Their claim, at first blush, might seem reasonable. The argument goes as follows: Surely there's nothing wrong in pointing out that Trump is easily manipulated, nor that Bibi is a savvy operator. The "guide dog" metaphor is simply a way of illustrating that. Nothing antisemitic about it.
The simple response to that is as follows. Imagine if Obama had been accused of not coming up with any original policies, and simply mimicking the policies of others. And since another word for mimicking is "aping," a cartoon would have been drawn of Obama as an ape. It is absolutely inconceivable for the NYT to have published such a cartoon, and the people defending the dog cartoon would never defend that one.
And the reason would be legitimate. You can draw other people as an ape, but not Obama. Because Obama is black, and there is a long and sordid history of black people being depicted as apes and subhuman. By the same token, there is a long and sordid history of Jews being described as dogs and manipulators. The very defense of the cartoon by many people gives rise to an important question: How is it that people can be exquisitely sensitive to racism, and yet be oblivious to similar themes in antisemitism? (The same question applies to Corbyn and his followers in the UK, but I suspect that the answer may different there.)
I don't think such people are oblivious. I think they are antisemites who are sensitive to the general societal ban on overt antisemitism. I am sure such people are much less reserved in private fora.
ReplyDeleteNot wrong at all- but an equally valid question is: how can so many Jews be so exquisitely sensitive to anti-Semitism, but yet be oblivious to similar themes in racism?
ReplyDeleteI was going to write the exact same thing. Too bad there's no 'like' button on this format
DeleteOr reverse racism, or anti-Christian Bigotry.
DeleteRationalist Judaism asked:
ReplyDelete“How is it that people can be
exquisitely sensitive to racism,
and yet be oblivious to similar
themes in anti-Semitism?”
my response:
The answer is so simple that it
can be summarized in two words:
Political Correctness.
According to the political Far-Left’s
rules of Political Correctness,
it is correct and socially acceptable
to be exquisitely sensitive to
anti-Black racism, and at the same time,
to be oblivious to blatant anti-Semitism.
The mainstream-news-media, especially the
New York Times, has been governed
by political Far-Left’s rules of
Political Correctness for many years,
and more so with each year that passes by.
===================================
James Kirchick
(a Brookings Institution fellow) said:
“For a growing number of progressives,
anti-Semitism has become an ideological
obligation, as central to their political
identity as the Universal Basic Income,
Green New Deal, a 70-percent marginal
tax rate, and free higher education.
These progressives, of course, cannot
openly say this. Anti-Semitism is bad.
Some of their best friends are Jews.
The Holocaust happened.
So they need to redefine anti-Semitism
out of existence…”
SOURCE::
How Dare Chelsea Clinton Defend the Jews?
by James Kirchick, 2019 March 19
www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/282106/how-dare-chelsea-clinton-defend-the-jews
===================================
Journalism’s Longest War:
The New York Times versus Zionism
and Israel by Edward Alexander:
www.algemeiner.com/2019/03/13/journalisms-longest-war-the-new-york-times-versus-zionism-and-israel/
===================================
Ex-British PM Gordon Brown
Slams Own Labour Party for Allowing
‘Demonization of the Entire Jewish People’:
www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/01/ex-british-pm-gordon-brown-slams-own-labour-party-for-allowing-demonization-of-the-entire-jewish-people/
===================================
The REAL reasons why
the Leftists hate Israel:
“If the occupation [of the West Bank]
ended tomorrow, Israel would still
have a nationalist and religious
identity at odds with the Left’s
broadly post-nationalist
and post-religious vision.”
SOURCE: 2019 March 12
The American Left’s Abandonment
of Both Israel and the Jews
https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2019/03/the-american-lefts-abandonment-of-both-israel-and-the-jews/
“The Bolsheviks and their heirs
[the Far Left] despised small European
nationalities, as well as religion.
So Jews as a people are a double target.
SOURCE:
Fair Criticism of Israel? What About the Palestinians? by Eric Rozenman
www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/14/fair-criticism-of-israel-what-about-the-palestinians/
===================================
If you want the truth about Israel
and the Middle East, then do not waste
your time with the FAKE NEWS
of The New York Times and the
Israel-bashing mainstream-news-media.
