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]
Pretty much like anything else, consider it within its real history and social impact rather than pluck it out and try to examine it in an isolated moral issue. When did Zionism emerge and what were the social conditions in which it emerged? How did it change over time? What was and is its relationship to the owners of production? Follow the money. Same with antisemitism.
It’s a lot of history to cover. The reason why it seems most people are misinformed or not very read is because they are. People often take shortcuts, but they are not lazy. Whenever you tackle a huge subject, you have to simplify it in order to quickly get your head around it. People use their common sense which is just a curated form of the propaganda background radiation that is media in the Western world. The relationship between that propaganda and Zionism or antisemitism is something to think about as well. Why are they conflated and who benefits from it? Why isn’t more effort put into separating them?