"There Should Be No Tolerance for Enemies of Tolerance." Sebastian Rejak Guest Blog Post

Source: Medieval Panda Photography

Sebastian Rejak is the author of Jewish Identities in Poland and America: The Impact of the Shoah on Religion and Ethnicity.  He has been kind enough to offer the following blog post, below.

Recently Mr. Rejak and I were discussing comments appearing in the comment section of the blog.

Comment moderation criteria are here. Comment moderation is imperfect.

I strive not to edit comments for substance. I regularly post material with which I do not agree. My reasons for doing so are here.

I reproduce Sebastian Rejak's response because I think it makes for interesting food for thought. I will continue to allow those with whom I disagree to post blog comments, if the posters otherwise adhere to criteria. My comment moderation will continue to be imperfect. I really do think "jaw jaw is better than war war."

Here is Sebastian Rejak's response:

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I took the time to read the guidelines for guests wishing to have their comments posted on the blog. Comment moderation criteria they are called.

"Your comment is more likely to be posted if: Your comment includes a real first and last name. … Your comment uses Standard English spelling, grammar, and punctuation."

One might infer from that that not mentioning one's name or using "non-standard" English spelling, punctuation etc., could make it less likely for one's comment to be posted. What should one think of the punctuation (not to mention the coherence and sense) of a comment like this one:

"(interestingly, homosexuals don't care about African or Arab countries.at all. and Blacks don't even care about a Black being voted into the Sejm.or the low rate of rascist crime in Poland)- this is strange. Im wondering if the persecuted have become perpetrators? Perhaps You can make s.th out of this idea-like, I don't know, if f.e formerly persecuted groups can use the Bieganski/Bohunk stereotype to boost their newly found egos?"

I assume "f.e" stands for "e.g."… (haven't found it here though: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/f.e) But, more importantly, what the sense of putting "homosexuals, African and Arab people, Blacks, the Sejm, the persecuted and perpetrators" in a comment? I fail to understand.

I have read all the comments in this blog's section on "Poland: A Living Deathscape of Diaspora Jewry". Probably an extremely interesting book – the eye-catching title indicated it would be a good read. What kind of comments do you get in this section? This:

"Or is the Polish government in some kind of Targowica-like secret agreement with those who would abuse Poland for their own ends?

These people, Radek and friends, will not do anything about Poland being defamed and pushed around? Why? Because that would be 'chauvinistic', so old-fashioned. They want to be 'modern'.  They believe that critizising ones own country all the time is in and of itself 'modern'.Western leftist elites say so. They have very low self-esteem.   These 'elites' are not true elites, ones, that deserve to be at the top. These 'elites' are the creatures of Soviet social-engineering. These people and their children and their children, they knew/know that they are not legit as elites.Them being 'elites' rested on Moskow, towards which they had an inferiority complex.  about Radek Sikorski-he just had no time to promote Your insightful book. He had to promote his wives books,f.e a book on cooking  -They do not understand the term 'national interest' 'national reputation' 'patriotism'.  Lets hope the next foreign minister will be different.If you can vote-plz vote for a better option.  restitution for heirless or communal property which, according to normal law all over the world, was inherited by the Polish/other nation This is where the Holocaust Industry comes in. They come to Poland with deep pockets and claim, with no legal basis whatsoever, that they are 'owed' compensation [actually, tribute] on behalf of all the murdered Jews, since the Holocaust was 'special'. Since this has no legal basis whasoever, they are willing to resort to extortion. They want to so shame Poland, through defamation, that the weak-willed Polish government caves in to their demands, and pays them off."

Nothing of the above is my invention. These are actual comments.

I've been called someone who "sounds elitist," someone who might asses others as "low class people like those lumpen proletariat who read and comment on the blog" and "recommend[s]" elitism.

[Danusha Goska here – I confess that it was I who alleged that Mr. Rejak's criticisms sounded elitist to me, and it sounded to me as if he were assigning blog posters to a lower class status. I apologize for offending him but I continue to be concerned about an approach that divides people up into "those worth talking to" and "those not worth talking to," into "those who are allowed to post" and "those who are not allowed to post." But I should shut up now, as this is his guest blog post! Mr. Rejak's blog post continues, below:]

I'm sure some people would call me a leftist, self-hating Pole, someone whose ambition to become a modern European is more important than his duty to be a patriotic Pole. I am none of the above. Nor am I somebody calling those with whom I disagree "lower class" or "lumpenproletariat". I never did that – not on this blog, nor in any other public space.

