Cancelled
At a time when cancel
culture is running rampant in the West, it is useful to note that pernicious as
it is, it is not new. In Dutch born Ian Buruma’s biography we find the 23-year-old
Baruch Spinoza banned from his Sephardic synagogue in Amsterdam for his
heretical ideas about G_d and the origins of the Bible. At the time Spinoza had
yet to publish anything, but his ideas were so powerful that he threatened both
the Jewish and Christian communities alike. Mind you this occurred in 1656 at
the height of the Dutch enlightenment. Along the way we learn much about life
in the milieu of the Dutch Republic.
Spinoza would go on
to write a major book on the philosophy of Descartes and later several books on
his own philosophy. He was part of a coterie of intellectuals that viewed him
as a cult figure; a reputation that was enhanced by his ascetism and celibacy.
Spinoza’s god was
nature itself. Thus, to study nature in the spirit of open scientific inquiry was
the pathway to finding G_d. For espousing freedom of thought, Spinoza was
cancelled. Although Spinoza did not believe in organized religion, he did
believe that it served the purpose of inculcating the values of justice and
charity within the broader population.
Buruma himself was cancelled as the editor of the New York Review of Books in 2018 because he didn’t bow down the #MeToo orthodoxy. In writing about Spinoza, Buruma has exacted a modicum of justice against the radical hyenas of the Left.
For the full amazon Review see: Cancelled (amazon.com)
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