February 19, 2021

Chasten Buttigieg had the shadiest reaction to Rush Limbaugh's death

Chasten Buttigieg had a lowkey brilliant response to news that Rush Limbaugh passed away yesterday.

Limbaugh, who was a far-right radio host since the 1980s, attacked LGBTQ people and was openly disgusted by gay men throughout his career.

One of the more recent targets of Limbaugh’s homophobia was Pete Buttigieg, who kissed his husband Chasten on camera when he announced his 2020 presidential campaign.

On his radio show, Limbaugh became obsessed with that kiss, mentioning it multiple times on several episodes. He said, “America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president,” asked how parents will explain it “to their children,” and explained that Democrats wanted to nominate Buttigieg so that he could debate Donald Trump and “ram it down Trump’s throat” by kissing Chasten on stage.

https://twitter.com/roscoe_p_ny/status/1362105785556344833

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February 17, 2021

Anti-Semitism lurks behind modern conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theories are more popular and more widespread in the 21st century than they have ever been. They are powered by the rise of the internet and social media, enabled by the declining influence of traditional gatekeepers of opinion such as newspaper editors, TV executives and book publishers, and encouraged by the spread of the uncertainty about truth and falsehood encapsulated in the perverse concept of “alternative facts” popularised by, among others, former US president Donald Trump and his spokespeople.

Over the centuries conspiracy theories have pointed the finger at many different groups, from the Jesuits to the Freemasons, but it is above all Jews who have been the object of the paranoia they represent.

A minority religious community in an overwhelmingly Christian Europe, the Jews were blamed in the Middle Ages and after for a whole range of seemingly inexplicable events, most notably perhaps the Black Death, the pandemic of bubonic plague that killed half Europe’s population in 1348-1349, and the French Revolution which overthrew the traditional European order in the years after 1789. Massacres and pogroms were the result.

It was in Russia under Tsar Nicholas II that the most notorious of anti-Semitic tracts originated. Known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, it purported to be the minutes of a secret meeting of Jewish “wise men” held in 1897 to plot the overthrow of civilization. It’s been described by many historians as a document of immense power, a “warrant for genocide”, inspiring Hitler to carry out the extermination of six million Jews in what he called “the final solution of the Jewish problem in Europe”. It’s been translated into many languages, reprinted many times, and it’s sold millions of copies.

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February 16, 2021

'The Jew is guilty,' 300 neo-Nazis hear at rare far-right gathering in Spain

Jewish leaders in Spain are calling for an investigation after a far-right event in Madrid featured anti-Semitic speeches and a Nazi salute.

About 300 people attended the event held near a cemetery in the Spanish capital where veterans who fought alongside Hitler’s troops are buried. In one speech, a young woman was filmed saying: “Our duty is to fight for Spain and Europe now weakened by the enemy, which remains the same but wears many masks: the Jew.”

Public expressions of admiration for Nazi Germany, anti-Semitic rhetoric and large far-right gatherings are relatively uncommon in Spain, where many people have bitter memories from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who sided with the Nazis during World War II and then ruled Spain until 1975.

But as in many European countries, right-wing populism has seen a massive and sudden rise in popularity in Spain in recent years. In 2019, the Vox populist right-wing party entered parliament for the first time as the country’s third-largest party, with 52 out of 350 seats.


Neo-Nazis giving the Hitler salute at an event near a cemetery in Madrid, Spain on Feb. 13, 2021. (Lamarea.com)

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February 15, 2021

Portuguese politician suggests that Israel's vaccination success because of Jewish financial power

A Portuguese politician suggested that Jewish financial domination has facilitated Israel’s success in vaccinating for COVID-19.

His tweet prompted an unusual repudiation several days later by the country’s second-largest party.

“The Jews, as they dominate the fiscal world, bought and have the vaccines they wanted,” Rodrigo Sousa e Castro, a former local elections candidate from Lisbon, wrote. “It’s historical revenge of sorts. I won’t say anything else before the Zionist ‘bulldogs’ jump.”

Following protests over his remarks, including by the Israeli Embassy in Lisbon, Sousa e Castro deleted the tweet and said it was “offensive.”

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February 12, 2021

Anti-Semitic flyer in German tram blames Jews for the COVID pandemic

Anti-Semitic flyers were found Wednesday on a tram in Cologne, Germany, blaming Jews for the ongoing pandemic.

The black-and-white flyer reads: “Do we really have a Corona problem? Or do we have a Jewish problem?” with a Star of David in the background next to the names of three prominent German politicians — Chancellor Angela Merkel, Health Minister Jens Spahn, Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas — and virologist Christian Drosten.

None of them are Jewish, but the flyer claims they are.

“The more Jews in politics and media, the worse things are!” it reads.



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Seems the "Jewish Problem" is always in the minds of extremists and conspiracy theorists.

February 12, 2021

(Jewish Group) It's Time We Taught Anti-Semitism

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

Elliot W. Eisner, a longtime professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, once posited that any learning environment has three types of curricula: 1) the explicit curriculum, or what the institution says it teaches, 2) the implicit curriculum, or the learnings that students take away from the institution without their having to be taught, and 3) the null curriculum, or those things that the institution does not teach.

