IS JOSEPH CAMPBELL AN ANTI-SEMITE?

[ShinShinKid]

I've been keeping as up-to-date as I can. I tend to tune out some of the all caps screaming, the repeated links, and responses to said screaming and links.
I have seen more than one interview with Campbell, in my college days and a little more recently.

Is it possible to be so polished as to not come off as someone you are not? Of course it is. Politicians, actors, even we do it all the time. I would like to argue that every time we go out into society, even interact with family, we are, in the words of the great Thespian, "Acting!"
That is fodder for another thread, though.
Okay, so you focused in on the part where I said there was arguing, how about his take on his extensive travels in Japan? The only things I've found, as I've said, read like twitter before twitter was kewl.
Do you have access to his journals whereby we can see some actual journaling in the form of his interviewee personality. I guess what I am saying is that I am not able to find a journal entry that sounds anything like how he writes or presents. No biggie dah. We can all have our opinions and go our ways and be happy, right? At least, that's the hope!

[brekin]

Oh Lord this one may be the most damning yet. Seems Campbell was using his teaching position to disseminate his anti-Semitic views.



Campus Life: Sarah Lawrence; Debate Persists Over a Professor Accused of Bias
Published: May 27, 1990
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/27/style ... -bias.html

The late Joseph Campbell, the teacher and philosopher, continues to make his presence felt at Sarah Lawrence College, where he taught for 38 years. Mr. Campbell was known for his work on mythology.
Under pressure from a small group of students and alumni, concerned that Mr. Campbell had made anti-Semitic and racist remarks, Sarah Lawrence has canceled a videotape presentation honoring Mr. Campbell. The event, scheduled for next Saturday, was to have been part of an alumni fund-raising weekend.

The college's commitment to minorities had been an issue in a debate over a teaching chair named for Mr. Campbell, which some students argued should be reserved for minority scholars. Late last month, the college president, Dr. Alice S. Ilchman, responded to the demands by revising the conditions for the chair, setting it aside for people of ''diverse cultures,'' including African, Asian, Native American, Latin American and Middle Eastern.
Students have taken the issue a step further, calling for more formal policies outlining the financing of teaching chairs and the conferring of honorary degrees. Mr. Campbell received an honorary degree in 1986, a year before he died at the age of 83.


'Questionable Merit'

''We should not confer high honors on someone of questionable merit,'' said Patrick Larvie, a student senator and senior.
Dr. Ilchman said in an interview last week that the controversy was over. The college, she said, has no way to prove the allegations against Mr. Campbell, and the administration knew little about the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism until the $1 million endowment for the Campbell chair was accepted two years ago.
''Joseph Campbell made an impact on the lives of many students who wanted to honor him with an endowment,'' Dr. Ilchman said. She said the accusations against him came from ''a few alumni and students.''

After the Public Broadcasting Service televised a series of interviews with Mr. Campbell in 1988, an alumna and a few faculty members, including two literature professors, Arnold Krupat and Daniel Kaiser, came forward to criticize Mr. Campbell as anti-Semitic and racist. Shortly afterward, Brendan Gill, in The New York Review of Books, questioned Mr. Campbell's philsophy of ''follow your bliss,'' and his use of anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
''Campbell's bigotry had another distressing aspect, which was seemingly ineradicable anti-Semitism,'' Mr. Gill wrote in September. ''By the time I came to know him, he had learned to conceal its gross manifestations. But there can be no doubt that it existed and that it tainted not only the man himself, but the quality of his scholarship.''

Graduate Recalls a Tirade

When Sarah Lawrence accepted the endowment from 60 friends and alumni, several students denounced the administration for holding a event honoring Mr. Campbell. The event showcased celebrities like the interviewer in the PBS programs, Bill Moyers; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and George Lucas, creator of ''Star Wars.''
When the video presentation of a the series, ''Celebration of Joseph Campbell,'' was announced, a Sarah Lawrence alumna and writer of children's books, Eve Feldman, of New York, was, she said, astonished to receive a flier about it.

