#i cant be antisemitic im a semite

[noyatv]

think its best if we start reusing the term judenhass bc way too many arabs/people of arab descent are claiming that they “…can’t be antisemitic because their semitic”👉🥹👈

one cannot be “semitic” for that is a language group

[davekat-sucks]

im fucking dying cant even use parenthesis without someone accusing them of doing an antisemitic dogwhistle. how do americans live like this no wonder they are becoming more paranoid over the stupidest shit everyday. i swear to god ive learned more about foreign racist and antisemitic terminology from people who claim to be left than the boogeymans they warn me from. you know whats something worth finding dusgust in anon? explain to me how karkat and porrim being like "hic did nothing wrong" and that she was merely LE's slave isnt an actual more heinous dogwhistle, that's literally the obeying superior orders excuse nazis used to shift blame. nuremberg defense, look THAT shit up.

At this point, every little gesture we do online or real life is seen as anti-Semitic to these guys. Even if the context was never about Jews.

[thatonebipotato]

antizionist jew here. sorry to disappoint you, but antisemitism as a word was created to mean hatred against jews. it has shitty etymology because a german guy who was into eugenics created it. he meant to revamp the old word judenhass which signified a more "medieval" and religion based hatred, into a word which defined jews as an inferior race in the modern day.

trying to argue about etymology gets us nowhere when palestinian americans are being stabbed to death and jewish-parisian schoolchildren are facing bomb threats. yes, most antizionism is not antisemitism. but every so often it can be, whether that be a white supremacist co-opting the movement or a leftist who has genuinely unexamined antisemitic biases. and we need to understand what antisemtism looks like so we can shut down hatred that israel will use to continue presenting itself as the only safe place for us jews (hint: it's not).

please take this as an opportunity to learn. not calling you out but calling you in. thanks.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-semitism-or-antisemitism

alright, thank you for informing me! when trying to make sure that what i was saying was right, i found nothing that really said anything about this(i guess i just didnt look in the right places or hard enough).

what i had originally said was information that I'd gotten from many different kinds of groups, mostly others trying to shut that original argument down, so i thought wholeheartedly what i said was correct. im so sorry if i upset anyone with what i had said, i really am. i feel like i have a good enough grasp on the situation that is and has been happening, enough so that i could reiterate what I'd been taught/told on my own, but i was wrong.

i was trying to help deconstruct the argument I'd heard so many times, and i got it wrong. i have taken down the post, but some ppl did also reblog it already, so its going to stay there. cant do anything abt it, i fucked up, thats my own fault. if youre coming back from those posts to see what's up over here, uhhh here's what im saying :)

again, thank you very much for informing me! im a little new to actually being involved in things, so im very desperately trying to get everything right and try to help where i can, and im so sorry that i did it in the wrong way!

ill be sure to try staying a bit more on top of things, and thanks so much to you and also the few others who decided to help me understand, it means a lot!

[ozfi]

apropos of nothing, but if at any point you see people using the "im a semite, i cant be antisemitic" argument:

1. antisemitism was coined as a more "scientific" alternative to the german word Judenhass, literally meaning jew hatred. its not about Semites.

2. the racial category of semites doesnt even exist anymore

3. the same people saying bullshit like this would agree jews can be antisemitic too (which they can, anyone can be prejudiced against themselves) so its not even a good argument

dont let people say this in any context. its wrong. thank you.

[soldier-poet-king]

Manalive legitimately kept me from killing myself vs Mr Gould is an anti semitic caricature......fight

[kisakunt]

may i ask what’s going on???? i’ve heard several people talking about something but im not exactly sure what’s happening

here’s the post. tw mentions of anti semitism, racism, school shootings, neo nazis, pedophilia

basically shorty writing ‘dark content’ but she’s targeting minorities and shit and i cant speak on some of it but i can speak ab the antisemitic shit she wrote (she’s not jewish). real real nasty

[dickgreyson]

dearest symeona

i’d like to join your little discussion and fill you in, since you were watching cat videos last year and seemed to miss everything. sounds like a much nicer time than i was having! because at the time i was being sent death threats and anti semitic hate for a holding a fairly uncontroversial opinion, or at least in the circles in which i run.

