Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's JournalJewish pols experienced 6,000 antisemitic tweets in a month, says ADL
Jewish incumbents running for reelection were bombarded with antisemitism on Twitter over the summer, according to a study released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL found that between July 23 and August 22, 30 incumbent Jewish members of the House and Senate received a total of nearly 6,000 antisemitic tweets, about 10% of the tweets directed at the group as a whole.
Nearly half of the tweets questioned the loyalty, honesty, ideology or faith of Jewish incumbents, the report said. Other common themes included misinformation about Democratic donor George Soros, including conspiracy theories that he is bankrolling Black Lives Matter protests and “antifa” in order to support “Jewish supremacy;” allegations of Jewish control over the media, the financial world or the government; and accusations that incumbents were secret Communists or Marxists. Some of the tweets “targeted incumbents with claims of pedophilia,” a nod to a QAnon conspiracy theory that purports the government is running a child sex-trafficking ring.
“Social media platforms are breeding grounds for hate and antisemitism at a frightening scale, and as very public and sometimes polarizing figures, Jewish members of Congress often experience the worst of this on Twitter,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in a statement.
The majority of the tweets dealt in antisemitic tropes rather than direct anti-Jewish slurs, said the report; fewer than 10% of the tweets contained explicitly antisemitic language. Twitter has yet to remove any of those that do.
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ETA:
Related:
Online Hate Index Report: The Digital Experience of Jewish Lawmakers
In late 2018, Pew Research Center reported that social media sites had surpassed print newspapers as a news source for Americans, when one in five U.S. adults reported that they often got news via social media.i By the following year, that figure had increased to 28% and the trend is only risingii. Combine that with a deeply divided polity headed into a bitterly divisive 2020 U.S. presidential election season and it becomes crucial to understand the information that Americans are exposed to online about political candidates and the topics they are discussing. It is equally important to explore how online discourse might be used to intentionally distort information and create and exploit misgivings about particular identity groups based on religion, race or other characteristics.
In this report, we are bringing together the topic of online attempts to sow divisiveness and misinformation around elections on the one hand, and antisemitism on the other, in order to take a look at the type of antisemitic tropes and misinformation used to attack incumbent Jewish members of the U.S Congress who are running for re-election. This analysis was aided by the Online Hate Index (OHI), a tool currently in development within the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center for Technology and Society (CTS) that is being designed to automate the process of detecting hate speech on online platforms. Applied to Twitter in this case study, OHI provided a score for each tweet which denote the confidence (in percentage terms) in classifying the subject tweet as antisemitic.
This study presents a snapshot in time of “Problematic” content, which for the purposes of this report we have defined as including both antisemitic tweets as well as tweets that include antisemitic tropes but require more context to be definitively categorized as antisemitic. The findings of this report are based on a review of 5,954 tweets directed at all 30 Jewish incumbents up for re-election on November 3, 2020. The tweets in our sample were all posted between July 23, 2020 to August 22, 2020.
The findings of this report, while limited, are alarming and, unfortunately, not surprising. We find distinct antisemitic tropes targeting Jewish incumbents, many of which have been recently amplified by QAnoniii, as well as other conspiracy theorists. For a full list of incumbents and details on OHI and methodology, please refer to the Methodology section.
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How are you voting? or How did you vote?
I know there are a few here, like me, you have already voted. I was curious who has voted and how and when.
The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the U.S. Electorate
The upcoming 2020 presidential election has drawn renewed attention to how demographic shifts across the United States have changed the composition of the electorate.
In all 50 states, the share of non-Hispanic White eligible voters declined between 2000 and 2018, with 10 states experiencing double-digit drops in the share of White eligible voters. During that same period, Hispanic voters have come to make up increasingly larger shares of the electorate in every state. These gains are particularly large in the Southwestern U.S., where states like Nevada, California and Texas have seen rapid growth in the Hispanic share of the electorate over an 18-year period.1
These trends are also particularly notable in battleground states – such as Florida and Arizona – that are likely to be crucial in deciding the 2020 election.2 In Florida, two-in-ten eligible voters in 2018 were Hispanic, nearly double the share in 2000. And in the emerging battleground state of Arizona, Hispanic adults made up about one-quarter (24%) of all eligible voters in 2018, up 8 percentage points since 2000.
