It was after someone questioned the antisemitic comments and trope.
I see all good - always good when folks post relevant articles.
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Which ones? I think an antisemitic comment is pretty obvious and theyâre certainly obvious to those folks to whom they are directed toward. The blue square campaign isnât aimed at limiting free speechâitâs trying to educate people. Whatâs wrong with that?
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Respectfully,your question only goes to show why people need to be educated about anti-Semitism. Most Americans are unaware of history of the Jewish people, and the persecution that Jews have endured. Unlike many other forms of prejudice, hatred towards Jews has been rooted in outlandish conspiracy theories. In the middle ages, Jews were accused of âblood libelsâ which allegedly involved drinking the blood of Christian children during the Passover Seder. Also during the middle ages, conspiracy theories started circulating that a group of wealthy Jews were controlling the worldâs economy and government s. At the time, the Christian church forbid money lending and European Jewish families became the financiers of every European country.
The conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the worldâs economy, media and governments continued to fester for hundreds of years. In 1903, a Russian newspaper printed âThe Protocols of the Elders of Zionâ, the most widely distributed Anti semitic book in history which purported to be the record of secret meetings plotting Jewish world domination. After the Russian revolution, âThe Protocolsâ were published and widely circulated in Western Europe. They heavily influenced Adolf Hitler and formed the basis of Nazi propaganda against the Jews.
So long story short, but conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the media and the economy are a trope as old as time, and led to the murders of 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany. The âProtocols of the Elders of Zionâ continues to circulate on the internet and is espoused by Holocaust deniers, white supremacists and others to spread hatred of Jews. So whether we are talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene blaming the California wildfires on Jewish space lasers funded by the Rothschild banking family, republican leadership casting George Soros as a modern day Jewish Boogeyman who is seeking to destabilize the government through immigration policy, tens of thousands of fans at a Roger Waters concert cheering as an animation of a war plane drops dollar signs and the star of David, or Kanyeâs recent rants, a Jewish person is going to see it in the context of historic anti- semitic tropes that maybe you wouldnât necessarily interpret as such.
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Growing up I occasionally heard my parents refer to being cheated as âgetting gypedâ. Did not learn until adulthood that this was a slur vs Romani (âgypsiesâ). Once I learned this, I made sure to expunge that word from my working vocabulary.
Thatâs how education works.
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If becoming more educated means learning what happened to Jews in the Middle Ages, Iâll pass. I donât care, and I think you would have difficulty finding anyone that does. But you illustrate the point I was making earlier. I say Covid was created in a lab, someone says thatâs a conspiracy theory, all conspiracy theories are rooted in antisemitism, so therefore I have âunknowinglyâ perpetuated antisemitism.
I used the term âglobal mediaâ to reference a fact that a particular person had been in the news in media outlets across the world. No intent other than that. But a gang of four excoriates me for being antisemitic.
As I said before, these tropes are too broad to mean anything if they are being applied in these two instances. It makes a mockery of them, honestly.
As philosopher George Santayana stated, âThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.â History is a very important teacher.
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Oh, the irony that Robert Kraft, the creator of the blue square campaign, spends multimillions supporting the very candidates who use the George Soros trope.
I vehemently disagree. Educated, thoughtful people care about what happened in the past and how it shapes our thinking today.
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I honestly agree with some of what you are saying - that many people say things without the intent. But now you know (assuming you took the 2 minutes to read that post)âŠso the question is, will you knowingly continue to say things that are rooted in anti-Semitism? As I used to say to my kids when they were wrong-footed, âwhen you know better, do better.â
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I had a boss decades ago who frequently said âYou Peopleâ to me. I was honestly confused at first- you people meaning professional women with an MBA from a top school? People who own a house in the suburbs and drive Hondaâs? People juggling childcare and a job?
But then scuds starting shooting down over Tel Aviv-- and it was clear that in his mind, all Jews were basically people wearing turbans and wandering in the desert eating manna and waiting for the apocalypse so that Jesus would return. He was pretty excited at the prospect of the destruction of the State of Israel so that his savior would return. Never mind millions of lives lost.
