Just how much does it matter to modern anti-Semitism that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were a forgery, and how much does debunking it actually accomplish?

Here’s another way to think about it: How much does it matter to modern Christianity that The Screwtape Letters were not written by an actual devil?

Maybe there’s someone out there in a rural singlewide with a mimeographed and uncredited copy who thinks they in fact were. And behind her there are more people who think there are actual demons plotting out there, even if these particular letters were written by a man who would be their enemy.

But behind them I think the majority of people who appreciate the work simply think “evil” is a valid and useful way to name a thing to be fought.  And that “how would you act if this were authentic” is a pretty good rule of thumb for “how you should act”. And telling them that no, actually, this is all the invention of a man named C.S. Lewis isn’t going to do much to change their worldview.

And I wonder if the same isn’t true with the Protocols and “the Jews”.

(And with the Willie Lynch speech among black nationalists, or, really, the Bible among Christians outside of a sola scriptura literalist tradition)