If I were to ever travel again to New York, I’d love to have lunch with two of my favorite men in the world: attorney Stanley Cohen and social psychologist, Dr. Lee Jussim.
Both men defy orthodoxy in their respective fields, and both seem to wear the hate they receive for it as well-deserved badges of honor. There is an irresistible character trait.
Cohen has famously defended members of the Weather Underground, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and even Abdul Rah Yasin. Dr. Jussim is famous for defending rigor in social science and for foundational research in stereotype accuracy.
Many of the critics of these men would state that they are both stereotypical Jews. That is precisely why I love them. They both fit my personal stereotype for Jews. I adore them both. You could say I’m super Pro Semitic.
Ask people “How many Jews are there in the world?” are and compare their answer to reality. People invariably overestimate, this is likely to the incredibly disproportionate impact individual Jews have had on the world. This breeds resentment whenever humans start thinking in terms of us vs. them.
I’d guess the hatred of Jews goes back as long as there have been Jews who consider themselves God’s chosen people. Haters are gonna’ hate, but from my perspective, no group of people, so small, has contributed so much to the development of the world, especially the West™.
Both of these men interrogate the West and challenge it to live up to its own standards in Sisyphean, David vs. Goliath fashion. Truth and Justice are nearly impossible to achieve ideals, and these two men are gladiators on point. I would take a bullet for either of them. They both put their necks on the line against the prevailing narrative.
There’s no English word for gall, brazen nerve, effrontery and incredible guts, for a word like that, you’d have to search elsewhere.
In 2017, when I went to cover the farcical show trial of Officer Mohamed Noor Trial, I called and tried to hire literally dozens of criminal defense attorneys to help with my analysis.
None of roughly 50 attorneys, mostly in MN, would return my calls about the Somali cop accused of killing a pretty white woman.
Who do I hear from?
World (in)famous attorney Stanley Fucking Cohen, of all people, who answers my questions, refuses to take a dime, and listens to me bawl my eyes out for a half an hour about the community theater that is Minnesota’s due process system.
Everyone deserves a fair and public trial, Noor received Neither. I’m eternally grateful to Mr. Cohen, who’s wit and wisdom made that bearable.
Dr. Jussim, Rutger’s University Chair on Social Perception, slaughtered social science’s sacred cow: stereotype accuracy. The prevailing groupthink in that field was that stereotypes are always inaccurate.
Jussim asked the questions: How do we know that? How do we measure it? What does it mean when stereotypes are right?
If these questions make you want to throw rocks at him, you’re not alone. Romans and Jews alike will crucify you for heterodoxy. At least that’s what some Romans have told me. The jury is still out.
The scientific method is better than ideology if an idea can be destroyed by evidence, it should be.
Interestingly, Dr. Stanley Cohen is also the name of the sociologist who took the hysteria out of moral panics.
The term “mass hysteria” kept people from looking at the truth of “group conversion disorder” and “moral panics” by conflating them as the same thing and attributing them solely to women.
While women tend to be index cases and the super spreaders of mass psychogenic illness, male moral entrepreneurs certainly do their part in creating them and spreading moral panics.
Cohen studied several moral panics and did the bravest thing a man can do, he pinned the phenomena squarely on businesses who buy ink by the barrel.
Dr. Cohen described the “Deviancy Amplification Spiral” in which moral entrepreneurs in the media find examples of taboo or antisocial behavior, and amplify it into a moral panic. Dr. Cohen’s observations are more relevant today than ever.
In 2019, I met Mr. Mark Rosenthal at an event in Chicago. He had lost a sister to suicide, and felt obligated to make a movement out of something society doesn’t want to talk about, female domestic violence. In his case, it was his mother’s rage and violence that drove his sister to take her life.
In 2005, he co-founded Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR). Bucking the norms of convention, Mr. Rosenthal admonished Men’s Rights Activists at the conference not to disparage feminists, because it’s counter effectual.
Jaws dropped.
Rosenthal, a scientist educated at a school famous for activism, divides people into 3 camps:
- US – People you don’t need to persuade.
- THEM – People you can’t persuade.
- People on the Fence – People you can embrace or push to the other side with your language and tactics.
I break people into two camps:
Those who can be persuaded and those who can’t, but otherwise agree with Rosenthal.
Rosenthal suggests effective change agents spend no time trying to persuade those who don’t need to be persuaded (us) or those who can’t be persuaded (them) and focus instead on those you can actually reach.
He suggests using tactics that work and avoiding those that don’t.
The standard belief is that gathering an organization, large group, or mob is the way to facilitate change.
