antisemitism-still going strong ?

[pepperbird]

I really should stay off social media...
Today, I was doing some research for a piece, and browsed through Twitter a bit. The hashtag "jewish privilege" was trending, and while many took the opportunity to discuss antisemitism, there were a significant number of posts that were well, disgusting. There's no other word for it. Everything from holocaust deniers to some really nasty words being used- language I thought had been dead and buried. The really sick thing? There were people who actually thought that was fine and even agreed with it. They really seem to believe there is some sort of jewish conspiracy trying to take over the world and oppress everyone else. I figured it would be some far right hate group spouting this stuff, but no...it was just average people- all races taking shots.
What the heck is going on? From being blamed for killing Christ (I have heard that said) the Dreyfus affair on up, why is this one group the target for so much hate?

[alphamale]

there are only 14 million Jews in the entire world - most of them live in either the US or Israel....in the past they have been easy targets, but not anymore

[mark clemson]

1 hour ago, pepperbird said:

...why is this one group the target for so much hate?

I'm not sure what % of people, e.g. in the US and Europe actually have prejudice against them. It may be a smallish % but those folks are they only ones even bothering to be IN those chat rooms.

Now in the Muslim world, it's presumably a different story, due to Palestine, etc.

I think there's a significant % of people who just buy stuff that others make up. So one guy is obsessively weird about them or has paranoid delusions or what have you, writes them down in a way that seems marginally plausible, and some people buy it. And so it spreads to those who won't think critically for whatever reason(s).

[major_merrick]

There actually IS a conspiracy to take over the world and oppress everybody else.  The super-wealthy elite .01% are in charge of that.  Some of them just happen to be Jews, but it definitely isn't an exclusive Jewish-only club.  Mere coincidence, I suspect.  Some less knowledgeable folks take the information and run wild with it.  They don't separate the ideas that the Rothschilds and George Soros are evil, yet their Jewish next-door neighbors have basically nothing in common with the elite and are victims of the system as well.  So ignorant people end up persecuting their neighbors for the sins of the elite they can't reach. 

[amaysngrace]

I love Jewish people.  Wherever there’s a strong Jewish presence the restaurants are amazing and the docs are top notch.  

 

[alphamale]

7 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

I love Jewish people.  Wherever there’s a strong Jewish presence the restaurants are amazing and the docs are top notch.  

 

agreed

[Ellener]

Jewish people are completely integrated in my local community but there is not a large 'visible' population such as New York's Hasidic community, who accounted for more than half 2019's hate crimes there.

People who write angry spiteful opinionated stuff about anyone- if they weren't targeting one 'label' of others it would be another. Such websites have no place hiding behind the concept of free speech, organisers of decent groups don't allow such comments.

 

[pepperbird]

2 minutes ago, Ellener said:

Jewish people are completely integrated in my local community but there is not a large 'visible' population such as New York's Hasidic community, who accounted for more than half 2019's hate crimes there.

People who write angry spiteful opinionated stuff about anyone- if they weren't targeting one 'label' of others it would be another. Such websites have no place hiding behind the concept of free speech, organisers of decent groups don't allow such comments.

 

That's what bothered me so much. It wasn't some obscure website...it was on a popular social media platform- and I suppose it's because of the anonymity, but they feel they can say whatever they like.
To the credit of the Jewish people who replied, they were able to turn it around and use the "trending tag" ( do I have that term right?) to highlight just how rough a road they have travelled.  One explained how it really hit her when she went to have her DNA tested by one of the private companies. From what she said, she was able to find some relatives, and it really hit home that her mother had been the only one in her family to survive the war. She'd been hidden  by a sympathetic neighbour during the Einsatzgruppen raids.

[Ellener]

@pepperbirdWrite to the website owners. People are way more responsive this year to claims of racism and prejudice and there aren't enough moderators to catch everything.

4 hours ago, pepperbird said:

they feel they can say whatever they like.

I'm afraid there are a lot of immature people who think that.

[amaysngrace]

18 hours ago, pepperbird said:

why is this one group the target for so much hate?

Not to stereotype but many of the Jewish people I know are all high achievers, well known and respected in their communities for the mere positions they hold.  I can only guess that people resent them for making good lives for themselves despite the many challenges they’ve faced, you know, in a tearing somebody down to make yourself feel better type thing.

 

[elaine567]

19 hours ago, pepperbird said:

why is this one group the target for so much hate?

Hatred of the Jews is nothing new it has been going on for well over one thousand years. "History's oldest hatred."
It was no coincidence Hitler chose the Jews to hate...
There has been a lull in the hatred  since Hitler was defeated, but for the past 15 or so years there has been a growing anti Semitic feeling  in Europe.

[mark clemson]

Indeed, and it's all based on...    <what>? 

Pretty much nothing IMO except the fact that they're different.

And being "different" seems to be "enough". For example, for a long time the U.S. KKK had a thing against Catholics, too. Go figure...

Gingers, anyone?

Edited July 14, 2020 by mark clemson

[lana-banana]

The increase in anti-Semitic attacks and violence is almost certainly correlated with the worldwide spike in white supremacist violence. From the mosque shooter in New Zealand to Atomwaffen Division attacks in the US, there are more visible hate groups than ever before, and anti-Semitic stereotypes (about controlling the world, money, celebrities, etc) are a big part of that.

My friend and his wife were out walking in their neighborhood in a suburb of a major US city when two white guys pulled over and called them the K-word. He was pretty rattled; I don't blame him. The world of today is starting to resemble the world of the 1930s in more ways than one.

[major_merrick]

1 hour ago, lana-banana said:

almost certainly correlated with the worldwide spike in white supremacist violence.

....which is a myth outside of a handful of highly publicized incidents.

