The anti-Semite has chosen hate because hate is a faith; at the outset
he has chosen to devaluate words and reasons.... Never believe that
anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies.
They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But
they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged
to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites
have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by
giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their
interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek
not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert.
-- Jean-Paul Sartre. Anti-Semite and Jew. NY: Schocken Books
Inc. (1948) p13-14. [Translation by George J. Becker of
Réflexions sur la Question Juive (1944)].