I know this feels like ancient history to those of you who canât worry about anything that happened before the creation of Twitter. But it was a not so subtle reminder to me-- on an almost daily basis by the things he said- that in his mind I was not a ârealâ American, and that my entire existence as a Jewish person was to get killed? annihilated? destroyed? as a harbinger of the redemption.
No thanks. And what I wanted to ask him was, âIf I really ran the global banking system and the global media industry, would I be subjecting myself to working for you, a total putz?â
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Middle ages - or during my dadâs lifetime 80 years ago.
80 years ago is very recent - and this kind of behavior still takes place all over the world.
Very sad people are still so ignorant - and the ignorance in many ways is growing.
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âIf the Jews control the media, why donât we give ourselves better press?â Jon Stewart quipped. From this article: Jewish conspiracy theory: the satire.
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Soros has been mentioned by 3 people now. He was the biggest political donor in 2022, nearly doubling the 2nd place person, exclusively funding Democrats.
The first sentence of his Open Secrets website says, âUnder George Sorosâs leadership, the Open Society Foundations support individuals and organizations across the globe fighting for freedom of expression, accountable government, and societies that promote justice and equality.â (emphasis added)
Itâs obvious why he is a target for criticism, and it has nothing to do with him being Jewish. That trope needs to be scrubbed.
If you are referring to usage of the term âglobal mediaâ, that is probably the first and only time I have ever used it. Knowing what I know now, I may choose different wording, but you and I both know that I would have been treated the same even if I had used a phrase like ââŠin media across the worldâŠâ
I also read the linked article about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Iâve never heard of that book.
We probably need to agree to disagree on this. Because someone doesnât know, or expresses a lack of interest in knowing something (as I did), doesnât mean a person isnât capable of appreciating another personâs background or predicament. For more recent history like the Holocaust, it is a good idea to know some of the details because people are still directly touched by that, and makes for more genuine empathy for those people. But the Middle Ages? Not so much.
For me, the world as it is now is how I like to interpret most things. Things like @blossom âs awful personal experiences are what I would rather learn about.
And it seems like most of the concern here is around the motivations of the fringe. I wouldnât hurt a flea. I also donât hang out with these types, so as blue square would want me to do, I have no opportunity to speak up against them. I also donât believe my use of the term âglobal mediaâ has propelled anyone toward violence.
Beyond that, the conversation invariably gravitates to politics, and that is an awful realm to be discussing this topic within.
YOU may not get it, but the people to whom the dog whistles are directed ABSOLUTELY get it.
Literalism is not helpful in evaluating slurs. Thatâs precisely how a dog whistle works.
âI only said that Jews will not replace us. I never said I hate Jews.â
âIâm just saying that Iâd rather have immigrants from Norway than from Haiti. Doesnât mean Iâm racist.â
âI love living in Arkansas and I display the Confederate flag as an expression of southern pride. Has nothing to do with racism.â
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If someone is intent on making themself into a victim, and imagining meaning where there is no meaning, that is their problem, not mine.
You mean like how White people perceive greater anti-White bias than anti-Black bias since the 2000s?
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I canât compare what youâve posted to what Iâve said. I have spoken of concrete examples that are, in my opinion, deterministic. Your posted link speaks of very abstract situations and hypotheticals.
My grandfather was the only member of his extended family who realized that the Nuremberg Laws= 1935, well before the first gas chamber was constructed-- was going to end in genocide and he was able to get his family out of Berlin.
Sometimes when someone perceives themselves to be a victim- itâs because they are. Or they are about to be. Or they have been.
Your lack of perspective on other peopleâs lives is astonishing. There were no bayonets or bullets or Zyklon B in 1935-- yet. But folks who were paying attention understood what being victimized meant. By November of 1938 when Jewish stores and businesses and homes and synagogues were being burnt to the ground on Kristallnacht, it was too late for many to leave.
So I make no excuses when my radar goes up. Anti-Semitic rhetoric is the first step. Nipping that in the bud- and preventing violence-- is a learned response.
Perhaps now that you understand that you use Anti-Semitic dog whistles-- whether or not you think you are an Anti-Semite- you can choose your words more carefully!
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Which is exactly why I have a very close eye on things. Now. In the USA.
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