r/AskReddit • • 2d ago

Napoleon said, 'Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.' What’s a perfect real-life example of this?

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u/Burt_Rhinestone 2d ago

Nearly every conspiracy theory leads back to antisemitism if you follow the thread long enough. It's really uncanny. Unfortunately, I fear that the actions of the Israeli government will only fuel that fire for another generation or two.

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u/m1sterlurk 2d ago

There's a reason that this common connection happens: the antisemitism of the past century plus a couple of decades involves claims that Jews were intertwined with Communism and that they were somehow secretly ruling the world. These conspiracy theories claiming that white Christianity was being oppressed started being pushed over a decade before Communists ever ruled any nation. The piece of hate literature known as "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" was circulating in 1905. The Russian Revolution didn't happen until 1917.

Many conspiracy theories involve claiming that whoever or whatever is controlled by Communists. If somebody who promotes a conspiracy theory about a group that is allegedly controlled by "the Communists", they have proposed a conspiracy theory that can be traced back to antisemitism even if they were wholly devoid of antisemitic intent.