abuse, and judging by this post he still hasn’t composed himself. Posted by: Oliver Kamm at January 24, 2007 07:04 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next: Tony Greenstein