Re: CHAT: Anti-Semitism

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.

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.

-Mark

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