Rosenthal suggests that particularly in the case of men’s issues, this may be polarizing and counter effectual. It causes the other side to dig in and resist you.
Instead, he suggests doing research, using creative thinking, and putting yourself on the same side as your audience.
One example he uses is the outrage caused by Claire’s Boutique selling the very popular, “Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them” t-shirts.
While Glenn Sacks, a radio host, followed the usual protest model asking his listeners to email complaints to the company. Ultimately, the shirts were selling well and the chances of their removal were very low. Corporations are going to Corporate.
In his research, Mr. Rosenthal noticed the owner of Claire’s had been honored by the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. Rosenthal wrote the Museum a letter and sent copies to all of the corporate officers of Claire’s asking:
“Which of the following items does not belong with the others?
~Mr. Mark Rosenthal
Tolerance
Human Dignity
Throw Rocks at Boys
Understanding
The contrast between the stated aims of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, and the products sold by one of its major donors would be all the Anti-Semites in the world would need to discredit the museum. They’re more than capable of fabricating lies about us without our handing them propaganda fodder like this.”
The Rabbi who runs the Museum wrote back to Mr. Rosenthal, thanking him for the letter, and said that he’d spoken to the family that owns Claire’s. 4 days later, the company announced they were dropping the t-shirt.
Mr. Rosenthal also recommends the use of songs in persuasion and to influence change. Melodies and lyrics can stick in people’s heads for years.
Here is a song he wrote about two of my favorite topics, moral panics and due process.
Doo Doo Process is Coming For You
Me too, Me too,
Believe women they always speak true,
There’s no need for a trial,
Justice done pussyhat style,
Just accuse and then crucify you.
Doo Doo, Process,
Doo Doo Process is coming for you,
Instead of due process the process you’ll get,
Can best be described as doo doo.
The desire to punish without needing proof, is as old as humankind,
And many are the innocent imprisoned or worse, who’ve found themselves caught in this bind,
In Salem, Mass 24 were killed, before Increase Mather said,
That it were better 10 witches escape than one innocent end up dead.
But, Me Too, Me Too,
Believe women they always speak true,
There’s no need for a trial,
Justice done pussyhat style,
Just accuse and then crucify you.
Doo Doo, Process,
Doo Doo Process is coming for you
Instead of due process the process you’ll get
Can best be described as doo doo.
How many innocent lives were destroyed by Joseph McCarthy’s lies?
And the daycare hysteria of the 80’s, locked up countless innocent husbands and wives.
Have you heard that the woman who accused Emmet Till,
Admitted that she too had lied, 63 years too late, to save the poor boy, who was lynched because of her lies.
But Me too, Me too,
Believe women they always speak true,
There’s no need for a trial,
Justice done pussyhat style,
Just accuse and then crucify you.
Doo Doo, Doo Doo,
Doo Doo Process is coming for you
Instead of due process the process you’ll get
Can best be described as doo doo.
And now comes Me Too with ideas they call new,
But we’ve seen them again and again,
Assume one group’s claims and the other group’s guilt
Only this time it’s women and men.
“But history has shown us, take care what you wish,
For the winds of change blow, now and then,
‘Believe evidence’ protects women, better by far, than the hashtag #believewomen”
Me too, Me too,
Believe women they always speak true,
There’s no need for a trial,
Justice done pussyhat style,
Just accuse and then crucify you.
Doo Doo Process,
Doo Doo Process is coming for you,
Instead of due process the process you’ll get
Can best be described as doo doo.
After his presentation and song, I went to shake Mr. Rosenthal’s hand. I told him I planned to include him in this article when I finally got around to writing it. I explained how I was always confused by Anti-Semitism.
Of all the groups you’re going to hate, I’ve never understood why you’d hate a group that has contributed so much to humanity; a group that includes:
Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, Mel Blanc, Mel Brooks, Leonard Cohen, Alan Derschowitz, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Marty Feldman, Richard Feynman, Neil Gaiman, Seth Green, Joseph Heller, Harry Houdini, Franz Kafka, Bob Kane, Calvin Klein, Michael Landon, Geddy and Stan Lee, Lorne Michaels, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Leonard Nimoy, Adam Kokesh, Joey Ramone, David Lee Roth, Carl Sagan, Steven Pinker, Shel Silverstein, Gene Simmons, Paul Simon, Steven Spielberg, Brett and Eric Weinstein, not to mention the Nobel Laureates…
The list goes on.
I said, “even Jesus Christ was a Jew.” Mr. Rosenthal shrugged his shoulders, turned up his hands, tilted his head, and said, “So was God.”
I love the Jewish People. I’ll withhold my criticism of the State of Israel for another day.
