Why was Joseph Campbell anti-semitic?

Answer 1

He was accused of being anti-Semitic by a so-called friend only after Campbell's death. Thus far it remains only a baseless accusation.

When I shared with a friend in college that I enjoyed the music-dramas of Richard Wagner, he looked at me strangely. When I asked him what was wrong with liking Wagner, he answered that Hitler liked Wagner, as they were both anti-Semitic. I responded, "I have no idea what it was that Hitler liked about Wagner's music, but it's not Wagner's anti-Semitism that appeals to me. His music is grand and mystical, innocent and inspiring. As far as I can tell, Wagner's bigotry in no way contaminated his music."

Answer 2

"A few years after his death, some accused Campbell of anti-Semitism beginning with Brendan Gill's article, "The Faces of Joseph Campbell," published in the New York Review of Books, Vol. 36, Issue 14, September 28, 1989, pages 16-19. Gill, who identified himself as a friend of Campbell from the Century Club in New York City, notes in the article that he wrote it in reaction to the enormous popularity of The Power of Myth series in 1988."

I guess this Gill guy made the accusation with no real support behind it...people came out and defended him after it was written.

Answer 3

I just finished reading Joseph Campbell's Pathways to Bliss. I found it both interesting and in parts enthralling. It was also discomforting due to the subtle anti-semititic bias in choice of words and curtly expressed opinion in the book. In feel he reflected his frame of reference of the era he grew up in. Overall I saw the very bright mind of a deep thinking man, unfortunately unable completely break away from his own prejudices, which distracts from his writing.

Answer 4

He knew what was right for the world.

Answer 5

He was cool

Answer 6

what makes you think that he was?