To be sure, the demographic composition of an area does not tell the whole story. Patterns in voter registration and voter turnout vary widely by race and ethnicity, with White adults historically more likely to be registered to vote and to turn out to vote than other racial and ethnic groups. Additionally, every presidential election brings its own unique set of circumstances, from the personal characteristics of the candidates, to the economy, to historic events such as a global pandemic. Still, understanding the changing racial and ethnic composition in key states helps to provide clues for how political winds may shift over time.
Black, Hispanic and Asian registered voters historically lean Democratic
The ways in which these demographic shifts might shape electoral outcomes are closely linked to the distinct partisan preferences of different racial and ethnic groups. Pew Research Center survey data spanning more than two decades shows that the Democratic Party maintains a wide and long-standing advantage among Black, Hispanic and Asian American registered voters.3 Among White voters, the partisan balance has been generally stable over the past decade, with the Republican Party holding a slight advantage.
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11-year-old boy blows shofar in front of Supreme Court to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Micah Blay confessed that blowing a large shofar in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for some 250 people was “definitely like kind of scary.”
Micah, 11, accompanied his mother, activist Dana Marlowe, on Saturday to the Washington, D.C., building from their suburban Maryland home to pay their respects to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Marlowe said her son blew the shofar several more times as more and more people arrived at the site, and that he was performing a mitzvah for Rosh Hashanah.
They also brought stones on behalf of nearly 300 people to lay in front of the building in lieu of placing them on her gravesite.
Marlowe told the “Good Morning Washington” show on WJLA-Ch. 7 that she also printed out several copies of the Mourner’s Kaddish to say at the Supreme Court in honor of Ginsburg.
https://twitter.com/DanaMarlowe/status/1307413260438851589
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Joe Biden calls Delaware Chabad torching 'deeply disturbing'
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemned the torching of the Chabad center at the University of Delaware.
The incident “is deeply disturbing — as an alum of @UDelaware and as an American,” read a tweet Thursday from Biden’s Twitter account. “We need a full and swift investigation into what happened Tuesday night. With anti-Semitism on the rise across the country, we all have a moral obligation to speak out and give hate no safe harbor.”
The Tuesday night blaze, which resulted in damages estimated at $150,000-$200,000, was ruled an arson by the state fire marshal on Wednesday. The blaze required 45 firefighters, including from neighboring fire companies, to bring the fire under control, according to local media reports.
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1299145925273612288
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Thank you, soon-to-be President Biden!
University of Delaware Chabad Fire Was Arson, Investigators Say
The state’s fire marshal ruled that a fire at the University of Delaware Chabad’s Center for Jewish Life on Aug. 26 was an act of arson.
Delaware Online reported that firefighters were called at around 11:15 p.m. on Aug. 26; it took the firefighters three hours to extinguish fire. No one was inside the building at the time of the fire.
Investigators initially estimated the Chabad sustained $75,000 in damage from the fire, but the estimate has since risen to $150,000-$200,000. Investigators also said they have not seen any evidence indicating that the arson was a hate crime; the investigation is ongoing.
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“Another Chabad House, this time at Uni of Delaware, has been damaged by arson,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted. “Last week Chabad House in Portland Oregon suffered damage from arson attack. SWC urges Trump/Pence & Biden/Harris to strongly condemn escalating anti-Semitism in our country and both parties and media to loudly denounce virus of Jew-hatred on social media and in the real world.”
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(Jewish Group) The latest Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories from the Middle East and far right
(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!!)During times of crisis and uncertainty, it is not uncommon for people to create false narratives and conspiracy theories. This is certainly true in the case of the coronavirus. AIJAC policy analysts Judy Maynard and Oved Lobel wrote about global coronavirus conspiracy theories in April, and Oved Lobel produced an update in May. Meanwhile, academic Ran Porat published some revelations about such conspiracies in the Australian media in Arabic in the Australia/Israel Review.
Whether assigning blame to the West for the creation and spread of the virus or blaming Israel, the Middle Eastern media has continued to be a source of these harmful claims. Meanwhile, the far-right has also been a major source of antisemitic conspiracy theories linking the outbreak of the virus to a Jewish plot, especially online.
Coronavirus conspiracy theories have been spreading as fast as the virus itself and appear to be readily accepted by large minorities in some democratic countries. In fact, an Oxford University study revealed that 1 in 5 people in Britain believe that the Jews are somehow behind the coronavirus.
