The ugly roots of bias and racism run deep, but perhaps nowhere is it more sinister than in the insidious grip of antisemitism. An insidious force that can be seen in its treatment of rape victims, where they are blamed for their own assault.
Even before the war, Anti-Semitism was disturbingly prevalent and was becoming more mainstream. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of hostility towards Jewish students and Israel on college campuses, with a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents.
On many campuses, inherently anti-Israel propaganda or anti-Zionist has been spread like a poisonous fog, laced with age-old stereotypes and defamation of Jews. This includes the despicable blood libel, falsely accusing Jews of ritual child sacrifice, as well as propaganda playing on toxic tropes of greed, aggression, and conspiracies against non-Jews. It is crucial to recognize this twisted propaganda for what it truly is - morally reprehensible hate speech.
Although most incidents of anti-Semitism on campus may not directly stem from anti-Israel activity, it is crucial to have systems in place for investigating cases where such activity escalates into targeted discrimination and harassment against Jewish students. The Department of Education and the Department of Justice must have the power to address these issues swiftly and firmly. Any form of anti-Semitism must be vehemently condemned and combated at every turn to create a safer and more inclusive environment for all students on college campuses.
100% Henya! There also needs to be much greater awareness and education about the unique forms antisemitism takes (especially innate, unconscious biases) because many people do not even know we carry them or are exhibiting them.
I landed at college as a freshman over half a century ago and learned that my dorm supervisor was a closeted antisemite, something he revealed only to fellow black students. Ten years later I married into a community of Russian Orthodox Christians, many of whom blamed Jews for their role in the Russian Revolution that dispossessed them. Jew-hating, I have come to see, is an equal-opportunity pastime.
As usual, you present a well reasoned and articulated discussion. Your heart is in the right place.,The problem remains. It’s not like this issue is new or a secret. It’s been around for a few thousand years and in living memory we’ve seen horrific atrocities committed against Jews multiple times. Condemnations of Jew hatred also abound. I’ll spare you a rehashing of all the recent examples of Jew hatred that lead to discrimination against and murder of Jews, and will abstain from re-litigating the current conflict.
Behavior is about incentives and context. What are the incentives to be an anti-Semite? What are the incentives to not be an anti-Semite? We can understand the incentives of some people more easily than others. But at the base layer, people are being encouraged to manifest this inhumane and punitive behavior at places where they ostensibly are being enlightened.
What is enlightened about defamation and calls for extermination? What is socially just about demonizing an entire group of people? Besides the obvious hypocrisy and ignorance, it’s just plain ugly. This is disgusting. One of your principle foci appears to be an appeal to the better angels of the Left. It’s a noble gesture, and I believe sincerely done, but doomed .How ironic is it that the condescending crybullies of DEI turn out to be horrible racists? To me, not ironic. Bullshit is bullshit. Not your words, the whole DEI shtick. It’s a con job . The visceral hatred we are seeing, that’s where your comrades live. The quiet part is being said out loud. Good. let everybody see the inflamed pus filled carbuncle of the Left under the lofty rhetoric. Jews have seen this movie before.
Hopefully the Jews on the Left won’t stick around for the ending.
I appreciate your comments. Of course I do -- and I get it! But there are a few flaws in your logic (as there are, you point out, in mine!) ... The left is not a monolith. It is too close to monolithic, I'll admit, but it is not a monolith. I know -- and have chased out of the hedgerows -- quite a number of lefty allies to Jews and Israel. They exist. And we need to nurture and support them. Because to abandon all but a sliver of the political spectrum and put all our eggs in one ideological basket is a recipe for disaster. For example, we need to throw all the support we can to people like Ritchie Torres in your country and a handful of courageous leftists in mine. And consider the reparations that are underway in the UK Labour Party. A party that was irredeemably antisemitic has been yanked back from the abyss. Do not dare to suggest it is still a cesspool -- it still has problems, no doubt, but the rescue operation by Keir Starmer is the very model of how a movement that you would have (and maybe should have) left for dead has been pulled back from the very depths of Jew-hating extremism and made a reasonable, legitimate political party again. THAT is what we need to do. I can understand you @ing me and arguing that the left is problematic. What I can't understand is your position that people like me should give up the fight. Why? Why would you want people to give up and stop fighting antisemitism EVERYWHERE it exists? How is that a reasonable proposition?
