this isn’t my whole thoughts but I’ve been trying to get something together for a while now. Please add as fit. But no need to assume omissions = disagreement.
the forces of zionism + israel + US imperialism et al are constantly playing the anti semitism card in wacko inappropriate situations to deflect every kind of legitimate criticism and charge.
- i.e. dismissing every allegation of israel perpetrating genocide as only “antisemetic”
BUT there is real anti semitism. And it sure is getting around. A few examples
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a close friend sharing a youtube video they were thinking of as lib anti-zionist perspective - but it was straightforwardly using anti semetic phrases like “dual loyalty”. I spoke to this person and they were legitimately not aware of the connotations. (Why should anyone be “loyal” to the US anyway? If anything dual loyal is better than uni loyal)
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online comment threads regarding false anti semistism have a lot of obvious and effective work being done by nazis who use the present false allegations to lead into holocaust denial etc
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IRL people who I know in non-political contexts (work, neighbors, dogpark, playground etc), when mentioning Palestine vs Israel, bringing up how Jews think they are chosen people (as do many religions), how “They” do kinda control everything, and ostensibly-unrelated (but ultimately anti-semetic) conspiracy theories
I think some internal political education (including of myself) is needed.
- What is antisemitism
- Why it is wrong: factually, ethically
- How it is anti communist
Old and updated ideas.
[draft ends here]
I think of how if you have some kind of rash you might take a steroid cream to help with the inflammation. But inflammation is your body’s reaction to something. So if you use too much of the cream, the unintended consequence is that you might get a really nasty infection because you’re hampering your immune system. Same could be said if the immunocompromised because of chemotherapy. Even that might be too complicated! It’s the boy who cried wolf.
There are people who hates Jews for their inheritance and not Zionists for their intolerant ideas and actions. If you were a clever nazi you could even stoke resentment in the rebuked anti-zionist with some shit like “Hitler tried to stop this.” And if you weren’t already condemning the U$$'s internment of Japanese citizens, you would have to work double time to also condemn the concentration of Jews. You could get a really nasty “supply lines in Germany were destroyed by America so they couldn’t get food to the camps” infection where you think the concentration of Jews to figure out the “Zionist question” is permissible. It’s easily comorbid with questions about the official death toll numbers which leads the way to the rest of the Holocaust denial. Then they’re going full Palpetine mode on the next Anakin who would have led the revolution.
You’d start taking national socialism on its face because you haven’t read that much theory about an international worker’s movement. You’d be really good at muddying the water. “You’re really going to keep Zionists in the union?” And “some people don’t deserve to benefit from socialist production unless they bend the knee.” Then you’re in a proper mess and people are going to listen to you.
Social media is full of this kind of sentiment, especially in Latin America. The amount of otherwise pretty middle of the road liberal acquaintances I’ve seen unironically say “we owe funny mustache man an apology” on social media and then hide behind “it’s a joke dude don’t be so sensitive” when confronted is staggering.