Like the ‘Jewish intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s’
The seemingly perpetually angry philosophy professor who once exclaimed “fuck those assholes” to those who differed with his views on homosexuality is leaving Yale and his country — because fascism is coming.
PBS and NPR this past week gave Jason Stanley wide berth to air his complaints about the still-fledgling Trump second term, during which he compared the current situation to “Jewish intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s.”
Stanley (pictured) accepted an offer to teach at the University of Toronto late last month after serving at Yale for 12 years. He told PBS Columbia University “folding” to the Trump administration was a deciding factor in making the move.
“I would have wanted all of our universities to collectively band together and loudly call B.S. on the charge that somehow intellectuals and universities by allowing free speech and protest are threatening Jewish students,” Stanley said.
“[T]he federal government, this fascist regime, has figured out a way to target funds to universities,” Stanley told NPR. “And what we’re seeing are democratic institutions across the United States, including universities, capitulate to these demands.”
Stanley said fighting antisemitism was an “entirely fake reason” to pull funding from universities, and claimed it’s actually increasing anti-Jewish sentiment. This echoes the views of other elite university academics.
It’s setting us up. It’s antisemitic. What they’re – I mean, what they’re doing, $9 billion from Harvard is what they’re threatening now. Columbia University, hundreds of millions of dollars so far. They’re targeting intellectuals in the name of – supposedly in the name of Jewish people. What’s happening is like what Stalin did in Eastern – in the Soviet Union – setting up large groups of people for popular rage. And Jewish people who are complicit or actively participating in this are setting us American Jews up. We’ve never been at the center of U.S. politics like this, and this is never good for the Jews. …
[T]hey’re creating mass popular anger against Jewish people by taking Jewish people, by setting us up and saying, you know, we’re the excuse for taking down democracy. And, you know, personally, I’m not going to risk my kids’ safety for a political point. And finally, by leaving, I’m making a political point. I’m making the political point that I’m repeating history of Jewish intellectuals leaving a country in the face of a fascist regime.
Invoking his “Black Jewish children” and Holocaust-surviving parents, Stanley went on to claim dismantling DEI measures were “attacks on Black people,” and that staying in the U.S. would mean enduring “risky conditions.”
Stanley’s claims about Trump being the real threat to Jews is akin to his past contention that conservatives not permitted to speak on campuses by angry progressives are the actual threat to free speech.
“Free speech is alive and well in America’s universities,” Stanley had said. Pitting “anti-racism” advocacy against free speech is a “false dichotomy.”
MORE: Stanley accuses conservative journalist of slander, quickly backtracks when called out
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Prof. Jason Stanley poses sternly for the camera; Old Ric/X
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.