Good historical figure pick, but I think a more similar associative trick would be “Pythagoras was a vegetarian, so modern vegetarians come from an ideology that didn’t believe in irrational numbers and is flawed”.
Arguably, the Enlightenment is an exaptation of ideas developed in the Protestant Reformation, such as the competence of individuals to make moral and philosophical judgments for oneself, as opposed to requiring judgment to be rooted in the teachings of tradition, as was (and is) taught by the Catholic Church (and, for that matter, Orthodox Judaism).
The Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther. Luther was viciously, obscenely antisemitic, publishing a number of works such as The Jews and Their Lies and Vom Schem Hamphoras that denounce Jews every bit as viciously as ever Hitler did.
Therefore, laying claim to the heritage of the Enlightenment is inherently antisemitic.
Good historical figure pick, but I think a more similar associative trick would be “Pythagoras was a vegetarian, so modern vegetarians come from an ideology that didn’t believe in irrational numbers and is flawed”.
Arguably, the Enlightenment is an exaptation of ideas developed in the Protestant Reformation, such as the competence of individuals to make moral and philosophical judgments for oneself, as opposed to requiring judgment to be rooted in the teachings of tradition, as was (and is) taught by the Catholic Church (and, for that matter, Orthodox Judaism).
The Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther. Luther was viciously, obscenely antisemitic, publishing a number of works such as The Jews and Their Lies and Vom Schem Hamphoras that denounce Jews every bit as viciously as ever Hitler did.
Therefore, laying claim to the heritage of the Enlightenment is inherently antisemitic.
Even better.