My general conclusion about this text is that it is oddly… kind of humorous. The way that the authors emphasize that they are, a) Jewish, b) out to dominate the world and c) the masterminds behind several historical events, gives me the impression of reading a conspiracy theory—and that is honestly what it is, after all. The Jewish stereotype of controlling the financial industry and the government is everywhere; they claim to own all the banks and money, and that even the IRS and the Federal Reserve are part of their diabolical plan. I cannot believe that it had such drastic consequences for the Jewish people, or that it was actually taken as genuine; some of the most incriminating parts of the protocols are in all capitalized letters to draw the reader’s attention explicitly towards them, as if the author is trying to tell the reader exactly what their plot entails. Indeed, it has a real “Mwahahahaha!” vibe about it more than anything.
One thing that caught my eye is the “Symbolic Snake” of Judaism. This is also a stereotype for Jewish people, as well as being a generally negative image. Why on earth would an actual Jewish person characterize him/herself as a snake? To me this is an obvious signal that there is something sketchy about the text. However, I suppose that it may be that my viewpoint is different; I have been taught that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a farce that led to the rise of Nazism in the 1930’s. However, the Protocols were apparently given out as assigned reading by German teachers; to the children that read them, they were authentic, incriminating, and frightening. They are terrifying, no doubt; the author feeds on the peoples’ suspicion of the press and loyalty to their religion by claiming that all education is controlled, and that Judaism will wipe out all other beliefs. It reminds me of Tara’s father’s perspective in Educated: A Memoir; he was so convinced that the government and the education system were controlled by a “greater force” that he rejected anything that may even pose a risk, harming others in the process. The same thing happened with the general German public against the Jewish people in the 1930’s, but on a much greater scale, making way for the horrible injustices that followed Hitler’s rise to power.