I am not in favor of giving up fighting anti-Semitism. I’m basically a center-Right guy. The far-Right is looney. And by far-Right I don’t mean the average MAGA populist. Because that characterization is also a libel. But the hard left is the bigger problem. We used to have liberals who fought against social injustice, but who were not the lunatic fringe.
They were patriotic. They were in favor of free markets. They were tolerant. They were not instruments of a malevolent establishment. Where did those people go?
You guys need to clean house. I don’t see it happening from inside. I see a radical, hostile, dogmatic Marxist driven movement which is antithetical to Western values. This movement has tremendous institutional power at the moment, but is not that popular with the increasingly vocal majority, which is getting ready to open up a can of major whoopass btw.
The solution will not be driven by civilized conversation, but by driving the hard Left back into the wilderness where it belongs. This can happen via a number of mechanisms, and can be peaceful( hopefully) or not. The survival of the West is at stake. And people finally understand this. The next few years are going to be bumpy.
I applaud your brave position, intelligent argument, and good faith contribution to the dialogue around the anti-semitism proliferating in front of us. You should carry on. But I think some other people are going to weigh in on the excesses of the Left, and they will be less charitable. A lot of damage has been done, not just to Jews, but to ordinary citizens across the planet, by the excesses of the bizarre axis of Billionaires and modern Bolsheviks. There is going to be a reckoning. The smartest thing for the Left would be to rapidly reverse course and beg forgiveness. But I don’t see it.
That Dogmatic Marxist movement that you spoke about have joined forces with the Islamists the World Over, sort of a two pronged approach. If we can just get rid of those damn Jews, wr can then work on Destroying " the west"
As far as I can tell, the number one driver of antisemitism is that the existence (and success) of Jews contradicts their cherished beliefs and self-image.
For antisemitic Christians and Muslims, it is the rejection of their successor religions, which according to replacement ideas mean that logically, G-d should punish the Jews for that rejection. That Jews are clearly not being destroyed as they expect is challenge to their ideas. What if they are wrong? The thought is unbearable, so they turn it against the existence of Jews.
For those who reject Divinely decreed morality, well, it is the Jews who brought that to the world.
For the CRT believers, either you are oppressed and unsuccessful, or an oppressor and successful. But Jews are clearly oppressed, and have been for millennia - and yet are successful. The contradiction is intolerable, so they hate Jews.
It's essentially due to a self-image which gains value from their beliefs, not their deeds. And Jews are a living refutation of their beliefs.
I think you are correct. But there are other factors. I think a lot of the college kids protesting were incentivized by peer pressure and a desire for attention and to be part of an exciting activity that is considered socially virtuous in that setting. If you live in the Arab Muslim world you’re incentivized to hate Jews from early childhood.
If you kill Jews you get rewarded as well.
A lot of the anti-Semites in the West are not doing it for a perverted notion of Christianity, which ostensibly emphasizes loving thy neighbor. They are doing it because of Marxist indoctrination. As you say the overly simplistic oppressor - oppressed dynamic drives a lot of this. What underpins the psychology of the people attracted to that type of paradigm is another matter.
Most hardcore bigots are obsessive, insecure,vindictive underachieving people who suffer from arrested emotional development.
They hate Jews because they secretly believe that the Jews are better than they are. And that drives them nuts. Their incentive is finding a scapegoat upon whom they can displace and project their shortcomings. It helps if there is a constant undercurrent of anti-semitism to rationalize their beliefs.
You are correct on so many fronts! It’s not about Palestine for these activists, it’s bout themselves. “Look at me! I’m an activist!” BTW, re “They hate Jews Jews because they secretly believe Jews are better than they are” … 100% … I wrote this: https://pat604johnson.substack.com/p/why-jewish-chosen-ness-drives-bigots
The ugly roots of bias and racism run deep, but perhaps nowhere is it more sinister than in the insidious grip of antisemitism. An insidious force that can be seen in its treatment of rape victims, where they are blamed for their own assault.
Even before the war, Anti-Semitism was disturbingly prevalent and was becoming more mainstream. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of hostility towards Jewish students and Israel on college campuses, with a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents.