Instead, visit these web sites:
www.jns.org
www.algemeiner.com
www.memri.org
www.camera.org
www.HonestReporting.com
Non-religious Jews in America tend to lean heavily to the left of the political spectrum, while religious Jews tend to lean to the right. I'm willing to bet than any American Jew who defends this overt anti-semitism is politically on the left. Jews and Israel are too successful to be considered victims by the left, and are instead seen as exploiters and oppressors. Many leftist Jews are happy to play along with this bigotry, since their connection to Judaism does not outweigh their adherence to leftist ideology. You'll also notice that their sensitivity to anti-semitic themes is very much alive and well when a white supremacist commits it, for this very reason. I also believe many of these Jews suffer from a form of Stockholm Syndrome, in which they are constantly trying to appease their anti-semitic ideological allies in the hopes that they will be seen as fair-minded and objective.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that if all Jews were more united in condemning anti-semitism - including the variety that hides under the guise of anti-Zionism or "criticism" of Israel, it would be much more difficult for anti-semitism to be mainstreamed like it currently is. Jewish support or hand-waving for them, provides necessary cover for their bigotry.
well said, thank you.
DeleteThey're not interested in being sensitive. They're interested in looking politically correct and picking on Jews in fact if not in theory is not politically incorrect.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token, there is a long and sordid history of Jews being described as dogs
ReplyDeleteIs this actually true? People the world over typically insult each other by calling each other dogs. Even in pro-dog cultures like that of the anglo-saxons, it remains the favorite insult for objectionable women. However, in the thousands of hours of endless anti-semitism 'education' I have been subjected to over the years, I don't remember this Jews = dog theme. It seems to have just been made up for the latest iteration of the Stupid Party 'Dems are the real racists' inanity.
Israel’s ambassador to the United States,
ReplyDeleteRon Dermer, has called The New York Times:
“a cesspool of hostility towards Israel.”
www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/29/new-york-times-is-cesspool-israeli-ambassador-to-us-says/
===================================
On 2018 December 2, The New York Times
published the article “The Hypocrisy of Hanukkah”
by Michael David Lukas, which describes Hanukkah as:
“an eight-night celebration of
religious fundamentalism and violence.”
SOURCE:
The New York Times and Hanukkah
by Jerold Auerbach, 2018 December 4
www.algemeiner.com/2018/12/04/the-new-york-times-and-hanukkah/
www.jns.org/opinion/american-jewrys-hanukkah-hypocrisy/
===================================
Welcome to the world of The New York Times,
where only Palestinian victims have names,
ages, and sympathetic eyewitnesses:
www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260373/new-york-times-no-israeli-victims-palestinian-phyllis-chesler
===================================
The New York Times LIED about Multi-Million
Dollar Payments to Terrorists who Murdered Jews:
www.algemeiner.com/2018/04/23/jewish-media-watchdogs-in-uproar-over-latest-new-york-times-fake-news/
===================================
Tamar Sternthal of the JointMedia News Service said:
“On the news side, [ New York Times]
editors refused to correct both the false report
that a Pew survey found that nearly half of
Israeli Jews favor expelling all Palestinians,
as well as the completely unfounded claim
that most of Jaffa’s Arab residents were
forcibly expelled from their homes in 1948.”
SOURCE:
Anything Goes in New York Times Coverage of Israel
by Tamar Sternthal / JointMedia News Service, 2019 April 9 www.algemeiner.com/2019/04/09/anything-goes-in-new-york-times-coverage-of-israel/
===================================
PS: Please tell people to STOP BUYING
the falsehood-filled The New York Times!
The cartoon demonstrates that anti-Semitism has mainstreamed.
ReplyDelete"How is it that people can be sensitive to racism but oblivious to racism?"
ReplyDeleteB/c the chief characteristic of a leftist is support of what he perceives as the victim. Be it the working class, unions, blacks, women, gays - you name it. And it is very hard for older people to shift their paradigms as to who is the victim and who is not. Nothing is changing their opinion, and those are the ones still reading that paper and defending it. But they are dying out, and a new generation has arisen .
How can anybody doubt that a cartoon depicting a blind DT waring a yarmulke and guided by a Bibi dachshund with a collar with a magen David is blatantly antisemitic?
ReplyDeleteNote the relationship between the theme in this cartoon and the screed by the Chabad shul shooter the next day. In it he wrote how Trump is a pawn of Netanyahu, the same idea represented in this cartoon.
ReplyDeleteThe world has hated Jews for thousands of years, starting from when Amalek attacked us on our way out of Egypt.
ReplyDeleteAntisemitism temporarily became politically incorrect in the aftermath of the Holocaust, but 75 years later, it is clear that it is now once against politically acceptable for the non-Jewish world to hate Jews.
At the Seder every year, we learn that "In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us". One has only to watch the news to see proof of this.
www.jns.org/opinion/jewish-violence-what-the-gray-lady-knows-it-need-not-fear/
ReplyDelete