#antisemitism for ts

[fanchonmoreau]

The betrayal of the left I feel most acutely isn't the mask-off antisemitism. Truth be told, I knew that was coming (even though I couldn't predict it would get this bad). What hurts is people's complete inability to call out the worst of it. Someone is yelling "go back to Poland?" Disavow it in the strongest terms. People are holding a banner with the words "Long Live October 7"? Expel them from your movement and don't let them back. See the odd Sieg Heil at your protest? For fuck's sake, get them the hell out of there however you can.

Why is this not happening? Getting rid of the Nazis is the lowest fucking bar. Why can't people clear it?

[hellsbellschime]

it's so heartbreaking that there's so much antisemitism in the pro palestinian movement. whenever you bring this up, people will gaslight you, but people are literally cheering on the deaths of innocent jewish people and trying to silence jewish people??? how is that not antisemitic??

Yeah it's extremely unsettling and I am not happy to be proven right on the obvious issue of people using a just cause as a means to convince people that actually antisemitism is totally justified too because Jewish people are actually evil. I try to take comfort in the fact that brain-broken weirdos on social media don't represent the entirety of humankind, but there are actually people IRL harassing and attacking Jewish people and Israeli people and it's disgusting, and it's being way exacerbated by antisemitism that is baked into world culture that people don't recognize or want to acknowledge. People are falling for and repeating dangerous propaganda that ironically will also make the lives of Palestinian people even shittier, and they're falling for it and repeating it because of internalized prejudice.

Plus, real talk, aside from antisemitism being obviously morally wrong, antisemitism has been cyclical for literal millennia, and when we've reached the point where people of any political POV can at least agree that the world would be fine if we could just deal with those evil Jews, that usually means the world is careening towards an absolute catastrophic shitshow that will destroy the lives of millions. So it would be nice if some people, especially leftists, could confront their internalized antisemitism.

[reconditarmonia]

The Dutch article is paywalled (so I can't even google translate it to confirm specific details), but the headline itself confirms the "Jew hunt" language.

[anghraine]

I'm probably going to regret this, but:

It is 100% true that people can, and should, denounce Israel's horrifying atrocities without being antisemitic. Unfortunately, it's also true that the people who are the loudest about the fact tend to immediately follow it up with something that makes me think, "people can denounce Israel's crimes without being antisemitic, but you sure haven't managed it."

[qqueenofhades]

it's concerning what people are saying and thinking is activism. I've unfollowed someone who unironically reblogged something that said death to israel. how is that going to help? if anything that's just making a more hostile environment. support palestine but maybe cool it about what you say about israel considering why it exists in the first place

There are a few reasons for this, and the first is that the western left is so absolutely goddamn terrible about recognizing its increased and violent radicalization. I can't tell you how many posts I've seen to the effect of "the far right wants to kill everybody but the far left just wants healthcare for everyone uwu." First, by their own extremely warped and constantly biased perception, that would actually make the mainstream Democratic Party "far left." The party might disagree about how exactly the actual mechanism for better/more equitable healthcare should be implemented (etc. etc. if you oppose instant Medicare for All with no other transition period or hybrid options, YOU ARE EXACTLY THE SAME AS A FASCIST!), but that's now a central and uncontroversial plank of official Democratic party policy. But since as we know, BOTH SIDES ARE THE SAME!!!, clearly that can't be what the self-defined "far left" actually wants. Witness how we've had several days of intense and valedictory social media approval and worship of a mentally ill person's violent and public suicide, because it was done for the "right reasons." This person should have been given help and support, yes, and we never know what's going on in anyone's head. But if I was someone also contemplating suicide, this whole "it's the right thing to do and you should just burn yourself to death and announce it's for the Right Cause and you will have legions of adoring admirers" would be hella hard to resist. This is going to directly cost more lives.

We point out all the time that the far right has become a fascistic death cult of authoritarian personality, but the online far left is now absolutely just as willing to make "you should die and/or kill yourself and others for Ideology" a central part of their platform. We've had endless rhetoric about how the violent Glorious Revolution is the only answer and society is irretrievably broken. This is casual, constant, inescapable radicalization, and it's presented as the only way to "do" leftism. So of course the rhetoric gets increasingly insane and genocidal (while insisting that all they want is to "stop the genocide"), and it's more and more normalized. We've had people reblogging posts that are almost entirely lies, because they "want to highlight" one sentence or half-truth they agree with (and apparently decided the best way to do this was to uncritically amplify the misinformation, rather than making their own post and trying to push back on it). We've had people admitting they're afraid to lose friends or be attacked on social media because the Groupthink is so pervasive and violently radicalized. This is not normal and this needs to fucking stop.