yes, i got upset seeing damian in a santa hat. because for the last few years, my dash every christmas is pretty jam packed full of christmas themed batfam posts and art. and as a jewish person, understanding that the creators of bruce and most of the batfam are jewish, i found this to be quite confusing and hurtful. and let’s just get this out of the way, bruce is jewish. dc has even published articles about this, and has confirmed it in a pussy way. but even without that, his mother, kate’s maternal aunt, is a jew. that means that bruce is a jew. unless he takes real concrete steps to renounce his faith and community, ethnically he’s still jewish. and he can be an atheist and STILL BE JEWISH. there are actually atheist rabbis, who just really love our culture and tradition, want to have a central role in the community, and guide other jews in a positive direction. and thats actually pretty wonderful. because again, judaism is just as much an ethnicity as it is a religion.

over the years, christians have written bruce as catholic and christian and atheist, and a broad range of other things. hell, in the 80s the phrase ‘caped crusader’ was coined by a christian writer, and i dont love hearing him referred to as that. i think it goes against the very core of why he was created as a jewish allegory. the same goes for people who believe superman is a jesus allegory - he isnt. he was written as a modern day moses parallel. also by jewish authors. he’s a jewish character to his core too. the author of the 1990whatever robin run even said he wanted tim to be jewish, and showed his mother in a jewish cemetery. its not as if intent isnt there.

comics as a whole were created by jewish people, to tell jewish stories to a wider audience. yes, there is some old official art of bruce and dick standing in front of a christmas tree. and that might maybe be because.... it was from the 40s. and i dont know if you noticed but in the 40s americans werent really fond of jews, and neither was the world at large. judging by the response of people in my inbox, they still arent. so these characters can still be jewish allegories, written by jewish people to convey jewish ideals and stories, in an antisemitic world. back then this lipservice needed to be paid in the name of assimilation, and i would have hoped today the need for this would have diminished. 

i hope thats enough context to introduce what happened last year, i was upset that it was all going to start again, and made it known. the artist even reached out to me, and listened to my point of view. because this actually, at the end of the day, isnt a huge deal. and im not sure why it grew, and why other people got involved, when the artist, urs, and i had sorted it out. it became a lightning rod for ‘free speech/art’ anti semitic crusaders.

what is a huge deal though is the hate and vitriol and racism and anti semitism that poured out of the people who associate with your side. Urs, my brave friend who vocally stood by me, received countless hateful messages about her being a survivor and a first nations american. i cant even count how many times i was called a kike.

so the real problem here wasnt the santa hat, it was that a jewish and native american person expressed unhappiness about something, and was met with a disgusting display of hate. thats the problem. that your side was so ready to resort to death threats and slurs. because someone expressed an opinion.

I believe that there is a difference between a person choosing to celebrate a holiday, and a non jewish artist drawing jewish/created by jewish people’s characters celebrating christian holidays. because the jewish person has a choice, but the character does not. at this point in time, there are very few practicing jewish and muslim characters in comics, and in media at large. so i dont think it’s appropriate to make everything christian and say no big deal. i think its more important to display diversity in faith and culture, even if dc is reticent because of cultural antisemitism at large.

when it comes to damian, i can’t speak to that with the same certainty and intensity as i can to the others, since im not muslim. but i do know that several writers have intended him to be muslim (again never committing in canon because comic fans are obviously not very progressive people), and muslim members of this fanbase have really connected with him. and i think showing art where he is muslim, and practices that in a loving and meaningful way, is way more significant and impactful than drawing him in a fucking santa hat.

it is actually very important for jewish people to conserve and practice our culture, and to be vocal about doing so. because people have tried to take it away from us time and time again. so to just brush this aside and say that ‘christmas is a coca cola ad so who cares’ (?) isnt good enough. because we were killed for practicing chanukah, so now its really important that we do. that we remember our tradition, and we pass it on. that we dont allow it to be wallpapered over in the name of assimilation.