In 1988, when the endowment was announced, Ms. Feldman said, she had recounted to the administration an anti-Jewish tirade Mr. Campbell delivered in a private conference session when she was a senior. She said she had been told that the teaching chair was already set up.
''He said that Jews were the cause of all that was bad with Western civilization,'' Ms. Feldman recalled, adding that faculty members had told her at the time that such remarks by Mr. Campbell were common knowledge. She dropped the course.

This semester, students petitioned the college to denounce Mr. Campbell's views.

Only Four Teaching Chairs

Dr. Ilchman questioned why there was concern, considering that Sarah Lawrence has few endowments and because few students and alumni have complained. Four teaching chairs and three honorary doctorates have been established since the college opened as a women's school in 1926, she said. It became coeducational in 1968.
Last March, 250 students conducted a sit-in demanding cultural diversity on campus, including the hiring of additional minority professors and recruiting students of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds.

''Our concern was to increase students and faculty of color and diversify the curriculum,'' Megan Parke, a student senator and senior, said. ''But the Campbell controversy showed that they chose to capitalize on the money regardless of the students' views.''
Dr. Ilchman said the minority population had doubled since 1985, to 14 percent of the 950 students, of whom 5.8 percent are black, 4 percent Hispanic and 4.8 percent Asian. The 20 minority professors include 14 blacks, 4 Asians and 2 Hispanics.

[brainpanhandler]

I pm'd DrVolin. I'd be surpirsed to discover he has no sources to back up his assertions, although I'm not sure why he didn't initially provide them.

[seemslikeadream]

I've been keeping as up-to-date as I can. I tend to tune out some of the all caps screaming, the repeated links, and responses to said screaming and links.
I have seen more than one interview with Campbell, in my college days and a little more recently.

Is it possible to be so polished as to not come off as someone you are not? Of course it is. Politicians, actors, even we do it all the time. I would like to argue that every time we go out into society, even interact with family, we are, in the words of the great Thespian, "Acting!"
That is fodder for another thread, though.
Okay, so you focused in on the part where I said there was arguing, how about his take on his extensive travels in Japan? The only things I've found, as I've said, read like twitter before twitter was kewl.
Do you have access to his journals whereby we can see some actual journaling in the form of his interviewee personality. I guess what I am saying is that I am not able to find a journal entry that sounds anything like how he writes or presents. No biggie dah. We can all have our opinions and go our ways and be happy, right? At least, that's the hope!

You can go to this library ......they have all his writings...page 3 of this thread

A Legend in His Own Right : A library in Carpinteria is devoted to the legacy of Joseph Campbell, who celebrated myth and spirituality.
October 07, 1993|SUE REILLY

"Don't Myth With Joe Campbell."

New York City bumper sticker circa 1960s.

The late Joseph Campbell was a mythologist of mythical proportions.

Though a reluctant guru, Campbell's high-intensity lectures and television appearances turned him into a pin-up for the pop-culture set.

Campbell Archives--An article Oct. 7 in Ventura County Life made several misstatements concerning Pacifica Graduate Institute and the Joseph Campbell Archives and Library. The library is not part of the institute but is held and administered by the Center for the Study of Depth Psychology, an independent nonprofit corporation. According to Pacifica President Stephen Aizenstat, the school has state approval to grant graduate degrees but is not accredited. It is, Aizenstat said, in the process of applying for accreditation through a regional accreditation association.

He shared ideas with everyone from Carl Jung to John Steinbeck to the Indian mystic Jiddu Krishnamurti, and once appeared onstage with the Grateful Dead.

A lapsed Catholic whose life became a mystical journey, he rummaged around in everyone's psychic baggage and concluded that we were all carrying around the same basic stuff.

The guiding idea behind his work, he once said, was to find in all world myths a common spiritual principal. You're talking about a search for the meaning of life? he was asked.

