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Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Holocaust, Antisemitism, Missionaries (9/12) Previous Document: Question 16.3: What is the connection between Judaism and Freemasonry? Next Document: Question 16.5: Did the Jews kill Jesus? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Answer:
A good starting point is the web page
<[5]http://www.igc.apc.org/ddickerson/protocols.html>. This site
contains a number of links with information on how to counter the
protocols.
Another page that might be of use is
[6]http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/8815/. This Web site
provides refutations to various alleged quotes from the Talmud which
are distributed by anti-Semites as well as refutations of other
anti-Semitic claims.
In a related issue, there is an urban legend circulating about Barnes
and Noble stocking the Protocols as a Jewish book. Here is a
refutation of that legend, from the fellow who started the protest,
Rabbi Eric Silver:
March 1999
This will be (I hope) my final statement on the Barnes and Noble
issue, and because of its content, I would ask that it be given the
widest possible distribution. (I probably don't need to say that.
My e-mail box, my fax lines and my telephone have been jammed for
days.
As many of you know, some weeks ago I contacted Barnes and Noble
over the fact that they were carrying "The Protocols of the Learned
Elders of Zion" under the rubric of "Judaica" (yes and no-depending
upon how and where one looked on the net and in the retail stores,)
and that their web site contained a review by a person purporting
to be a university professor, attesting to the historicity of the
book and claiming that many of the dire predictions and plots in
the book were already coming to fruition. Barnes and Noble told me
that they saw it as their mission to carry every title in print,
cited the First Amendment, and you can guess the rest, so I wrote
an e-mail describing the situation, sending it out to the various
lists on which I am a subscriber. Friday afternoon I received a
phone call from Gus Carlson who heads up the Communications and
Customer Relations Department at Barnes and Noble, and Laura Dawson
who manages the company's data base for the on-line and retail
stores. They had just gotten off the phone after a session with
ADL. That call was followed by a phone call from Tom Simon, Vice
President of Content Development at the company. They deeply
regretted the earlier response I had received, and both wanted to
assure me that at no time did any anti-Semitic intent color Barnes
and Noble's actions in this matter. I think they are to be
absolutely believed on this score. This company carries many books,
and each book has its adherents and its detractors. The company's
initial response to me was to cite First Amendment freedoms, and
indicate that they would carry even controversial books. I would be
the first to agree with that position. "Protocols," however, is in
a different category altogether, and the three B&N executives with
whom I spoke all agree with that. They made plain to me that the
company was not aware of the book's true nature at the outset of
all this brouhaha, and that had they been, the book would have been
classified differently. They also assured me that new company
policy would ensure that reviews would be carefully screened to
ensure that a spurious review does not pop up on their web site.
A bit of clarification is in order: very often a book will be
classified by its distributor, and Barnes and Noble will accept the
classification. An out of print version of "Protocols" that carries
the label "Judaica" will be classified that way on the Internet
site because no one at B&N knows any different. That's a far cry
from malice. Similarly, if it finds its way onto a shelf in a
retail store, there are obvious reasons why the manager would place
it in the Judaica area. The title itself is misleading, and pity
the poor store manager who obviously doesn't have the time to read
every single book in the store.
I think we're done with this issue, and in the best possible way.
Please-don't boycott Barnes and Noble. They don't deserve it. They
are honest book merchants who go out of their way to provide the
reading public with the best in books and service. At no time in
any of this was there even a scintilla of malicious intent.
Occasionally even a good company will slip up, but once B&N became
aware of the book's true nature, they acted with alacrity. The fake
review was pulled, and the book is being appropriately identified.
They have taken steps to ensure that spurious reviews don't pop up
on any book that might be controversial, and they have also taken
steps to prevent a vendor from classifying a book under a
particular heading (i.e., Judaica,) without that classification
coming under B&N's scrutiny. Moreover, Mr. Simon has asked me to
prepare a review of "Protocols" and he will post it on the web site
as the first review. He also proposed that I include URL's to sites
that would advise readers about the nature of propaganda, hate
literature, and so forth. Lastly, he advised me that the company is
considering setting up a new classification called "propaganda,"
"hate literature," or something like that. That would ensure that
hate literature (sic!) doesn't inadvertently pop up in the wrong
section. I want to commend Barnes and Noble for cleaning up their
own act, and I also want to commend the many of you out there who
have taken the time to let B&N know of your concern. More than
anything else, it proves that this is a company that listens to its
customers, and that's what good business is all about.
Rabbi Eric A. Silver
Similar comments were raised about Amazon.com, which prompted the
[7]ADL to raise the issue to Amazon's corporate office. Here is the
result, as [8]documented by the ADL at
[9]http://www.adl.org/frames/front%5Fprotocols%5Fzion.html:
New York, NY, March 28, 2000...
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today that Amazon.com and
Barnes & Noble.com have agreed to prominently place on their Web
sites ADL's statement that The Protocols of the Learned Elders of
Zion is an anti-Semitic Czarist forgery. ADL said the online
booksellers would state that they do not endorse the views
expressed in the book or the publisher's description should one
appear, which Amazon.com has had instituted for some time. Abraham
H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
We are pleased that Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com have
responded positively to our concerns and those of the public, and
have instituted ways to alert their customers to the fact that the
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a forgery. Since we are
not in the business of banning books, no matter how reprehensible
they may be, we sought and achieved the best solution to inform
book buyers. Both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com have
demonstrated corporate responsibility and we commend them for it.
Following is ADL's statement on the Protocols which will appear on
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com:
"From the Anti-Defamation League: The Protocols of the Learned
Elders of Zion, circulated by the Czarist secret police at the turn
of the 20th century, is plainly and simply a plagiarized forgery.
The Protocols has been a major weapon in the arsenals of
anti-Semites around the world, republished and circulated by
individuals, hate groups and governments to convince the gullible
as well as the bigoted that Jews have schemed and plotted to take
over the world."
In addition, Barnes and Noble bookstores will no longer shelve The
Protocols under "Judaica," but under "World History."
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