To pretend that something is what it
is not is business that can easily be fashionable and sometimes popular.
But the thing we have agreed to regard as what it is not will always
abruptly punish and pulverise us, merely by being what it is.
For years we were told that the Germans were a sort of Englishman
because they were Teutons; but it was all the worse for us when we
found out what Teutons really were. For years we were told that Jews
were a sort of Englishman because they were British subjects.
It is all the worse for us now we have to regard them,
not subjectively as subjects, but objectively as objects;
as objects of a fierce hatred among the Moslems and the Greeks.
We are in the absurd position of introducing to these people
a new friend whom they instantly recognise as an old enemy.
It is an absurd position because it is a false position; but it
is merely the penalty of falsehood.
Whether this Eastern anger is reasonable or not may be discussed
in a moment; but what is utterly unreasonable is not the anger but
the astonishment; at least it is our astonishment at their astonishment.
We might believe ourselves in the view that a Jew is an Englishman;
but there was no reason why they should regard him as
an Englishman, since they already recognised him as a Jew.
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