This blog will report some examples of the more outlandish conspiracy theories emanating from the Middle East and the far-right that have appeared since late May – although of course other sources of such conspiracies also exist, including the far left.
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I have seen more than a few of these pop-up in some of the most unlikely of places, including a queer gossip group!
(Jewish Group) White Nationalism and antisemitism
I rarely write a post in this group, usually I post articles of interest in regards to the Jewish community; sadly, many relate to or involve anti-Semitism (despite some not wanting to hear about antisemitism, but that's another post). A post in LBN, Trump-loving GOP candidate rushes to delete vacation pics at Hitler's favorite retreat had me search down the acronym, SPQR and how it related to white nationalism. While I was somewhat familiar with the original meaning (I needed a refresher because I was off a bit), I was not aware of its use by neo-Nazis and other white nationalists. Then I stumbled on this article:
SPQR and White Nationalism
Senatus Populusque Romanus, “The Senate and People of Rome,” was a phrase used to describe the Roman state in Republican and Imperial times. It was and is often abbreviated as S.P.Q.R. Both the phrase itself and the abbreviation have remained in frequent use as a symbol of the city of Rome. It is also a favorite abbreviation of white nationalists, as the following examples demonstrate.
[Update: Scholars Respond to appropriations of SPQR by hate groups]
[Update: Prof. Sarah Bond has written an excellent article on SPQR that expands on many of the points we make in our follow-up to this documentation]
The use of the abbreviation by hate groups first came to Pharos’ attention when a group of Ohio University students attracted protests for flying an SPQR flag. The protestors said “someone at [the house] might be a Nazi” because the SPLC had reported that SPQR flags were flown at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally of white supremacists and other nationalist groups. The students defended the flag as being simply a “Roman legion flag” and a “party flag.”
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The article, itself, is not long, but there are a multitude of hotlinks, some of which I have read; others, not yet. However, there were other articles which caught my eye, so I thought I would bring them here in a single place. I think this site might be a plethora of interesting items on anti-Semitism, white Nationalism, and other issues revolving around bigotry and hate. So, I will share these two, mainly because of my love of Greek Myths and ancient Roman history.
Monsters from Greek Mythology Inspire White Supremacist Activists -- June 2020
“The Hundred Handers” is a network of white supremacists who post racist stickers in public places. It’s a strategy used by many racist groups, including those who use imagery taken from Greco-Roman antiquity. According to an interview with the network’s anonymous founder on an anti-government website, the goal of the Hundred Handers’ stickers is to reassure the “whole population who aren’t as plugged [into] social media and may feel alone against the tsunami of anti-white hatred that they face daily” that “you’re not alone and there are others like you in close proximity.” The network takes its name from the many-headed and many-limbed monsters who, according to the Greek poet Hesiod’s Theogony, helped Zeus and the Olympian gods defeat the Titans in the battle for control of the universe.
The Hundred Handers’ promotional materials (above) describe how the many-handed monsters from Greek mythology provide the inspiration for the anonymous structure of the group, in which participants work independently and anonymously as “hands” on behalf of the whole. It’s a strategy that the network’s founder, or “Head,” formulated “to get a message out into the real world while mitigating risk” of “violence and harassment” that he claims “people engaged in white advocacy” face. The idea is that “hands” can anonymously obtain approved stickers from “The Archive,” print them, and post them, thereby recruiting new members to the network and promoting white supremacist ideology in the real world, not just online.
In the interview quoted above the “Head” argued that the time had come to advocate for white supremacy “IRL,” because “chances are, if you’re online and open to our ideas you’ve found one of our content creators or thought leaders.” He then likened white supremacy’s supposed domination of the online space to ancient empire-building: “There’s a quote that’s attributed wrongly to Alexander the Great but I believe it applies to the online front in which we fight, ‘‘he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer‘.” The network’s founder was not, however, content with white supremacy’s conquest of the online world. “The battlefield is broader,” he said. “We can shout all day into social media but our enemies are active in the real world and we must meet them there.” According to Aristotle Kallis, a historian of fascism, the spread of such “real world” activism “underline[s] how ill-prepared the mainstream is with dealing with this kind of threat.”
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Anti-Semites Enlist Cicero Against Anti-Racism -- May 2020
“The Noticer” is an anti-Semitic Telegram channel that collects screenshots of anti-racist tweets from people who self-identify as Jewish in order to intimidate them and target them for racist harassment. The avatar for this channel features a bust of the ancient Roman politician Cicero with glowing, laser-like eyes in imitation of a popular photoshop effect found in memes. As of this writing over eleven thousand people subscribe to “The Noticer”.