all that needed to have happened was for someone to accept and admit that these are characters created by jewish people, to tell jewish stories, and act accordingly and respectfully.

so the problem, in the end, was that i was viciously and ruthlessly attacked for being a jewish woman with an opinion on something, and 10 months later deciding to get involved? i think thats a bad look babe xx

[bougainvilea]

cant believe i have found a blog run by a jewish australian! finally! sorry if i sound overexcited - but your blog existing and you being proudly jewish and really talking about it has made my day. can i ask how you feel about converts, prospective converts and people who arent jewish - and how they can best be an ally to other jewish people in regards to anti-semitism? especially those converting or considering converting? am still prospective bc im young and life is like that. i know Yom Kippur is coming up so i hope you have a meaningful day.

hello darling!! this was an honour to receive :) don't apologise for sounding overly excited!

converts are jews :) I don't think anyone would tell you differently. To prospective converts, I would say to take your time, immerse yourself in Jewish community and stories and history. They're really powerful and meaningful and I am who I am because of them!

In terms of how to be an ally, I think that my experience as a minority is different to other minorities, but personally I don't feel like there's really much to actively "do". The only thing is to respond to nazism with a love for jews (often people are simply anti nazi without being pro- jews, roma, disabled people, etc) and be aware of the christian hegemony present in western spaces. This is definitely not exclusive to white spaces, but western feels like a weird adjective, so take it as u will.

If you're considering converting or are converting, you are unfortunately also likely to be subject to the antisemitism, so I wish you luck in developing a thick skin and wish for you to be affected as little as possible. I'm very lucky to be here in Aus, because we have a very safe community, but honestly I still feel really yucky in online discourse because people simply don't understand our category? And that's really frustrating, because they draw these arbitrary lines as if we can fit into them, when we can't, and don't. So I hope you learn which lines you fit into and know that you have an ally in me!

I would recommend taking yom kippur to be either within Jewish spaces, or if you're like me in lockdown, take the day to reflect. I will probably write in my diary for the first time in a couple months, read some old diary entries, and acknowledge some of the ways life has changed in the past year. I am not orthodox or religious, so I don't fast, but I try to take time and acknowledge the passage of time, and the ways I have impacted the communities and spaces around me. You're welcome to do the same :) I will take it as a meaningful, intentional day, as opposed to a religiously arduous day. But It's a really unifying time for the Jewish community, so being in contact with Jewish spaces (whether you're reading a newsletter, reading a Jewish book, discussing with Jewish people online, etc) is a good way of acknowledging it, in my books.

Feel free to reach out whenever :) Are you also in Aus? Which city/state?

Sending love xx

[ohahsoka]

have you ever talked about this? what are your thoughts about people saying snk is pro imperialist pro nationalist pro nazi and pro fascist? i get concerns of antisemitism tropes but when you see the holocaust imagery the jews are the victims still which is whats true right so it cant be all bad right? but it still might have that both sides are wrong mentality which is bad when we have oppressor vs victims. im confused and idk how to feel. i want to keep liking it. how do you deal with this?

i haven’t talked about this, and i was hesitant to answer this message, because, tbh, anon, there is no right answer here.

i recently saw a post about atla and how it gives the imperialistic side of the conflict an uncomfortably sympathetic look. the sexualization of little girls in asoiaf is awfully blatant. equally troublesome is racism in the Essosi storyline. there is an ongoing conversation about Wanda’s whitewashing in the mcu. those are all valid points, imo. still, i engage with these stories, to some extent. 

i don’t believe snk preaches ‘both sides are wrong’ mentality. the oppressor’s pov is almost entirely cut out. the heroes are all Eldian. i keep reading this story because I don’t believe it’s pro fascist or anti-Semitic. if it was, i would drop it. my opinion doesn’t really matter, because it’s just one opinion, and i’m not Jewish. i could write paragraphs arguing about how inclusive and anti fascist the manga’s themes are, but it wouldn’t get us anywhere. because, at the end of the day, how you feel is the only thing that matters.