I think this blog is not about political views, so I will not talk about that. I can only say I grew up in a family where anticommunism was obvious and the word "leftist" was always used as offensive. Which does not mean I would use it today as such. But I certainly am not a leftist, (post)modern, Moscow-and-Brussels loving anti-patriotic Pole devoid of any sense of ethnic identity. On the other hand, I am even more opposed to intolerance, tribalism, chauvinism, nationalism and xenophobia – no matter whether Polish, Jewish, Russian, German or Flemish.

I also do believe in Free Speech and Dialogue. I do.

But I think there are values I deem more important than free speech. These are: respect for other people irrespective of their color and ethnic background.

I could imagine myself running a blog. Of course I would not expect all guests to share my views and to praise whatever I write. Yet I would definitely not publish posts that spread hatred or bigotry. Freedom of speech? – yes, go you all and publish your own blogs and post whatever you like. Sorry for the banal slogan: there should be no tolerance for enemies of tolerance.

It's hard to talk about dialog when some who participates in this dialog claims that others (people who think differently) are unpatriotic, un-Polish, are enemies of Poland, harm her and mis-serve her. I would not post comments for example by this priest who delivered a sermon on Saturday to participants of "The Fifth National Patriotic Soccer Fans' Pilgrimage" at Jasna Gora (Czestochowa). He said for example that they are the group that is today "the most discriminated against in Poland" and that they follow the values of Catholicism and patriotism and that they are paying a high price for "publicly expressing their views". Yes, if those views mean inciting to violence or hatred ("Śmierć garbatym nosom" – death to hooked noses; "White Power"; "Jihad Legia") they may face court trials, which they deserve. The priest also praised football team supporters for their "traditional attitude to the question of tolerance" – I bet that means "traditionally tolerance is no good". The pilgrimage ended with the fans shouting: "Precz z komuną", "A na drzewach zamiast liści będą wisieć komuniści", "Sierpem i młotem czerwoną hołotę". Most of them do not even remember how everyday life under communism "tasted." They want to become teachers of Polishness, patriotism, traditional catholic values.

On my blog there would be no place for comments for people who dream about Poland being a fortress and Poles being turned into medieval warriors fighting all who differ from them. But yes, you're free to preach what you believe in. Just don't use my name.

Of course, this is your blog, not mine.

Not all diaglo will be fruitful. I do not consider myself a member of an elite. All my grandparents were peasants. I myself lived in a village till I was 7. My parents are both university graduates but that does not make them elite people. Also, I do not think I am "elitist" just because I find it hard to discuss with people who believe my values are worthless or that my values are corrupt and antipatriotic. Even if we share the same ethnic background and share the same pain because of Poland being unjustly and excessively criticized, we differ on a lot more things: what they consider treason I consider decency and pragmatic steps taken to enhance Poland's image internationally; what they consider patriotism I consider chauvinism and ideology rooted in 19th century nationalism (we no longer live in partitioned Poland); what they consider love for Poland I consider hate speech and xenophobia. When they say: "if you want to read more on Endek ideology – but of course not the bad things some people attribute to it, wink-wink, nudge-nudge – click here" – I say Endecja bears responsibility for the darkest pages in Poland's interwar period. I could write a lot about those who boast being Dmowski's disciples today and see no problems with publicly commemorating Eligiusz Niewiadomski – the man who assassinated president Narutowicz in December 1922. Take ONR, NOP and Młodzież Wszechpolska as examples of that.

TO SUM UP

Danusha, you once wrote: "I realized, people aren't attracted to fascism because of what they think, they are attracted to fascism because of how they feel. I could not communicate to him [a certain Daniel – a facebook poster with fascist symbols on his page] a sense of self-worth and empowerment, a sense of feeling a valued part of a valued human race, via an internet post."

I could say I realize people aren't attracted to right-wing exclusionary views and to thinking of themselves as the only true patriots as a result of long years spent on reading historical and political analyses. This has definitely more to do with how they feel about Poland and Polishness. So, I feel I am unable to communicate to these people that one can be a proud Pole Even if some Poles – all too many Poles – turned out to have been villains (and it's not only about szmalcownicy, Jedwabne and things like that). I'm fine with being a Pole even though I don't think Poles as a nation stand out as either victims or heroes. I don't think we're special, I don't think we're a chosen people (a category I very much dislike in general), and yet I like being a Pole.

In sort, I am not surprised Mr. John Connelly refused to respond to some of the comments posted on this blog. I'm not happy saying that, I'm actually upset. I'm upset, Danusha, because your very interesting and worthwhile blog has been hijacked by people who do not realize that what they are doing is a terrible disservice to the Najjaśniejsza Rzeczpospolita.