I see almost every other kind of violence, but the white supremacist kind is just a drop in the whole ocean of violence going on.  And unlike the 1930's, what white supremacist violence there is happens to be quite disorganized and quite brainless.  No matter how much we hate Nazis, remember how organized they were.  The place where I grew up had all sorts of weird violent groups.  Relatives of mine were part of National Socialist Movement.  They look pretty damn pitiful compared to the actual 3rd Reich. 

Until you see a bunch of real-life jackbooted thugs marching down the street in groups of more than a half-dozen, I wouldn't be worried.  Its the random people in huge mobs trying to burn things down that worry me... though I don't believe those folks are anti-Semitic (for the moment.)

[Woggle]

There is an increase in hate in general. This world is moving in a very scary direction. 

[schlumpy]

I listen to Larry Elder nightly on the radio. He had an interesting piece on about African-American anti-semitism. I can't give you any of the particulars such as time or place but it was basically a man-on-the-street type interview.

The interviewer would ask A-As about their views on Jews.

I had to smile at first because the interviewee would always launch into a series of statements about how they had nothing against Jews and they have known worked with Jews for years but.......

It sounded a lot like when white people are asked the same question about A-As and they would claim one of their best friends was black. Very similar in nature.

Then the interviewee would complain about how the Jews own everything and that many of stores in their neighborhood are owned by Jews and they should be owned by Blacks. The Jews they claim were sucking he economic lifeblood out of black neighborhoods and then retiring to Florida just like the Asians did.

Quite a bit of resentment in their voice.

It was an interesting perspective none-the-less.

[mark clemson]

Well - this is a specific instance. Think this applies to both the prejudice against white people and against jews threads, but will post here. It sounds like he doesn't hate white people or jews or anything, but maybe just has some prejudiced "theories". Overall he seems like a nice guy frankly.

https://www.aol.com/nick-cannon-speaks-following-backlash-023307676.html

[pepperbird]

18 hours ago, lana-banana said:

The increase in anti-Semitic attacks and violence is almost certainly correlated with the worldwide spike in white supremacist violence. From the mosque shooter in New Zealand to Atomwaffen Division attacks in the US, there are more visible hate groups than ever before, and anti-Semitic stereotypes (about controlling the world, money, celebrities, etc) are a big part of that.

My friend and his wife were out walking in their neighborhood in a suburb of a major US city when two white guys pulled over and called them the K-word. He was pretty rattled; I don't blame him. The world of today is starting to resemble the world of the 1930s in more ways than one.

some of the most vile hatred I've seen comes from groups like the latest incantation of the Black Panthers. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center considers it to be a hate group.  I did take a look, and from what I could tell, it doesn't have all that many members, but ironically, it's the same sort of stuff spewed by groups like the KKK- an awful of of hatred towards Jewish people.

[pepperbird]

I can't believe there's still Holocaust deniers out there. These people honestly believe the whole thing was a big hoax.
 

I've started volunteering online to help people search for missing relatives through genealogy  by taking down their backstories. Some of the ones about how their relatives survived that terrible time are really amazing. So are the stories of people who helped. These individual stories will be lost and forgotten I guess, as these people pass away. Some have been collected,  but there's still many more.

[lana-banana]

The Anti-Defamation League, America's forefront group for understanding and researching anti-Semitism, has some incredible statistics and studies you can read about the phenomenon. 

[Ellener]

On 7/14/2020 at 1:56 PM, mark clemson said:

the fact that they're different.

every single human on this planet is different.

That's how it is we're all the same! when displaced...

Edited July 15, 2020 by Ellener

[gaius]

8 hours ago, pepperbird said:

some of the most vile hatred I've seen comes from groups like the latest incantation of the Black Panthers. Even the Southern Poverty Law Center considers it to be a hate group.  I did take a look, and from what I could tell, it doesn't have all that many members, but ironically, it's the same sort of stuff spewed by groups like the KKK- an awful of of hatred towards Jewish people.

There's been a bunch of attacks against the Hasidic community in New York by black perpetrators in the last 6 months. Including one where a deli was shot up and another where several Jewish people were attacked with a machete during Hanukkah. It's hardly just a white supremacist problem despite what a lot of people want to make you think. Although the supremacists are particularly vile in that regard.

As far as why the disdain? I honestly don't know. My best guess, since there are a lot of very successful Jewish people in the upper echelons of society they make a very convenient scapegoat for anyone looking for an excuse for their own failures. 

One thing I have noticed about white supremacists is the root of a lot of their angst seems to come from not personally being particularly well off or successful. The most famous white supremacist musician, Johnny Rebel, had references to being broke and not getting any help from the government because he wasn't black in his songs. Perhaps pure jealousy is the motivating factor we're looking for.

Edited July 16, 2020 by gaius

[mark clemson]

He seems like a nice guy overall, but it's not really ok, though. He has some distorted stereotypes.  "White people" have a need to oppress and murder. Certainly plenty of white people have done that, but there's lots more who haven't (and least not on an individual level).

And of course this disregards e.g. the Rwandan genocide, modern day Somalia, the LRA, Mummar Ghaddafi, Idi Amin Dada, etc, etc...

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by mark clemson

[mark clemson]

Yes, prior to learning that, he did seem pretty nice, e.g. as Mariah Carey's husband and while hosting America's Got Talent. He is also saying things like he has no hate in his heart. Perhaps that's baloney, or perhaps it's stereotypes and weird beliefs only, but not actual hate for white people. Hard to say.

[jspice]

1 hour ago, enigma32 said:

Just curious about this. A guy who goes on the record with some seriously racist and anti semetic views seems like a nice guy to you? 

Kinda the same way a president who has said racist and bigoted things doesn’t raise eyebrows. That’s just the world we live in. 
 

If this guy has lost his job, clearly it’s not OK that he’s said anti-semetic things.