if you’re feeling uncomfortable about snk, either because of its content or what other people say about it, you should drop it. everyone has their limits, the moment that makes you give up on a story. i had that moment while watching ‘the last jedi’ and seeing how badly finn was treated. i don’t think people who enjoy that movie are awful, but i did block/mute them to clear my dash/timeline.

i know my answer sounds very dry, but it wasn’t my intention. i’m not even sure if i expressed myself clearly. what i meant is, all opinions and feelings are valid, and conversations around problematic aspects of our favorite stories are very important. at the same time, i will keep caring about this manga, and i don’t want to partake in the discourse around snk being fascist propaganda because (1) i strongly believe it’s not true, (2) i want to engage with the story itself, (3) i’m very tired of that kind of negativity. i’ve been in various fandoms and seen too much shit. if this answer makes you (or anyone reading this) think i’m a bad person, it’s okay, you can block me

[life-is-a-tragedy]

So im not really sure how to feel about the whole goblincore thing anymore people are saying its anti-Semitic but someone posted how they used gremlins not goblins for anti-Semitic propaganda I've actually taken a holocaust and genocide class and we learned about propaganda portrayed them as vampires and we were even shown modern day anti-Semitic political cartoons and propaganda portraying them as vampires yet no one has a problem with vampires you cant cherry pick what is or isn't antisemitic.

I like goblincore since its the only aesthetic on tumbler that doesnt make me feel less because im not rich or being feminine as a woman these are things people straight up harrass me for every day of my life

I have and will always have a problem with people who are antisemetic I've never been the kind of person who sits back when people are harrased for no good reason people have the right to live life how they please as long if there not interfering with other peoples lives to do so if i have to fight or put my life to defend that for others i wouldn't even think for a second of backing down

So what im asking is instead of hating on random aesthetics on tumbler call out and fight in-juctice when you see no matter who's its from because doing nothing when you see it you are just as guilty as the person commiting the act

[abimee]

clown time babey, im a demiboy and i constantly yearn for a boyfriend. i very much love the punk and cottagecore and goblincore ans kidcore aesthetics and i cant decide which one i want lmao. also i desperately want to be a plant dad but i cant keep a plant alive for like 3 days im cursed

I must say you should reconsider cottagecore and goblincore as goblincore easily slides into anti-Semitism and antisemitic imagrey as "goblins" were used as caricatures of Jewish people. Cottagecore has its roots in manifest destiny and neglects the fact that no land is our land on stolen land and every inch of the United States is stolen land from thousands of Native tribes, and escapist fantasy of running away to garden in the mountains or "run away from city life" is just avoiding how we made this society and we shouldnt be the ones making escapist fantasy from what we benefit from. Do reconsider supporting those -cores

[david-sharkthot-webster]

Hey there, hope you're well! Just wanted to add to the discussion civilly—I too am ethnically Jewish (and also somewhat religious), and I haven't been into the BoB fandom online for long so I may be misinterpreting but when I see the "Liebgott is a rat" thing by non-Jewish people it makes me very uncomfortable. I agree that Ross McCall's facial features do come off that way (that was my first thought when I saw him in the show) but I personally wouldn't ever post about him and (1/2)

(2/2) compare him to a rat, just because since he's commonly read as Jewish since the show portrayed him as such, it comes off as unintentionally insensitive at best and antisemitic at worst. Just wanted to share my thoughts, not trying to start an argument or anything. Sending love! —Anne

Hi doll! Thank you for your input, I was slightly interested to see how other Jewish people would interpret it, as my other Jewish friends are not offended. I get where you’re coming from and completely understand how you feel but i dont think its “Liebgott is a rat” It’s purely based on the fact ross mccall looks rat like and i think other people take up on that - I see it similarly to how people call doc roe a mouse or a deer? its like a nick name which to me doesnt reflect his characteristics. I think i covered most of it in my post - its a joke and im sure that no one who makes posts about it is doing it with malicious intent but rather as a bit of fun. If they were, then there would be a problem. I think there are bigger issues in this small fandom than attacking blogs who are just trying to have fun and make content for this starved fandom lmao. 