The sinister and violent history of such lists of Jewish people and other targeted groups is well-known, even though “The Noticer” is careful not to call for violence in order not to fall afoul of Telegram’s permissive terms of service. But just because it doesn’t mention violence doesn’t mean it isn’t promoting violence: when a list similar to “The Noticer’s” was proposed on 4Chan an anonymous response called for “Kike genocide.”
“The Noticer” moved to Telegram after it was banned from Twitter, where it had begun its list under the handle @TheEuropeanMan1, a name chosen in keeping with the anti-Semitic belief that Jewish people are somehow racially different from “European” people. This belief, in turn, underlies the conspiracy theory that Jewish people seek to infiltrate and destroy “white” power and culture. “The Noticer’s” focus on anti-racist tweets by Jewish people attempts to cast anti-racism as part of this supposed plot.
Why Cicero? On one level it must be the same impulse that leads many white supremacist writers to adopt Classical pseudonyms: they want to tap into the prestige that ancient writers enjoy in the popular imagination. But Cicero seems to have a special appeal for racists. For example, Pharos has documented that neo-Nazis have made Cicero an early exponent of anti-Semitism by modifying a passage about Jewish people from one of his speeches.
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As aware as I am of antisemitism, it's history, and the current climate, which I try to bring here for more to see, much to the chagrin of some, I was completely blindsided by the depths and levels of organization and new ways of expressing themselves, as well as, hiding in plain sight! I hope you take a moment (actually, a few moments), to read these articles and the supporting links. If you find something of interest in relation to white nationalism and anti-Semitism, please let me know.
Jewish and Black historical cemeteries vandalized in Virginia with Nazi symbol
Two historic cemeteries in Virginia, one Jewish and one African-American, were vandalized with graffiti featuring “777,” shorthand for the triskele hate symbol.
The vandalism was discovered Monday at Richmond’s Evergreen Cemetery and at the Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery in Henrico County on the border with Richmond, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
The triskele, or triskelion, looks like three interlocking sevens and was one of many ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis and later by white supremacist groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The “777” stand-in for the symbol was spray-painted throughout the Montefiore Cemetery, which was founded in 1886 and is the burial place of many Jewish immigrants from the former Russian Empire, according to the Times-Dispatch. Evergreen Cemetery houses multiple African American leaders “from the post-Reconstruction and civil rights eras,” including Maggie Walker, the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States.
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Causes of death for Americans: Six down, closing in on 7 in just under 6 months.
COVID-19...it's a hoax!
COVID-19...it's no worse than the flu!
COVID-19...a few people will, of course, die!
Well folks, in 2018, the top 10 reasons for Americans' deaths were as follows:
10. Suicide
2018 incidence: 48,344
Rate: 14.2 per 100,000
US standard population Percentage of total deaths: 1.7%
9. Kidney disease
2018 incidence: 51,386
Rate: 12.9 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total death: 1.8%
8. Influenza and pneumonia
2018 incidence: 59,120
Rate: 14.9 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 2.1%
7. Diabetes
2018 incidence: 84,946
Rate: 21.4 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 3%
6. Alzheimer disease
2018 incidence: 122,019
Rate: 30.5 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 4.3%
5. Cerebrovascular diseases
2018 incidence: 147,810
Rate: 37.1 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 5.2%
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases
2018 incidence: 159,486
Rate: 39.7 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 5.6%
3. Accidents/unintentional injuries
2018 incidence: 167,127
Rate: 48.0 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 5.9%
2. Cancer
2018 incidence: 599,274
Rate: 149.1 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 21.1%
1. Heart disease
2018 incidence: 655,381
Rate: 163.6 per 100,000 US standard population
Percentage of total deaths: 23.1%
(source)
As of today, 3:30pm CST, there are over 157,000 AMERICANS DEAD due to COVID-19! These deaths didn't start until February, so we are just 6 months in!! The totals above are from the ENTIRE year of 2018 (deaths in 2019 didn't change much)! Of course, it is important to remember that it isn't just deaths which are the problem as it now seems some of those who were infected are having other problems related to the infection, including possible long-term damage and effects.
Do you think COVID-19 will surpass cancer? What about heart disease, making it the largest killer of Americans in 2020?
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