This is why I dont take the word Anti-Semitism seriously

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salad
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27 May 2021, 11:47 am

Apparently criticizing Israeli atrocities makes one anti-Semitic:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/politics ... index.html

A quote from the article:

Quote:
"We also reject comments from Members of Congress accusing Israel of being an 'apartheid state' and committing 'act[s] of terrorism.' These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile to many Jews," the letter read.


So calling out terrorists is now Anti-Semitic because the terrorists in question happen to be Jewish??? Really? Really you ugly ass dumb piece of s**t Motherf***er??? Really Motherf***er????

I dont even care anymore. At this point I gladly and proudly call myself an Anti-Semite because I know I dont hate Jews but me merely demanding human rights for my people and condemning Israeli terrorism is now enough to get me labeled an Anti-Semite. f**k the word, f**k people who throw around that word as a political cudgel to silence pro-Palestinian activism, and f**k every Zionist in Congress who is allowing genocide against my people and is ok with it because Jews are given special treatment and privilege to act like Nazis and get away with it because being Jewish now is privilege.

If I sound mad you better believe I'm mad. Imagine being a Yazidi who regularly gets raped and wiped out by ISIS, immigrates to America for safety, then hear politicians saying that any criticism of ISIS is Islamaphobic and deeply problematic. If you were a Yazidi you'd be pissed.

Now imagine being Palestinian and having your country terrorized by a pariah state breaking over 96 UN resolutions, having your culture erased by Zionists, having your people shot and killed like flies, then when anyone even suggests that this is wrong they get shut down by the Israeli lobby in this country and their terrorist cronies calling anyone with a conscience anti-Semite knowing how loaded and powerful that term is in a post-Holocaust world.

Its disgusting on every level

EDIT: Before anyone takes my words out of context let me clarify. Of course America is facing a real and ongoing crisis of actual anti-Semitism, something I myself admitted to in a thread in the Haven titled "My dad won't let me learn Hebrew" which anyone can check out. Of course there are actual cases of anti-Semitism on the rise that is deplorable and appalling at every level and worthy of condemnation. And of course even and especially within the Palestinian community there is a sickening rise of using pro-Palestinian activism for anti-Semitic purposes. All true statements I agree with.

However that doesn't negate what this thread is about. This thread is about the very true, real and ongoing situation of Jewish terrorism visa vis the Israeli state being condoned and any and all criticism silenced and suppressed using the term "Anti-Semitism" as a smear tactic. Thats what im condemning. I dont condemn calling actual anti-Semitism anti-semitism. Im against using such a strong word as a politicized weapon to ruin someone's career just because they said "free Palestine" which has happened to so many people in this country, including my own family members who work in academia.


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Last edited by salad on 27 May 2021, 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ACuriousCreature
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27 May 2021, 11:54 am

Yeah I don't like to touch the zionism thing with a 10 foot pole but frankly the term anti semitic is in itself anti semitic as the term is only ever used to apply to jewish people implying the other semitic groups (arabs ethiopians etc) are irrelevant or unimportant politics is bonkers right now no one is allowed to tell the truth about the world any more



naturalplastic
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27 May 2021, 12:20 pm

Your article shows that antisemitism is an all too real thing.

Jews are getting beaten up by Gentiles in the USA.

But that doesnt mean that anyone who criticizes the Israeli government is an "antisemite".

Does the Israeli government hide behind the charge of "antisemitism"? That is an open question. To some degree it does.



magz
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27 May 2021, 12:30 pm

Arabs are Semites as well... and if we take this into account, the problem of antisemitism appears much bigger than we usually think.


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salad
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27 May 2021, 12:41 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Your article shows that antisemitism is an all too real thing.

Jews are getting beaten up by Gentiles in the USA.

But that doesnt mean that anyone who criticizes the Israeli government is an "antisemite".

Does the Israeli government hide behind the charge of "antisemitism"? That is an open question. To some degree it does.


I dont deny the real and ongoing crisis of actual anti-Semitism in this country. However the same way in this country there is racism against blacks but the word racism is used as a politicized weapon to push certain agendas and silence dissent on certain issues, so is the term anti-Semitism being used to silence any and all support for Palestine and criticism of Israel, no matter how justified


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salad
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27 May 2021, 12:57 pm

ACuriousCreature wrote:
Yeah I don't like to touch the zionism thing with a 10 foot pole but frankly the term anti semitic is in itself anti semitic as the term is only ever used to apply to jewish people implying the other semitic groups (arabs ethiopians etc) are irrelevant or unimportant politics is bonkers right now no one is allowed to tell the truth about the world any more


Exactly!! !!

