The American Jewish Committee reaffirmed today its faith in the “quarantine method” of dealing with professional bigots and rabble-rousers. The technique was an issue of debate between the AJC and other Jewish civic defense agencies several years ago.
The method, defined as denying “unwarranted publicity” to hate-peddlers, was described in a pamphlet summing up a five-year study on the problem.
According to “Deflating the Professional Bigot,” the quarantine method stresses against any pressures on communication media, avoidance of debate with statements of bigots, refraining from libel suits against bigots, use of publicity to unmask “respectable” persons who secretly help bigots and exposure of facts the bigot conceals, cooperation of “competent community relations organizations” in furnishing adequate information on bigot activities “to friendly inquirers; private exposure of bigots to opinion-molders in a community to be visited by a bigot; avoiding protests against renting of halls to bigots after the transaction has been completed, except when authorities controlling such public property as a school hall have a policy of rejecting undesirable applicants, and using promotion of bigoted literature as a basis for interesting people in projects for improving intergroup relations.
The text of the pamphlet will be published this month in the first issue of the Journal of Intergroup Relations, a quarterly of the National Association of Intergroup Relations Officials. The pamphlet was written by Dr. S. Andhil Fineberg, community relations consultant of the AJC.
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