SMU Nate and Ann Levine Endowed Lecture in Jewish Studies

Dr. David Averred of Hillsdale College will speak on “THE RETURN OF THE JEWISH QUESTION:
Antisemitism on the Online Right”

In the past year or so, it has become impossible not to notice the number of influencers—led by Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, and Candace Owens—who are aggressively pushing, with varying degrees of subtlety, a “blame the Jews” approach to politics. Upstream from them are purportedly more serious thinkers who publish books and essays pointing to the role of Jews in orchestrating everything from wokeness to mass immigration to endless wars. While there is an undeniable appeal to blaming a pesky minority for the decline of America, the online right’s Jewish fixation is intellectually dishonest as it ignores the role of gentiles in shaping politics and attributes to Jewish machinations what are really the inherent tendencies of liberal democracy.

Dr. David Azerrad is an Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C. His research and writing focus on classical liberalism, conservative political thought and identity politics. Prior to joining Hillsdale, Azerrad was the Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation. He has taught previously at American University and the University of Dallas.