I even wrote an essay back in college saying this exact same thing:

Quote:
The word Anti-Semitism as conventionally understood by society is itself anti-Semitic and racist, as it gives special treatment to one group of semitic people, Jews, and excludes other Semites from basic humanity and equal rights that are being abridged by the racist Apartheid state of Israel. Let me explain further. The word Anti-Semitism, as understood by 99% of brainwashed sheeple, means the discrimination, prejudice and dehumanization of Jews, through stereotypes and tropes that malign them and depict them unfavorably. I have no issue with giving Jews basic respect and equitable treatment, and to argue otherwise makes one an anti-Semite. The issue isn't that the above isn't anti-Semitic, it's just that Semites are a broad group of people that includes Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and the other descendants of Shem the son of Noah from the Bible, hence the word Semtiic from Shem, but to choose one group from that set of semites, Jews, and giving them exclusionary privilege to have their own word and terminology that proscribes all manner of negative behavior to them and only them, which has also been abused like a bludgeon to silence legitimate criticism of Israel's human rights abuses in Palestine under the threat of being censured as anti-semitic, you are only enabling a form of racism and real anti-Semitism far more pernicious than anything possibly imagined when one thinks of anti-Semitism.
To those who aren't understanding my point let me give an example to underscore just how truly troubling and anti-Semitic the word anti-Semitism is in its modern incarnation. Imagine if under the Oxford dictionary, as well as society's colloquial understanding at large, that racism was defined as follows:
"Racism is the mistreatment, stereotyping and negative portrayals of members of the African race, either by ascribing to them structural features on account of their race, as well as using slurs derogatory in nature and maliciously applied to those of African descent."
Now I'm sure that we can all agree that being discriminatory towards blacks is racist, am I right? But is all racism only against blacks? To take a word such as racism that should in theory mean all types of discrimination towards ANYONE on account of ANY race, and to appropriate that word as the prerogative of only one privileged race, why that itself is racist since blacks are only a subset of all races yet they're getting a word to denote any discrimination against them as being against all races. That's racist, am I right?
Now imagine how messed up it is that in a world where anti-Arab and anti-Middle Eastern hysteria is rife that to even challenge anything Israel does is anti-Semitic, but the hateful rhetoric and vile statements made against Arabs by top religious leaders and politicians in Israel, why that can't be bad because its not anti-semitic, because only challenging Israel is anti-Semitic because Jews are the only semites that matter. To those who aren't seeing why that's messed up imagine a society that normalized the fallacious notion that one can't be racist to whites, so saying we should kill all white people isn't racist, but even challenging BLM makes one a racist. Sounds crazy, huh? Well sadly today people are called Anti-Semitic for so much as even raising a whisper in criticism of any and all of Israel's atrocities in Palestine, but the same atrocities being directed against Arabs under very blatant anti-Arab bias warrants no censure of anti-Semitism.
If we as a society consider it messed up that some people think blacks can't be racist towards whites and that whites can never be victims of racism, which is BS since whites are a subset of all races and thus can be discriminated against on the basis of race, it's time we called issue with the modern usage of the word Anti-Semitism since it normalizes the privilege of one semitic group and finds no issue with the dehumanization of other Semitic groups. Society can never be fair and moral when politicians who simply call question to Israel's treatment of Palestinians are bludgeoned with the label of anti-Semitism, but those same people - see Ben Shapiro - see no irony nor issue with calling other semitic groups, such as Palestinians, terrorists and savages.


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salad
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27 May 2021, 12:59 pm

magz wrote:
Arabs are Semites as well... and if we take this into account, the problem of antisemitism appears much bigger than we usually think.


Thank you!! !


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27 May 2021, 1:06 pm

You can always play the same game. Declare that accusations of anti-semitism are in fact Islamophobic. Then walk off with a look of disgust.


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27 May 2021, 1:29 pm

salad wrote:
Quote:
"We also reject comments from Members of Congress accusing Israel of being an 'apartheid state' and committing 'act[s] of terrorism.' These statements are antisemitic at their core and contribute to a climate that is hostile to many Jews," the letter read.


So calling out terrorists is now Anti-Semitic because the terrorists in question happen to be Jewish??? Really? Really you ugly ass dumb piece of s**t Motherf***er??? Really Motherf***er????

The idea that criticism of Israel is "anti-semitic" has been argued about for a long time, and it is simply stupid in my opinion.

After all there are plenty of Jews who criticize various policies of the Israeli government, and there are some outright anti-Zionist Jews. Moreover, some of the most fervent Zionists aren't even Jews, but American evangelical Christians, whose tendency toward fanatical pro-Israel sentiment is probably the main reason why Israel has managed to get away with various violations of international law for so long.

The only people who claim that any and all criticism of Israel equals "anti-semitism" are (1) right wing Jews, (2) hardcore right wing American evangelical Christians, and (3) politicians, primarily Republicans, kowtowing to the above two groups. No one else claims this, as far as I know.

salad wrote:
I dont even care anymore. At this point I gladly and proudly call myself an Anti-Semite because I know I dont hate Jews but me merely demanding human rights for my people and condemning Israeli terrorism is now enough to get me labeled an Anti-Semite. f**k the word, f**k people who throw around that word as a political cudgel to silence pro-Palestinian activism, and f**k every Zionist in Congress who is allowing genocide against my people and is ok with it because Jews are given special treatment and privilege to act like Nazis and get away with it because being Jewish now is privilege.

