John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHAN COOK IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Everyone Is an Anti-Semite; at Least That's What the Media Say
‘The term has become so diluted that it has lost any meaning”
I've long thought the most revealing aspect of contemporary “anti-Semitism” charges involves the end of the political spectrum at which they are typically hurled.
Genuine anti-Semitism almost anywhere - Germany, the United States, Ukraine, France, Britain - is associated with the political Right, and generally the extreme Right.
If not outright fascist types, wearing armbands, then at least the suited, corporate types absolutely typified by old man Henry Ford, a man whose portrait graced the wall of Hitler’s Chancellery office. Hitler admired him greatly for his vitriolic views on Jews and other subjects.
But today's charges are heard mainly against the Left.
How can that be?
Because the Left embraces Western historical concepts of democratic and human rights, principles from the Enlightenment.
Well, there's simply not a lot of room in those profoundly important principles for the kind of activity regularly observed in Israel - occupation, abuse, illegal arrest, no voting rights, no defined human rights, theft of property, shooting unarmed people, and on and on.
That's why the Left - any real liberals or progressives - are so disliked in Israel. There is almost a “Hate Liberals Cult” to be found there. We see a version of it, too, in the United States with a portion of Trump’s supporters.
The automatic response from many prominent Israelis to any criticism from people who care about human rights and freedom is to call them "anti-Semitic."
It is of course, absurd on its face, but we do have a fair number of people in our world who don't really think about the words they say and hear. Think of the constant downpour of meaningless words in America’s mainline press and from many of its politicians. It just keeps coming, whether it makes any sense or not, as with America’s raging Russophobia.
Empty, meaningless, but very hateful words. Foaming-at-the-mouth words. And just so with so much of today’s “anti-Semitism” charges and insults.
As a thought experiment, go back to another time, say, that of the Third Reich in the mid-1930s. Is it the Right-wing, the German equivalents of Henry Ford and others, who opposed the Nazis? Who themselves were sent to concentration camps as political prisoners often? No, it was people of conscience, people of principle, the very people being insulted and called names today.
The many Henry Ford types in America, as well as those in Germany, actually made Hitler possible with generous financial contributions and other support. One may even think of close parallels today in support from wealthy outsiders for the worst excesses of Israel.
Readers may enjoy these discussions of the topic:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/john-chuckman-comment-my-definitive-points-against-the-ongoing-shabby-effort-to-conflate-criticism-of-israels-behavior-with-the-prejudice-of-anti-semitism-those-two-things-are-no-more-the-same-th/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/john-chuckman-comment-my-definitive-points-against-the-ongoing-shabby-effort-to-conflate-criticism-of-israels-behavior-with-the-prejudice-of-anti-semitism-those-two-things-are-no-more-the-same-th/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/07/03/john-chuckman-comment-what-really-drives-the-false-and-malicious-linking-of-liberals-to-anti-semitism-origins-and-true-nature-of-americas-very-strange-relationship-with-israel-some-parallels/