"No, no, no," Campbell replied, "for the experience of being alive, of the heroic journey through life."

This concept attracted a legion of fans, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Pat Riley, to his books and television appearances. The most famous of the latter are the Bill Moyers tapes.

Campbell spent a great deal of time in 1987 taping a series that, when edited down, amounted to six hours of television and attracted an estimated 35 million viewers.

According to Moyers, who moderated the PBS series, the shows' ratings went through the roof and caused the sale of Campbell's many books to soar.

Ironically, the acclaim came several months after Campbell died of cancer and created a huge but often conflicting legacy.

Some scorned him as a shoddy scholar and even a bigot. More specialized academics called him a popularizer who couldn't keep his curiosity in any particular intellectual corner.

His defenders saw him as an original thinker whose ideas carry the key to an enriched life and universal understanding. They said the attacks were a product of the jealousy that accompanies renown.

Everyone seemed to agree on one thing, however: As a storyteller, he could spellbind more skillfully than an evangelist warming up for Judgment Day. His personal vigor was a trademark, and it was present almost to his last hours.

On Oct. 30, 1987, when the 83-year-old Campbell died at his home in Honolulu, he left his words and ideas, as well as a personal library of 5,000 books and a collection of letters, photographs and personal possessions.

[brainpanhandler]

how about his take on his extensive travels in Japan?

I'm acquainted with a local professor. He has written 26 books. He has a dozen phd students at the monent. He knows 6 languages. And he does it all from a wheelchair. The life of the mind, a mind like that, can be quite expansive.

We can all have our opinions and go our ways and be happy, right? At least, that's the hope!

That is the hope.

[seemslikeadream]

Dr. Ilchman said in an interview last week that the controversy was over. The college, she said, has no way to prove the allegations against Mr. Campbell, and the administration knew little about the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism until the $1 million endowment for the Campbell chair was accepted two years ago.
''Joseph Campbell made an impact on the lives of many students who wanted to honor him with an endowment,'' Dr. Ilchman said. She said the accusations against him came from ''a few alumni and students.''


As for the Arnold Krupat been there done that again and again over and over and over again doesn't change a thing....even if you continue to psot the same crap..




Under pressure from a small group of students and alumni, yea 3 people



POSTED ON PAGE ONE....REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT WILL NOT MAKE IT ANY DIFFERENT THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU POSTED IT

After the Public Broadcasting Service televised a series of interviews with Mr. Campbell in 1988, an alumna and a few faculty members, including two literature professors, Arnold Krupat and Daniel Kaiser, came forward to criticize Mr. Campbell as anti-Semitic and racist. Shortly afterward, Brendan Gill, in The New York Review of Books, questioned Mr. Campbell's philsophy of ''follow your bliss,'' and his use of anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
''Campbell's bigotry had another distressing aspect, which was seemingly ineradicable anti-Semitism,'' Mr. Gill wrote in September. ''By the time I came to know him, he had learned to conceal its gross manifestations. But there can be no doubt that it existed and that it tainted not only the man himself, but the quality of his scholarship.''

[brekin]

slad wrote:

Dr. Ilchman said in an interview last week that the controversy was over. The college, she said, has no way to prove the allegations against Mr. Campbell, and the administration knew little about the accusations of anti-Semitism and racism until the $1 million endowment for the Campbell chair was accepted two years ago.
''Joseph Campbell made an impact on the lives of many students who wanted to honor him with an endowment,'' Dr. Ilchman said. She said the accusations against him came from ''a few alumni and students.''
As for the Arnold Krupat been there done that again and again over and over and over again doesn't change a thing....even if you continue to psot the same crap..

slad its obvious Ilchman is (was) doing damage control. Students were protesting and continuing to protest about Campbell's endowment. As an administrator she was trying to make it go away. (Hmm that rings a bell.) And if you read all of the article it is clear that the administration knew a lot about accusations of antisemitism and racism about Campbell. Why the whole article centers on a student reporting Campbell and his anti-Semitic views and being brushed off.:

