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Post by millring on May 30, 2024 5:50:54 GMT -5
The antisemites I have and do know espouse to be Christians, through and through. Denominationally speaking, which? ...and of what age? ...and are you talking about people you know, or people you know of? Are they also pro-Palestinian, or are they incongruously pro-Israel? And if pro-Israel, what do you make of the disconnect? |
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Post by howard lee on May 30, 2024 6:22:09 GMT -5
When I was a kid on vacation on Cape Cod, I was bullied and beaten up by another kid who was of Irish descent and Roman Catholic. He did this because I was a Jew, as he so clearly informed me while administering my beating. He and his nasty little twin sisters shaving-creamed my father's car and dipped their feet in green paint and walked down the staircase outside our rental house to the beach below. When I went to their house to complain, their parents were sitting on the upstairs deck, drinking and smoking. I told them what had happened and they looked down at me and said, "So? What do you want us to do?"
My father filed a complaint with the local police, who essentially did nothing.
Another kid in the neighborhood where I grew up, who attended a local parochial school, once told me the sisters taught them that "the Jews killed Christ." After what my parents and their families had experienced during WWII, it was obvious to me that the United States wasn't much safer for Jewish people than Europe was in the 1930s. Considering what has occurred here in recent years, it seems to me that little has changed and these people do identify as "good Christians."
For example:
It is clear to me that this mob was composed of white Christian men, not rabbinical students.
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Post by John B on May 30, 2024 6:46:40 GMT -5
The antisemites I have and do know espouse to be Christians, through and through. Denominationally speaking, which? ...and of what age? ...and are you talking about people you know, or people you know of? Are they also pro-Palestinian, or are they incongruously pro-Israel? And if pro-Israel, what do you make of the disconnect? While I don't think denomination matters in this case, the specific people I was thinking of are around my age, Catholic and attended the same Catholic school their kids are either going to or recently graduated from. I haven't seen them in the past couple of years so I have no idea of their thoughts regarding Palestine or Israel. And it may not surprise you that I wouldn't dare to quiz someone I work with (co-worker) or for (boss or client) about the current conflict because they mention they're worried about getting "Jewed out" of something they think they deserve to have. Nor do I call that person out for saying something I disagree with. I have a tendency to "go along to get along" in cases of employment. I hate to admit it, but it's true. Harrison Butker, in a recent speech, said, "Congress just passed a bill where stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.” As the National Catholic Reporter says, "Butker is most likely referring to the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill that passed only the U.S. House of Representatives and would adopt a specific definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The bill would apply that definition to the Department of Education's efforts to restrict federal funding to colleges and universities that fail to address antisemitism on their campuses. The bill stands virtually no chance of passing in the Senate, and it says nothing about incarcerating anybody for asserting their free speech right to place blame for Jesus's death on whomever they wish." The argument that Jews killed Jesus has been used for, oh, 2000+ years as a justification for so much violence against Jews. I am both surprised and not surprised to see that belief pop up. Even though the Catholic church specifically refuted it in 1965. |
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Post by Cornflake on May 30, 2024 9:10:56 GMT -5
"...the United States wasn't much safer for Jewish people than Europe was in the 1930s."
I don’t think Trump is an antisemite. But Trump doesn’t have many years left. What Trumpism will produce when he’s gone is anybody’s guess. It isn’t grounded in any principles.
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Post by Russell Letson on May 30, 2024 11:08:12 GMT -5
The thing about Trump isn't so much that he's a racist or anti-semite as that he's an infantile, unreflective jerk with very little impulse control and some kind of personality disorder that makes it very hard for him to see other people as anything but extensions of his own needs. He's also apparently nearly education-proof (which makes it hard to tell whether he's not very bright or just entirely focused on his own desires).
His frequent and well-documented racist/bigoted utterances and actions strike me as less the result of systematic bigotry than of unthinking acceptance of bigoted ideas and memes--thus the famous remark about wanting Jewish accountants looking after his money. He can't see why that is part of a family of offensive cliches--because the only offenses that matter are the ones aimed at him. If he weren't a rich guy surrounded by sycophants and enablers, he would just be the shop-floor asshole that nobody can stand being around--except other assholes and bullies and fanny-grabbers.
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