On many campuses, inherently anti-Israel propaganda or anti-Zionist has been spread like a poisonous fog, laced with age-old stereotypes and defamation of Jews. This includes the despicable blood libel, falsely accusing Jews of ritual child sacrifice, as well as propaganda playing on toxic tropes of greed, aggression, and conspiracies against non-Jews. It is crucial to recognize this twisted propaganda for what it truly is - morally reprehensible hate speech.
Although most incidents of anti-Semitism on campus may not directly stem from anti-Israel activity, it is crucial to have systems in place for investigating cases where such activity escalates into targeted discrimination and harassment against Jewish students. The Department of Education and the Department of Justice must have the power to address these issues swiftly and firmly. Any form of anti-Semitism must be vehemently condemned and combated at every turn to create a safer and more inclusive environment for all students on college campuses.
100% Henya! There also needs to be much greater awareness and education about the unique forms antisemitism takes (especially innate, unconscious biases) because many people do not even know we carry them or are exhibiting them.
I landed at college as a freshman over half a century ago and learned that my dorm supervisor was a closeted antisemite, something he revealed only to fellow black students. Ten years later I married into a community of Russian Orthodox Christians, many of whom blamed Jews for their role in the Russian Revolution that dispossessed them. Jew-hating, I have come to see, is an equal-opportunity pastime.
Works every time all the time, this cancer or evil of you prefer, hasn't run out of steam for over two thousand years. Why stop now?
As always just spot on, thank you Pat
As usual, you present a well reasoned and articulated discussion. Your heart is in the right place.,The problem remains. It’s not like this issue is new or a secret. It’s been around for a few thousand years and in living memory we’ve seen horrific atrocities committed against Jews multiple times. Condemnations of Jew hatred also abound. I’ll spare you a rehashing of all the recent examples of Jew hatred that lead to discrimination against and murder of Jews, and will abstain from re-litigating the current conflict.
Behavior is about incentives and context. What are the incentives to be an anti-Semite? What are the incentives to not be an anti-Semite? We can understand the incentives of some people more easily than others. But at the base layer, people are being encouraged to manifest this inhumane and punitive behavior at places where they ostensibly are being enlightened.
What is enlightened about defamation and calls for extermination? What is socially just about demonizing an entire group of people? Besides the obvious hypocrisy and ignorance, it’s just plain ugly. This is disgusting. One of your principle foci appears to be an appeal to the better angels of the Left. It’s a noble gesture, and I believe sincerely done, but doomed .How ironic is it that the condescending crybullies of DEI turn out to be horrible racists? To me, not ironic. Bullshit is bullshit. Not your words, the whole DEI shtick. It’s a con job . The visceral hatred we are seeing, that’s where your comrades live. The quiet part is being said out loud. Good. let everybody see the inflamed pus filled carbuncle of the Left under the lofty rhetoric. Jews have seen this movie before.
Hopefully the Jews on the Left won’t stick around for the ending.
I appreciate your comments. Of course I do -- and I get it! But there are a few flaws in your logic (as there are, you point out, in mine!) ... The left is not a monolith. It is too close to monolithic, I'll admit, but it is not a monolith. I know -- and have chased out of the hedgerows -- quite a number of lefty allies to Jews and Israel. They exist. And we need to nurture and support them. Because to abandon all but a sliver of the political spectrum and put all our eggs in one ideological basket is a recipe for disaster. For example, we need to throw all the support we can to people like Ritchie Torres in your country and a handful of courageous leftists in mine. And consider the reparations that are underway in the UK Labour Party. A party that was irredeemably antisemitic has been yanked back from the abyss. Do not dare to suggest it is still a cesspool -- it still has problems, no doubt, but the rescue operation by Keir Starmer is the very model of how a movement that you would have (and maybe should have) left for dead has been pulled back from the very depths of Jew-hating extremism and made a reasonable, legitimate political party again. THAT is what we need to do. I can understand you @ing me and arguing that the left is problematic. What I can't understand is your position that people like me should give up the fight. Why? Why would you want people to give up and stop fighting antisemitism EVERYWHERE it exists? How is that a reasonable proposition?