Secondly, and this is inescapable especially in regard to this particular conflict, the western left is absolutely steeped in antisemitism through and through, and it has no desire either to examine that or even think it should. It has become absolutely mired in the "antisemitism is a Good and Necessary and Correct belief to have and it's not actually a prejudice, it contributes to social justice because all Israelis and/or all Jews are evil settler colonialists constantly genociding innocent Hamas and/or Palestinians." This is why, as I keep saying, it's not that hard to support Palestinian self-determination, statehood, dignity, freedom, and a stop to the indiscriminate slaughter of Gaza, while not actually thinking that the way to do this is just to be wildly antisemitic at all times and calling for the genocide of Israel to be substituted for the genocide of Gaza. That does not actually reduce the net amount of genocide in this world!!! I thought you wanted to stop it, not turn it loose on another group of people who "deserve it more!" JESUS CHRIST!!!

On that note, even if you don't agree with every single premise or point it makes, a lot of people on this website (and on Twitter, but yeah, uh, good luck with that) need to read the following article in order to understand, as I keep saying, how deeply virulent antisemitism has become an unquestioned tenet of virtuous faith among the western left. Content warnings for some very graphic depictions/discussions of violence, including sexual violence, but that's not an excuse. If you've found yourself posting or agreeing with any version of the "Jews/Zionists/Israelis are all collectively responsible for this while evilly torturing innocent non-Jews" thesis statement, READ IT. Y'know, read it anyway. Try to get the first and most basic grip on the fraught and violent history of antisemitism, which is quite literally the oldest prejudice in the world, and how that interacts with and negatively informs the way in which supposedly well-intentioned western leftists are reacting to the current situation. As I said in an earlier post, I don't care if your "good intentions" (the road to hell is paved with, etc. etc.) are solely about stopping the current slaughter directed against Palestinians. That does not excuse you from the consequences of the lies you spread and the genocidal violence that you advocate as a "better" or "more correct" kind of genocidal violence then that already taking place. So. Yeah.

If you run into a paywall, you can remove it by disabling JavaScript on the page (this can be done with most ad-blockers), or someone has also helpfully provided the full text as a pdf in this link. Read it.

[eternalgirlscout]

i haven't seen anyone talk about it probably because all my comics mutuals of old are fellow longtime mcu haters but breaking news the beloathed marvel cinematic universe managed to turn up the dial even MORE on the maximoff-related antisemitism. somebody get my boy out of there please i'm on my knees here

[reconditarmonia]

Yeeeeah, I'm not sure that "stop fighting anyone who isn't the Real True Enemy" is going to work out quite that way. I would love to believe that the people posting/reblogging this mean "we're going to stop aggroing random Jews" rather than "we're going to accuse Jews who call us out of being divisive infiltrators," but that would be a bit willfully blind.

I am so serious when I say that now is the time to take your activism offline. I am not spending the next four years squabbling on social media or getting woke points by reblogging posts that my followers already agree with. There are real places in your offline community where you can do good if you seek them out

[queermania]

Fucking cunt

are you done or should we put you in time out so you can continue your tantrum?

[jewishbarbies]

all the bitches who refused to hold taylor fucking swift accountable for dating a man who might as well just call himself a nazi are now pretending to care about nazis now that a black woman wore one on a t shirt. istfg you people are insufferable. we know why you suddenly care. and it’s not because the safety of jews magically means anything to you.

[notchainedtotrauma]

no name...the superficiality of it all...the violence of it all...Jay Electronica being an antisemitic hateful motherfucker is as surprising to me to as a corpse eventually rotting. What's "interesting" to me is a person that claims to be a communist and has led and created a "radical" book club listening to that verse and still putting it on her album, and then having the audacity to turn off her Instagram comments. Which, as soon as an artist (in any field) shows up with all the right bits of theories and can name all the right thinkers, and can actually define intersectionality, this is when trouble starts. As demonstrated by no name. Also *mimes slicing throat* that dude over there.

[fanchonmoreau]

Went to a gathering at a synagogue this afternoon to mark Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day. A survivor, his name was Martin, told the audience about how his family snuck under some broken wire to escape their Polish ghetto. They lived in the forest on whatever they could find for months. Later, they found out that not long after they escaped, the Jews in their ghetto were marched to a local church, forced to dig their own graves, and shot en masse.

At the end of his speech, he thanked us for listening, as if we had done him some great kindness. Then he looked out over this audience of Jews and said:

Have long lives.

[hellsbellschime]

Its really weird that people think being pro-Palestine in general means "antisemitism" when it's not. We're just against genocide. And the ones who are, are terrible people for that. But most are not. And it's also weird when people claim that the protests being done in and around college campuses are anti even though the vast majority of those organizing it are actually Jewish students.

