{"id":1059,"date":"2010-06-09T10:33:28","date_gmt":"2010-06-09T15:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2010-06-09T16:24:38","modified_gmt":"2010-06-09T21:24:38","slug":"the-jewish-protective-cloak-of-ethnicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1059","title":{"rendered":"The Jewish Protective Cloak of Ethnicity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I spent my blogging time writing up my Examiner<\/a> article (because they pay the bills\u2026 well, not really\u2026 so contribute bitches). In any case, the article was about Helen Thomas\u2019s<\/a> remarks and the misunderstanding that followed.<\/p>\n

I am not going to defend Helen Thomas here; I leave that to the Examiner article<\/a>. But I do want to talk about a few of the conversations I had on this subject with various Jews and Gentiles. It seems that whenever someone criticizes a political issue related to Israel, Jew groups are quick to yell \u201cantisemitism.\u201d Sometimes there actually is antisemitism and sometimes there really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It is my view that when people misuse and overuse terms like antisemitism, bigotry, racist, and\/or rape they are weakening those terms. Those terms have specific and serious meanings. There are real people out there who really out to be labeled with those terms, but we can\u2019t simply label anyone we disagree with, with those terms.<\/p>\n

The label of \u201cJewish\u201d has two distinct meanings which are often confused. In one sense, the term refers to a religion and in another sense it refers to an ethnicity. Thousands of years ago there was an ethnic tribe of nomads called Jews. Everyone in that tribe believed in a bunch of made-up bullshit. Today, there are people who are descendant from that tribe and so they are Jewish. Someone them still believe that made-up bullshit and some of them don\u2019t. Some people who are not descendant from that tribe believe the made-up bullshit too.<\/p>\n

The point is that being Jewish has two distinct meanings. One is religious while the other is ethnic. I think it is perfectly fair and justified to criticize and ridicule the religious ideas of Judaism. I don\u2019t however, think it is fair or justified to criticize or ridicule someone because of their ethnicity. We can change our ideas (whether political or religious) we can\u2019t go back in time and change who we are descendant from. We can\u2019t change our ethnicity.<\/p>\n

The term \u201canti-Semitic\u201d refers to ethnicity, NOT religious or political beliefs and\/or opinions. Questioning whether or not Israel (as a political state) should exist is not necessarily anti-Semitic. Nor is it anti-Semitic to question whether or not God really did give a patch of worthless desert to a tribe of bronze-aged sheep herders.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry, but religious and political Jews can\u2019t hind behind the cloak of antisemitism to hide from criticism. There are real anti-Semitic people out there. As an ethnic Jew, I have seen it. Racism is wrong regardless of what the race is. Those who believe all Arabs are anti-Semitic are just as racist as those who believe all Jews are aliens from another planet leading the Illuminati in their evil plot to take over the world (Yes, I have met those people and they really believe that).
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