This takedown of an alt right mouthpiece went viral because it’s very polite and totally devastating
21.
I haven’t comprehensively mapped my genealogy, but my impression is 6. Could be more or less.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 15, 2018
22.
It’s only your parents’ grandparents. It’s not Egyptology.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 15, 2018
23.
I didn’t suggest there was anything complicated about your question. That’s just my best answer.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 15, 2018
24.
But you’re sure they were all of “non-Semitic European descent”, right?
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 15, 2018
25.
Ach, never mind. I’m off to spend time with my mongrel, half-breed children, before somebody like you kills them. Have a pleasant night.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 15, 2018
26.
Weird thing to say.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 15, 2018
27.
Okay, let’s keep this going. My recent ancestors were literally killed by people with your politics. So, do you believe…
A) They actually weren’t killed at all and I’m making it up.
B) They deserved it
C) Your politics are actually very different, or
D) It’s just not important.— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 15, 2018
28.
I guess my answer to that is layered. I’ll lay it out at my leisure. Check back.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 15, 2018
29.
Take all the time you like.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 15, 2018
30.
Several of these answers seem to be partly true, partly false, in various respects. But the simple answer is that history is brutal, and there is no meaningful political idea that does not hold the potential to give rise to some violence, if it hasn’t already.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 15, 2018
31.
How coy. Which ones are partly true?
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
32.
I’m not a historian, but I doubt the mythology of the Holocaust is true in every respect. E.g., many died, but perhaps not six million.
D was most correct–I don’t care. I’m focused on my activity in the present and will not stop because certain historical events make you sad.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 16, 2018
33.
What about my uncle Ryszard, killed at the age of nine by people with politics just like yours? Was he one of the real ones or one of the made up ones, do you think? pic.twitter.com/JEHJ6N8fxx
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
34.
Either way, if D) is your answer, you must surely comprehend that people like me do care. Because people like you literally killed most of us. And from all you say and do, it is not unreasonable of us to fear you would wish to do so again.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
35.
Ok? Ethnically conscious Jews certainly organized in the past to kill Europeans in large numbers. You don’t have a special claim on screeching endlessly about historical wrongs.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 16, 2018
36.
Well, firstly, no they didn’t. And secondly, even if your peculiar Jewish Bolshevik theory wasn’t rubbish, I’m not a Bolshevik. So I have nothing in common with these people except ethnicity. My politics have not killed your family.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
37.
As it happens, my maternal grandfather was imprisoned by Stalinists and lost his first wife and daughter. That’s my mother’s sister. So it’s deeply peculiar that you’d regard them as somehow my team.
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
38.
The revolution eats its own, sometimes. Regardless, I certainly grasp your point by now, which is that my politics upset you. Profound stuff.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 16, 2018
39.
Of course they upset me. They’re supposed to. Should I be neutral about them? Would that be a reasonable position for me to take?
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
40.
Obviously not in every respect, but you might consider conducting an actual discourse. Or not. Whatever.
— Evan McLaren (@EvanMcLaren) January 16, 2018
41.
Is this not a discourse? What am I doing wrong?
— Hugo Rifkind (@hugorifkind) January 16, 2018