In 1988, when the endowment was announced, Ms. Feldman said, she had recounted to the administration an anti-Jewish tirade Mr. Campbell delivered in a private conference session when she was a senior. She said she had been told that the teaching chair was already set up.''He said that Jews were the cause of all that was bad with Western civilization,'' Ms. Feldman recalled, adding that faculty members had told her at the time that such remarks by Mr. Campbell were common knowledge. She dropped the course.

slad wrote:

POSTED ON PAGE ONE....REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT WILL NOT MAKE IT ANY DIFFERENT THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU POSTED IT

slad that was the new york times using previous copy from a related story in a new related/updated story. The above story was the first time it was posted here. Maybe you should email the NYT with your editorial advice?

[seemslikeadream]

One woman saying something does not make it true......all gossip....


I wonder if you know anything about college politics?

Sarah Lawrence in particular


my own daughter was a victim of college politics...... stabbing in the back...

[seemslikeadream]

as far as I can tell the anti-semite crowd has 4 people accusing Campbell that's all 4 people....16 pages 4 people


just because you keep repeating them over and over they don't multiply into separate entities

Mr. Brendan Gill

Arnold Krupat

Daniel Kaiser

Ms. Feldman


Did I miss anybody?

[brekin]

slad wrote:

One woman saying something does not make it true......all gossip....

Wow, just wow.


And we have at least 1 student (not counting the Kafka remark which could just be viewed as cold hearted) , a seminar attendee, and 2 or 3 colleagues who have gone on record. Also a "wtf are you thinking?" vis a vis Nazi Germany letter from Thomas Mann.
Do we still need the butler int he drawing room with a candle stick to come forward for this game to go anywhere?

I wonder if you know anything about college politics?

Oh trust me...I know...do I know...

[seemslikeadream]

put Ms. Feldman under oath...then you can make that stupid comparison

[seemslikeadream]

slad wrote:

One woman saying something does not make it true......all gossip....

Wow, just wow.


And we have at least 1 student (not counting the Kafka remark which could just be viewed as cold hearted) , a seminar attendee, and 2 or 3 colleagues who have gone on record. Also a "wtf are you thinking?" vis a vis Nazi Germany letter from Thomas Mann.
Do we still need the butler int he drawing room with a candle stick to come forward for this game to go anywhere?

I wonder if you know anything about college politics?

Oh trust me...I know...do I know...

Then maybe you know people lie....that's why people are put under oath instead of spreading gossip...you do realize Anita was under oath don't you? She just wasn't gossiping?

I can't believe you tried to make that comparison

[brekin]

slad wrote:

Then maybe you know people lie

Sure, but why would all these different people; students, colleagues, seminar attendees, Jewish and non-Jewish, academic and non-academic bring such accounts forward? I mean what would they gain? Other than the acrimony of all the true believers of Campbell's very popular works? I just don't see how it could help them in anyway, probably just bringing unwanted attention and since this is mostly all old news, the late 80's-mid 90's, we can see how popular figures like Campbell are almost teflon to such accusations anyways. Are they all just meanies then, slad?

[seemslikeadream]

name all those people you are talking about I did up thread I got 4 names.....please do name names.....just cause you say all those people doesn't make it so

[brekin]

slad wrote:

name all those people you are talking about I did up thread I got 4 names.....please do name names.....just cause you say all those people doesn't make it so

Hello? slad you have everyone listed except Thomas Mann and the seminar attendee (you know the incident where Campbell told her "that's yoru problem" when she brought up the holocaust in reaction to his law of the jungle diatribe. How many people do you need? I'm really curious is 7 the magic number? 8? 9? Are you waiting for George Lucas's deathbed confession?

Mr. Brendan Gill
Arnold Krupat
Daniel Kaiser
Ms. Feldman
Thomas Mann
Seminar attendee (name is somewhere in thread (you can go dig for it))