I am not in favor of giving up fighting anti-Semitism. I’m basically a center-Right guy. The far-Right is looney. And by far-Right I don’t mean the average MAGA populist. Because that characterization is also a libel. But the hard left is the bigger problem. We used to have liberals who fought against social injustice, but who were not the lunatic fringe.
They were patriotic. They were in favor of free markets. They were tolerant. They were not instruments of a malevolent establishment. Where did those people go?
You guys need to clean house. I don’t see it happening from inside. I see a radical, hostile, dogmatic Marxist driven movement which is antithetical to Western values. This movement has tremendous institutional power at the moment, but is not that popular with the increasingly vocal majority, which is getting ready to open up a can of major whoopass btw.
The solution will not be driven by civilized conversation, but by driving the hard Left back into the wilderness where it belongs. This can happen via a number of mechanisms, and can be peaceful( hopefully) or not. The survival of the West is at stake. And people finally understand this. The next few years are going to be bumpy.
I applaud your brave position, intelligent argument, and good faith contribution to the dialogue around the anti-semitism proliferating in front of us. You should carry on. But I think some other people are going to weigh in on the excesses of the Left, and they will be less charitable. A lot of damage has been done, not just to Jews, but to ordinary citizens across the planet, by the excesses of the bizarre axis of Billionaires and modern Bolsheviks. There is going to be a reckoning. The smartest thing for the Left would be to rapidly reverse course and beg forgiveness. But I don’t see it.
Tanto
That Dogmatic Marxist movement that you spoke about have joined forces with the Islamists the World Over, sort of a two pronged approach. If we can just get rid of those damn Jews, wr can then work on Destroying " the west"
And John Fetterman
"What are the incentives to be an anti-Semite?"
As far as I can tell, the number one driver of antisemitism is that the existence (and success) of Jews contradicts their cherished beliefs and self-image.
For antisemitic Christians and Muslims, it is the rejection of their successor religions, which according to replacement ideas mean that logically, G-d should punish the Jews for that rejection. That Jews are clearly not being destroyed as they expect is challenge to their ideas. What if they are wrong? The thought is unbearable, so they turn it against the existence of Jews.
For those who reject Divinely decreed morality, well, it is the Jews who brought that to the world.
For the CRT believers, either you are oppressed and unsuccessful, or an oppressor and successful. But Jews are clearly oppressed, and have been for millennia - and yet are successful. The contradiction is intolerable, so they hate Jews.
It's essentially due to a self-image which gains value from their beliefs, not their deeds. And Jews are a living refutation of their beliefs.
I think you are correct. But there are other factors. I think a lot of the college kids protesting were incentivized by peer pressure and a desire for attention and to be part of an exciting activity that is considered socially virtuous in that setting. If you live in the Arab Muslim world you’re incentivized to hate Jews from early childhood.
If you kill Jews you get rewarded as well.
A lot of the anti-Semites in the West are not doing it for a perverted notion of Christianity, which ostensibly emphasizes loving thy neighbor. They are doing it because of Marxist indoctrination. As you say the overly simplistic oppressor - oppressed dynamic drives a lot of this. What underpins the psychology of the people attracted to that type of paradigm is another matter.
Most hardcore bigots are obsessive, insecure,vindictive underachieving people who suffer from arrested emotional development.
They hate Jews because they secretly believe that the Jews are better than they are. And that drives them nuts. Their incentive is finding a scapegoat upon whom they can displace and project their shortcomings. It helps if there is a constant undercurrent of anti-semitism to rationalize their beliefs.
You are correct on so many fronts! It’s not about Palestine for these activists, it’s bout themselves. “Look at me! I’m an activist!” BTW, re “They hate Jews Jews because they secretly believe Jews are better than they are” … 100% … I wrote this: https://pat604johnson.substack.com/p/why-jewish-chosen-ness-drives-bigots
We need more humanism and less activism.
More tolerance and less dogma. Extremism is not the way.
No -- we need more activism for good causes. Do not let bigots soil the term "activism." You and I are activists.
This couldn't hurt: https://www.thefp.com/p/apply-the-social-justice-playbook-to-the-jews
Well that wasn’t what I expected. Bahahaha
Thanks! I'll explore!
Racism blame the blacks