Here in the U.S.A., calling yourself an "anti-semite" will alienate just about everyone, across the political spectrum, except for neo-Nazis.

But, here in the U.S.A. there are plenty of leftists who criticize Israel.

salad wrote:
However that doesn't negate what this thread is about. This thread is about the very true, real and ongoing situation of Jewish terrorism visa vis the Israeli state being condoned and any and all criticism silenced and suppressed using the term "Anti-Semitism" as a smear tactic. Thats what im condemning. I dont condemn calling actual anti-Semitism anti-semitism. Im against using such a strong word as a politicized weapon to ruin someone's career just because they said "free Palestine" which has happened to so many people in this country, including my own family members who work in academia.

That's probably due to the work of right wing organizations like Campus Watch, about which see this CounterPunch article, which notes that the professors they pick on are primarily "of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent." So it would seem that these organizations are using accusations of "anti-semitism" as an excuse for racism.


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27 May 2021, 1:34 pm

The word anti-Semitic sounds so dumb when used with an Arab, but Arabs are Semitic too.

So for any Israelis reading this post, if you meet an Arab who hates Israelis or Jews , just call him anti-Jewish or anti-Israelis, but stop using anti-semitic with them! it is like calling a black african anti-black for hating another african nation, it makes you sound sooo dumb.

So stop using it with the Arabs please! Use a different word.



Last edited by The_Face_of_Boo on 27 May 2021, 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

naturalplastic
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27 May 2021, 1:38 pm

The term "antisemitism" was coined in the 19th Century in Europe, and it replaced older terms like "Jew hatred". The reason it was coined was because it was deemed as being more precise a word to describe it because hatred of Jews could either hatred by religion, or it could be hatred by blood (or ethnicity).

Hitler's brand of "Jew hatred" certainly went well beyond religious bigotry to being about race/ancestry/blood etc.

But today the term "antisemitism" seems less precise than something like "Jew hatred" because Jews are just one splinter group of the "Semitic" peoples- which includes modern Arabs, and ancient peoples like Akkadians, and Phonecians, etc. So you get "Semitic" folks (like Palestinian Arabs) being accused of "antisemitism".

Europe now has a sizable Arab population that it didnt have in the 19th Century. Jews were the only "Semitic" people in significant number in France, Germany, and Britain, when the term "Antisemitism" was coined in Victorian times- so back then hating them was the same thing as "hating Semites".

Many White Gentile Europeans, and Gentile Americans of White European descent, today do have at least as much hatred for Arabs as they have for Jews. Its not rare to be bigotted against both groups. So some "antisemites" really are "antisemitic" against all Semites.

But some arent. Some hate one group( Arabs, or Jews), but not the other. And with some its about religion (they hate both Judaism, and are Islamaphobic). And with some its about race. And some dont have the intellect to distinquish.

Its a buffet! You can have your bigotry in any number of combos! :D

But yes - the term "antisemitism" does seem to me to be a bit dated, and bit confusing in the 21st century if what you're talking about is good old fashioned European style hatred of Jews.



salad
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27 May 2021, 2:52 pm

Mikah wrote:
You can always play the same game. Declare that accusations of anti-semitism are in fact Islamophobic. Then walk off with a look of disgust.


I try to boycott the word Islamaphobia as much as I can because even though like the word anti-Semitism there is valid demonization and hatred of muslims, that word has been used at times to silence any and all criticism of Islam no matter how justified.

I prefer not to play the ad hominem game only because im seeing with my own eyes how constructive dialogue and valid criticism of issues are being silenced and shut down using these nasty ad hominems of racism, anti-semitism, sexism and even Islamaphobia.


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27 May 2021, 4:03 pm

salad wrote:
Mikah wrote:
You can always play the same game. Declare that accusations of anti-semitism are in fact Islamophobic. Then walk off with a look of disgust.


I try to boycott the word Islamaphobia as much as I can because even though like the word anti-Semitism there is valid demonization and hatred of muslims, that word has been used at times to silence any and all criticism of Islam no matter how justified.

I prefer not to play the ad hominem game only because im seeing with my own eyes how constructive dialogue and valid criticism of issues are being silenced and shut down using these nasty ad hominems of racism, anti-semitism, sexism and even Islamaphobia.


I completely agree with this most terms with the word phobia inserted into them are only used to claim superiority over other groups most people ive met who are anti muslim are arab hate them but have no fear of them same for homosexuals and other protected groups

When some of my buddies are operating over seas and describe their experiences of dealing with islamic groups that cut open living children and use them as living bombs that somehow becomes Islamophobic? If you want to pretend these people hate muslims then they should say so but pretending there is a fear of muslims is ridiculous outside of specific instances