What’s ultimately concerning about the Protocols is that many of the fears and beliefs expressed are still relevant today. The claims of control of the press, puppeteering governments, control by the wealthy, raising rates and taxes, and more are all accusations still regularly brought up by fringe political groups, and still used to justify hatred. The claim that “out of governments we made arenas on which party wars are fought out” must sound concerningly familiar to politically literate Americans. The claim of attacks on Christianity equating to attacks on morality and the stability and well being of society, particularly in the context of the promotion of darwinism and marxism which are specifically mentioned in the text, are still relevant as a political idea and toll of rhetoric.
It’s interesting how consistent the fears of the people have stayed over the years since the Protocols were published. The scapegoat to blame was once Jews, and anti-semitism does persist in the political and social landscape of today. However, many other groups are blamed in today’s America, notably immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants, and the fears of a high level government conspiracy are still alive in many people’s minds. “Big Pharma,” billionaires and celebrities, the FBI and CIA, and “the Swamp” in Washington DC are all new incarnations of the faceless and evil conspiracy supposedly plotting the enslavement and destruction of society described in the Protocols.
When reading, the actual values of the author are evident through the accusations being leveled and the institutions they claim are being targeted. The interesting outlier of the author’s claims in that it does not last to be expressed by any major political group today is their high regard for the aristocracy. The claims that birthright inheritance guarantees that government rulers are educated for their positions and any form of choosing government officials leaves governments vulnerable for the insertion of the agents of the conspiracy described. Its obvious the very clear political goal of the text was to use fear and hatred to manipulate readers into upholding the aristocracy and early 19th century conservatism.