I obviously cant control how people interpret it, just trying to establish that it was not originated from a place of anti-semitism and contempt

[tinynebula]

it's a bummer that your biggest post is that one where everyone calls you antisemitic for the Steve isn't progressive take. whole bio says you're Jewish but that post still makes its rounds. sucks.

i think it's funny, because it summarizes tumblr reasoning. like, the og post only says "we cant just forget that steve is a military man" referring to the fact that he is a symbol for the US military, and i as a latina can't really reconcile that fact because the us military has destroyed and intervened in our countries time and time again. like i was only saying "hey i like this character but it's really hard to ignore the fact that he represents imperialism on a symbolic level" and someone just decided it was about ww2 and judaism, which i explained it wasn't about, but it's so fun to cancel someone so yay let's call the jewish woman an anti semite because we decided steve rogers the fictional character is a sjw who's honor we need to defend. all based on an assumption. and on top of that, several times it happened that other "popular" blogs i used to talk to that have tons of followers reblogged it, and i DMed saying hey, this post is calling me an anti semite, it's not ok, and every time it gets notes it attracts a wave of anons that really don't understand shit, please delete it. and.... only one time someone actually did delete the reblog. one. then i tried sending anons saying "hey that post calls the op an anti semite and she's jewish!" and.... they ignored it and never deleted it.

it's so funny how, im the one "cancelled" based on that post, but i could send you the list of people who sit comfortably calling a jewish woman an anti semite even after knowing the truth. you'd be surprised how many of the ohh so woke and popular blogs are huge hypocrites.

[bluesalty]

I think youre reading too much into goblincore being anti semitic. I personally completely forgot that goblins were any related to anti semitic caricatures bc im trying to enjoy my wholesomeness. I hate when people try to shit on wholesome things and call them hateful.

if something hurts someone you cant tell the people that it harms that it doesnt harm them. dont discredit other peoples feelings just because you you didnt see something is bad. dont let your ignorance blind you of how other people experience the world, learn from it and strive to be better

again, im not trying to “cancel” goblincore and other things, i literally just want people to recognize that it is antisemitic, and try to not be. listen, learn, fix.

[busket]

TBH I’m with you on South Park. It’s not as deep as people think and they’ve handled a lot of issues like Al Gore wanting people to care about global warming, LGBT+ (esp trans!) issues, and Anti Semitism extremely poorly. Top that with the fact that most of their episodes are made in a week which leads to a lot of stress on the production end and I can safely say that I’m over South Park and the bloated hype train around it.

people will write it off as satire but the fact of the matter is that when south park was in the peak of its popularity when i was in school, kids all around me were using “jew” as an insult. they thought cartman was funny and edgy and cool, and so antisemitism was the same. a lot of kids in my high school were holocaust deniers. one of the few jewish kids in my class (who also happened to be black) was bullied out of the school, his parents transferred him because he was going through hell

and when you cant distinguish fake, “satire” antisemitism from REAL antisemitism, its not satire. you can say “cant believe you take it seriously!!” as much as you want but thats exactly a tactic the alt-right uses, keeping their hatred just edgy and funny enough that if anyone criticizes it, they can easily say “come on it was just a joke!!!!! im not serious!!!! lol blood and soil, you will not replace us, lololol!!!!!!!”

and obv im not saying south park is alt-right, its a stupid cartoon. but sometimes the poorly conceived messages it tries to portray, along with the rhetoric of “nothing should be taken seriously” plays perfectly into the hands of really hateful and awful people

[eclipsedefflorescence]

Oh my fucking word it is impossible to read anything in the roots of formal western esotercism (i.e. any information that was procured by Golden Dawn and then proliferated by its students afterwards) that isn't wildly antisemitic. Like whats their fucking problem?? It is so angering. At first I was like okay, well that's racist as fuck lets disregard that but how much of this is passively racist and not explicit and I just dont have the appropriate context to pick it up? (The answer is all of it im suspecting)

So like to get into formal occultism you either have to immerse yourself in anti-Semitism or go full Orientalist focusing on "Eastern Mythos" as if that's inherently more mystic or magical - erego more fucking racism and cultural imperialism. I just cant even.