Abe Foxman Can't Stop the Hate

The Anti-Defamation League’s mission—combating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry—seems uncontroversial. But the civil-rights organization has a checkered history: For all the good the ADL does (supporting gay rights in the face of opposition from many Orthodox Jews), its record isn’t without blemishes (opposing Park51, the “Ground Zero Mosque”). Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, is divisive in his own right, most notably for denying that the Armenian genocide was, in fact, genocide. As Foxman himself is evidence of the double-edged nature of constant vigilance and heightened sensitivity against bigotry, so too is Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread On The Internet, his new book with privacy and Internet lawyer Christopher Wolf.