--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And therein is a lesson that can be…" description: "\"“And therein is a lesson that can be learned by all who fight the purveyors of hatred and lies. Though the battle against our opponents is exceptionall..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/deborah-e-lipstadt-98622_war_and-therein-is-a-lesson-that-can-be-lear_2224956.jpg" --- # And therein is a lesson that can be learned by all who… ![“And therein is a lesson that can be learned by all who fight the purveyors of hatred and lies. Though the battle against our opponents is exceptionally important, the opponents themselves are not. Their arguments make as much sense as flat-earth theory. However, in dramatic contrast to…” quote by Deborah E. Lipstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/deborah-e-lipstadt-98622_war_and-therein-is-a-lesson-that-can-be-lear_2224956.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/deborah-e-lipstadt-98622_war_and-therein-is-a-lesson-that-can-be-lear_2224956.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d1/deborah-e-lipstadt-98622_war_and-therein-is-a-lesson-that-can-be-lear_2224956.jpg) > ““And therein is a lesson that can be learned by all who fight the purveyors of hatred and lies. Though the battle against our opponents is exceptionally important, the opponents themselves are not. Their arguments make as much sense as flat-earth theory. However, in dramatic contrast to flat-earthers, they can cause tremendous pain and damage. Some of them use violence. Others, as Hajo Funke said in Berlin as we sat in the shadow of the Reichstag, use words that, in turn, encourage others to do harm. It was words that motivated those who blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, dragged an African-American down a logging road to his death, tortured a young homosexual in Wyoming, stabbed a Jewish student to death on the streets of Crown Heights, blew up Israeli families about to celebrate the Passover Seder, and flew planes into the World Trade Center. We must conduct an unrelenting fight against those who encourage—directly or indirectly—others to do these things. But, even as we fight, we must not imbue our opponents with a primordial significance. We certainly must never attribute our existence to their attacks on us or let our battle against them become our raison d’etre. And as we fight them, we must dress them—or force them to dress themselves—in the jester’s costume. Ultimately, our victory comes when, even as we defeat them, we demonstrate not only how irrational, but how absolutely pathetic, they are.”” [Deborah E. Lipstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-e-lipstadt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Calls for relentless fight against hateful rhetoric while avoiding glorifying opponents. **In simple terms:** Combat hate, not its fame. Key Takeaway Resist hate without mythologizing. Themes politics ethics social justice Mood determined cautious hopeful Type War:1 World trade:0 World trade center:0 Encourage Others:1 Fight Encourage:1 Learned Fight:0 Arguments Make:0 Lies Battle:0 Opponents Arguments:0 When to use this quote - public policy - education - media literacy - community activism Key Concepts propaganda analysis violent extremism Questions to Reflect On - How to prevent giving opponents platform? A Different Perspective Is fighting back always effective? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Arguments Make](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arguments-make-1116901/) [Encourage Others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/encourage-others/) [Fight Encourage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fight-encourage-619501/) [Learned Fight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learned-fight-640617/) [Lies Battle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lies-battle-4981324/) [Opponents Arguments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opponents-arguments-4981325/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [World trade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-trade/) [World trade center](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-trade-center/) ## Related quotes > [I decided to get to know my opponents and their arguments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lech-walesa/i-decided-to-get-to-know-my-opponents-and-their-arguments/) [Lech Walesa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lech-walesa/) > [I don't believe that arguments make the relationship stronger...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-believe-that-arguments-make-the-relationship-stronger/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Culturally, one of the best arguments we can make is, wait and see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/os-guinness/culturally-one-of-the-best-arguments-we-can-make-is-wait-and-see/) [Os Guinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/os-guinness/) > [I am one who believes in the power of the people. 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That's one of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernandinho/i-learned-not-to-fight-against-the-many-bad-things-in-football-and/) [Fernandinho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernandinho/) > [I learned you have to fight for yourself in the picture business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-young/i-learned-you-have-to-fight-for-yourself-in-the-picture-business/) [Loretta Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-young/) > [But one of the things I learned is that when you fight for something you believe in and you tell the truth and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanessa-kerry/but-one-of-the-things-i-learned-is-that-when-you-fight-for-something/) [Vanessa Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanessa-kerry/) ## More by Deborah E. 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Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-j-turner/) [Browse all 38,922 War quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“And therein is a lesson that can be learned by all who fight the purveyors of hatred and lies. Though the battle against our opponents is exceptionally important, the opponents themselves are not. Their arguments make as much sense as flat-earth theory. However, in dramatic contrast to flat-earthers, they can cause tremendous pain and damage. Some of them use violence. Others, as Hajo Funke said in Berlin as we sat in the shadow of the Reichstag, use words that, in turn, encourage others to do harm. 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