Why not attack Jews?

I get that the author is supposedly the editor of a Conservative publication and that he's got a Jewish surname, but i've read this piece like 3 times and I still dont see much articulated about why anti-Semitism is either wrong or even counterproductive to the folks playing with it.

I appreciate the excuse for Trump, half hearted though it is, but I don't actually see much substance here.

What's the game here? Did he have to fight that hard to put this out and yet was vetoed when he tried to put in a little beef, or is he too, well aware that antisemtism sells to his base?

Is he trying to obliquely sell the risk of alienating the 1/5 of one percent, and if so, why?

I want to agree with this title, really, but, honestly, reading the stuff that follows seems to support the proposition that Jews are unprincipled money grubbers and that Phillip Klein is one of them.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/10/can-people-just-stop-talking-about-the-jews/amp/

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Ynotisay · M

He's a former financial reporter who has a book out about how government run healthcare would destroy the country. He's worked at the Washington Examiner and the American Spectator. Hardcore conservative rags. His niche is right wing Jew. He did leave the Republican party over Trump but...whatever. I don't think his point was to say antisemitism is wrong. I think his point was driven by a knee jerk reaction.

I lived in an almost all Jewish neighborhood in a major city. Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. And even they battle against each other. I'm an atheist so maybe my perspective is tinted by that but my thinking, based on what I've seen and how I was personally treated by many, is that the idea of persecution, and "us vs. them," is what drives the Jewish American train. So my thinking is that he responded because he had an opportunity given the rants of a seriously insane celebrity. It wasn't about anything other than "See how persecuted we are and what we have to put up with?" Most Jews, like most evangelical Christians, will never miss an opportunity to feel "wronged" or create separation. It's to be expected and, in my opinion, diminishes validity when real issues of antisemitism present themselves.

MistyCee

@Ynotisay You know a lot more then I do about the guy, for sure.

But, let's say his reaction was really a typical "Jewish" "us vs them" "knee jerk" reaction and persecution is what "drives the Jewish American Train," what good is he really doing expressing that this way in the National Review?

Seems like he's reinforcing a Jewish stereotype, and he's not offering much in a positive way while doing it.

Unless, maybe the us vs them thing is the point, I guess. I dont see that as much of a positive, but I suppose solidarity is a thing.

Northwest · M

Candace Owen wants Kanye to cash her husband out of Parler.

Ynotisay · M

@MistyCee I don't think it's anything more than latching on to an opportunity. It's about perpetuating the idea of antisemitism. I think his attempt at a takeaway shows that.

"If you’re a celebrity or public figure with a very large platform, and you feel the itch to get something off your chest about the Jews, how about just don’t."

Wow. Such hard hitting language. That'll change minds and influence behavior.

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MistyCee

@Ynotisay It's so pathetically weak an article, I'm not sure if it wasnt wasnt written deliberately perfunctorily without any intention of actual persuasion.

The background facts ache, if not for actual condemnation, at least for an explanation of why stuff like this isn't just peachy and cool, but the pitch ultimately seems to be, do the "Jews a favor" without even saying why they deserve it.

It's NOT an anti-semitic piece, exactly, but its also not anti antisemitic, and really seems to me to be written that way deliberately.

Ynotisay · M

@MistyCee You're right. My takeaway was that Conservative Jews have to walk a pretty thin tightrope to appeal to both sides.

MistyCee

@Ynotisay So do Orthodox, Reform, or liberal Jews, though, and this particular tightrope almost seems to have been made out of a hawser and run about a foot off the ground.

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TryingtoLava

Wait youre obvi kidding misty

MistyCee

@TryingtoLava What else can I do?

TryingtoLava

@MistyCee laugh not to cry

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