I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful. Jewish people don't run the world via a cabal. The original statement was arguing that because denying the Holocaust is socially disastrous and often illegal that Jewish people must therefore secretly be in charge of the levers of society.
Biden is currently one of the most powerful people on the entire planet. Yet people happily chant "f--- Joe Biden" in public, put stickers saying this on their cars, and put up signs on their lawns saying this.
>>>> . . . in any epoch, to know who is in power, ask who you may not criticise.
> I'm not sure it was about criticism of the powerful.
Are “the powerful” not “who is in power?” The comment of the g-g-g-parent did not mention the Holocaust or any other act of genocide. Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude.
Also, your Biden analogy is as flat as your example of workplace ridicule of people affected by autism. A contrary example might be that the jeers of crowds are allowed for so long as they are not truly threatening or subversive. In the lead up to Biden’s election the news of his son’s laptop was suppressed. Effective criticism is not allowed.
> Unless there is some anti-Semitic hidden message the statement is nearly a banal platitude.
There is. The original quote is from an actual literal Neo-Nazi who used this statement to argue that Jews secretly run the world because Holocaust denial is ostracized.
An alternative interpretation of the apparent contradiction about Biden is that the U.S. President isn't actually all that powerful, but more of a figurehead.
You are going to start racking up all sorts of interesting "apparent contradictions" if you go down this route. One would experience some pretty intense social ostracism if one loudly criticized interracial couples. But I find it hard to believe that interracial couples actually run things. Ditto orphans, the disabled, and yes, Jewish people.
Down this route is the precise conspiracy that the original Nazi who spoke these words was pushing.
The original idea here is that because denying the Holocaust is social suicide and illegal in some nations, Jewish people must secretly actually run the world.
Biden is currently one of the most powerful people on the entire planet. Yet people happily chant "f--- Joe Biden" in public, put stickers saying this on their cars, and put up signs on their lawns saying this.