Re: CHAT: Anti-Semitism

Mark J. Reed wrote:

>On Sun, Apr 11, 2004 at 10:50:42PM +0100, Joe wrote:
>
>
>>See, I don't see that there is a modern narrow sense.  Sometimes people
>>who disagree with the policies of Israel are called anti-semites, but
>>that is rarely what the term is defined to mean - rather, it is a broad
>>brushstroke at attempting to discredit the opponents.
>>
>>
>
>The term "anti-Semitism" has relatively little to do with one's opinion of the
>policies of the state of Israel.  It is analogous to "racism" - it is
>a bias against the Semitic people - more narrowly, the Jews, although
>I have seen it used to refer to the anti-Arab paranoia distressingly
>commonplace in the US since 2001-09-11.
>
>
>
I am aware of that.  It is simply what I assumed he meant by the
'modern, narrow definition' - judging by his definition of pro-semitisim
as unrelenting enthusiasm for Israel and its policies.

>To be sure it is - like all such emotionally loaded terms - sometimes used as
>you indicated, to discredit one's opponent in an argument.  ("He blames
>Israel for the incident, but that's just because he's an anti-Semite.")
>However, this use should not be taken as an indication that genuine
>anti-Semitism - simple dislike of, even hatred toward, the Jews, simply
>because they're Jewish - doesn't still exist.  Homophobia may be getting
>all the press these days, but good old-fashioned bigotries like racism,
>sexism, and anti-Semitism are still alive and well even within our
>modern supposedly enlightened societies.
>
>

Oh, I know that too.  Anti-semitism is a big problem in Europe, and its
rise is really quite worrying.  Historically anti-semitic nationalist
political parties (you know, the kind who think 'Hitler had the right
idea') have been gaining hugely, though thankfully not so much in Britain.

Replies