The Term "Antisemitism"

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The term "antisemitism" was coined by a guy named "Bill Marr" believe it or not.

Not the current cable TV comic, but the Nineteenth Century German publicist Wilhelm Marr.

Jews had been at odds with their Christian neighbors in Europe for at least 1500 years. But most of that time in most of Europe it was hostility based upon religion.

But by the Nineteenth Century hatred of Jews was often based upon blood as much or more than on just religious belief. Jews could be hated even if they had converted to Christianity.

So Mr. Marr thought that the world needed a new term to encompass both kinds of hatred. "Jew hatred" or "Jewphobia" didnt cut it. So he coined the term "antisemitism" to include "hatred by...blood, ancestry, ethnicity" or "race" as well as by just faith. And he himself espoused both kinds of hatred...charming guy that he was.

Back in the 19th Century Jews were the only large group of "Semites" in the European heartland. So the term kind of made sense for what it meant back then...and continued to...up through the Nazi Holocaust era of the mid 20th Century.

Trouble is today (a) Europe now has millions of recent Muslim Arab immigrants and their decendents living on its soil, and (b) the founding of Israel caused the Arab-Israeli conflict to steal headlines for the last 80 years.

So now Europe has more than one "Semitic" ethnic groups. And White Europeans often hate one, the other, or both the Jews and Arabs in their midsts. And Israelies and Arabs fight each other in the Middle East. And do heinous things to each other. But neither can be said to be "antisemitic" because both Arabs and Jews are "Semites".

So Mr. Marr's new term (to make it clear what kind of hater he was) is now causing more confusion than clarity.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 15 Apr 2024, 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good points. You can be accused of being "anti-Semitic" if you have any sympathy at all for Palestinians, who are just as Semitic as their Jewish neighbors.

What can I say? This is what happens when you get NT's involved.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I suppose I must be a true antisemitist then, because I'm against both sides in that war.

But for me the term lost all its meaning when they applied it to Corbyn and got away with it.

I'm starting to feel the same way about racism now that gardening is deemed "racist".

Are you alluding to Corbyn's interest in gardening? If so, I might do well to shave my beard off when I leave Arkansas for the UK. Can't be too careful.

Gardening? Racist?

Yup, as well as things like swimming, eating, having babies, climate change, etc. Try looking these things up on Google for yourself.

And I'm serious when I say I'm starting to believe that racism is losing it's true meaning in today's world. That's actually going to backfire on people on color someday, just like how people are no longer taking real antisemitism seriously (and I wonder if those zionists throwing the term around to deflect from the unfair way Israel has been treating the Palestenians has anything to do with that?)

But what do I really know? Im not picking sides in this.

He's right, but only with regard to institutional toff events like the Chelsea Flower Show, which may be corrupt anyway.

The term is fine. Everyone knows what it means. Antisemitism is hatred of Jews. It doesn't matter that there are other Semites and therefore the word is not technically correct, because it's widely known that the term is meant to apply to prejudice and hate directed at Jews.

Zionists shouldn't be allowed to get away with tossing this word around anytime someone brings up the ethnic cleansing of the Palestenians.

Yes! It's a serious problem that any criticism of Israel is labeled by some as antisemitism. There are valid reasons to criticize the state of Israel, particularly now that it is attacking and killing Palestinian civilians, and these critiques do not originate in hatred or prejudice against Jews.

I definetly agree. I also think it's bad for the Jewish community as a whole because now real antisemites (like those activists groups here in the states shouting "Death to Israel!") Are no longer being taken seriously.

It's a very VERY messed up situation.

They are not specifically saying "Death to Israel" but "From River to Sea" which does mean Israel as a Jewish state needs to go. What the replacement for the Jewish State should be means anything from a multiethnic democratic state to the slaughter of the Jews. That means it is almost impossible to distinguish who are anti-zionists who are not antisemitic from people who are using anti-zionism to disguise their antisemitism.

What the images from Gaza are doing is creating antisemites and turning latent antisemites into open ones. Similar to what 9/11 did to Islamophobia at the beginning of the century.

From the river to the sea, Palestine should be free means exactly that: that the entire area should be free, meaning free for everyone, both Palestinians and Jews. To suggest that it's calling for the slaughter of Jews is absolutely disgusting. Shame on you.