The thing of it is, they don't. The reason why so many people are seeing antisemitism in the pro-Palestine movement is that a lot of people are repeating antisemitic tropes that have existed for thousands of years. FFS, a fuckton of people in the current "movement" are self-proclaimed anti-Zionists, and Zionism is a philosophy that Jewish people are entitled to self-determination, do you not think that's weird or telling at all? If it's not antisemitic then there's no reason to revolve it around Jewish people, Jewish ideas, and Jewish philosophies, and yet a lot of people's statements and actions are very focused on all things Jewish when they shouldn't be.

And it's interesting, in a lot of the instances where I've seen someone suffer consequences for "supporting Palestine" I've looked into it and that person did something that was blatantly antisemitic. And this is yet another perfect example of the gaslighting that the other anon was talking about, because of course not all pro-Palestine activists are antisemitic, but to act as if Jewish people who are concerned about the abrupt rise in antisemitism are imagining it and act as if it's all fine because you know some Jewish people protesting for Palestine is absurd.

[lambrinichampagne]

Anon I literally needed to be escorted to and from the train-station by work colleagues because someone in the area found out I was Jewish and waited until the office closed to follow me while shouting abuse. Please don't question my understanding of antisemitism.

[mycenaae]

anyway the goblin antagonist of hogwarts legacy is, yes, the ultimate antagonist, works with dark wizards to harvest (or steal previously harvested? unclear in the summary i read) magical energy from wizards including children — there's, allegedly, a scene where they explicitly discuss abducting a child. the antagonism is first framed as the goblin wanting to reclaim goblin-made artifacts and magic but is later revealed as an enterprise of personal greed for the goblin, who steals all the power for himself at the end of the game and turns into a dragon (you know, a giant lizard). this is the big plot of the game, is the goblin and his associated evil characters stealing an essence from children for their personal evil magical use, and then at the end of the game, the goblin turns into a big lizard. hogwarts legacy really is antisemitic tropes: the video game.

[exvangelical]

“god protects america because we support isreal!! because god loves the jews!!” yes he loved them so much he let the holocaust happen 😍 and also the overwhelming majority of zionists are NOT jewish btw ❤️ revelation was a metaphor jesus left for milk 2000 years ago he’s not coming back

[anghraine]

Tumblr posting isn't the hallmark of activism and no one is obligated to talk about Palestine on here. That being said, it sure is interesting that you never mentioned Israel's ongoing genocide until you decided to make a post about how antisemitic people who do talk about it can be (and provided no example, so it's vague enough it serves no purpose whatsoever, can't be argued with of learnt from).

I did wonder if that would be someone's takeaway (and even that it would likely be on anon), so this response was already largely prepared.

In any case, my fandom account is not the totality of my existence, even online, and particularly not at the moment (I used to talk about politics more here, but don't tend to use this account for that kind of thing these days; I've also barely acknowledged the Trump/Harris election that will directly and drastically impact my own life and which I'm following closely). I mentioned the grotesque antisemitism directed at Jewish people regardless of whether they're Israeli or not, mainly coming from people who have no more stake in what happens in I/P than I do, because it's become so common over the last year in fandom spaces and conversations, and is therefore relevant to this account. There are no genocides happening specifically on Tumblr, but there are people here using Israel to present their pre-existing antisemitic ideas as leftist praxis and to air them more openly.

In addition to that, I don't generally feel the need to Be Seen Having a Take on matters I'm not especially familiar with—particularly as a US American, since we tend to be too quick to share our super important center of the world opinions on other countries' geopolitics regardless of how much we know or understand about them—until I've had time to think, research, and phrase what I want to say. Once I was more familiar, I wanted to be clear that I consider Israel's actions horrific and that, simultaneously, I find the increasingly regular fandom antisemitism I've seen intolerable and unjustified (and I did feel these needed to be in the same post to avoid being misunderstood even in good faith). I kicked my post out of drafts because at that point I'd seen enough to feel equipped to do so and felt it was sufficiently clear about where I stand, and because (as I said in my tags) of a specific and particularly abhorrent display of antisemitism I saw on Tumblr yesterday.

I also did not feel the need to duplicate and broadcast specific instances of antisemitism (much less that one) in order to dunk on it or whatever. Broadly though not universally, I prefer talking about overall patterns that bother me more than litigating isolated instances, even when it's ... like, annoying trends in Pride and Prejudice fanfic or something, but all the more when it's a systemic social problem. And given that I have a number of active Jewish mutuals who would see my post, I didn't want to inflict it on them all over again. If you think I would find something grotesquely antisemitic that's actually totally fine, then you're free to find someone else to follow.