When a topic ends up relegated to the null curriculum -- that is, not taught -- we must wonder whether it is because the institution does not consider that topic to be important. So it is with anti-Semitism.

Three anti-Semitic massacres have occurred in the United States in the past three years: in Pittsburgh; Poway, Calif.; and Jersey City, N.J. Numerous anti-Semitic incidents have taken place at colleges and universities -- including, to cite just a few, Nazi swastika graffiti, fliers saying “Hitler was right” and an incident in which a Holocaust survivor was heckled while telling his story by a student who thought that was an appropriate time to express opposition to the continued existence of the Jewish state of Israel.

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We need to honor the perspectives of Jews about anti-Semitic words or actions. When dealing with different forms of hate, it has become an article of faith that a group gets to define its own oppression. Put simply: a white person doesn’t get to tell a Black person whether something is racist. No such respect is extended to Jews, however.
Our survey asked this question: “If a Jewish person or organization considered a statement or idea to be anti-Semitic, would that make you more likely to consider it anti-Semitic, less likely, or would it make no difference to you?” About two-thirds, or 64 percent, of people aged 18 to 29 said it would make no difference to them if a Jewish person told them something was anti-Semitic. Another 21 percent said that such protestation from Jews would make them less likely to consider something anti-Semitic. To fight anti-Semitism as seriously as we confront any other bigotry, we must normalize believing Jews.

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February 10, 2021

(Jewish Group) We're running out of time to preserve endangered Jewish languages.

We’re running out of time to preserve endangered Jewish languages. Here’s how we can stop them from being lost forever.

I can’t stop thinking about Flory Jagoda, Joseph Sassoon and Kitty Sassoon – three American Jews in their 90s who died last week. As an Ashkenazi Jew, I do not share their family backgrounds. But their deaths hit home for me, as they were among the last native speakers of endangered Jewish languages — languages I’m helping to document before it’s too late.

Flory Jagoda devoted much of her life to preserving one of those languages. She grew up in Bosnia speaking Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, which her ancestors had maintained since their expulsion from Spain in 1492. She survived the Holocaust in part through her musical skills, playing accordion and singing in Serbo-Croatian. For decades, she wrote and performed Ladino songs, maintaining the Sephardic folk traditions of her Nona (grandmother), innovating on them and bringing them to a wider audience.

Jagoda’s music introduced me to Ladino and ignited my interest in Jewish languages. In my fifth-grade class at Jewish day school, my classmates and I learned her catchy tune “Ocho Kandelikas” (Eight Little Candles) along with Hebrew and English Hanukkah songs. As a teenager, I heard Jagoda perform at a Jewish Folk Life Festival — of which she was a founder — and purchased a cassette of hers, “La Nona Kanta” (The Grandmother Sings). I still listen to those songs and now share them — especially my favorite, “Laz Tiyas” (The Aunties) — with my students when I teach about Jewish languages. My students read an article about Jagoda’s work to promote Sephardic language and culture just a week before she died.

While Jagoda is among the last generation of native Ladino speakers, young people have continued her language preservation work, as we see in Devin Naar’s archive of Ladino letters, books and other historical treasures; Bryan Kirschen’s Ladino research and classes; and Sarah Aroeste’s contemporary Ladino music and children’s books. Due to these efforts, American Jews tend to know about the language. When I ask audiences which Jewish languages they have heard of, they generally mention Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino.

People are less familiar with other Jewish languages, including Judeo-Shirazi (from Iran), Judeo-Malayalam (from India) and Jewish Neo-Aramaic (from the Kurdish region) — all critically endangered. The many endangered dialects of Judeo-Arabic have been documented to varying extents, from Egypt to Morocco, from Syria to Yemen. And some young people are keeping the music alive, such as Neta Elkayam, A-WA and Asher Shasho Levy for Moroccan, Yemenite and Syrian traditions. Even so, most American Jews have never heard of Judeo-Arabic. Whenever a speaker dies, we lose an opportunity to learn and teach more about the nuances of this rich language and culture.

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February 9, 2021

Rightwing blame pandemics on Jews & LGBTQ people. It's still a Big Lie.

As Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda boasted: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Throughout history, people have believed these lies as many powerful dominant groups depicted or represented subordinated groups in a variety of negative ways to maintain control or mastery. The oppression of subordinated groups is expressed through myths and stereotypes in proverbs, social commentary, literature, jokes, epithets, pictorial depictions, and other cultural forms.

Also, throughout history, we can clearly notice the many clear and stunning connections between historical representations and oppressions of subordinated groups. I highlight here these connections in the representations of Jewish people and LGBTQ people.

As John Boswell notes in his book Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: “The fate of Jews and gay people has been almost identical throughout European history, from early Christian hostility to extermination in concentration camps. The same laws which oppressed Jews oppressed gay people; the same groups bent on eliminating Jews tried to wipe out homosexuality.”

“The same periods of European history which could not make room for Jewish distinctiveness reacted violently against sexual nonconformity…, and even the same methods of propaganda were used against Jews and gay people — picturing them as animals bent on the destruction of the children of the majority.”

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Just a reminder...supremacy and privilege come in many forms, and can be just as destructive as other forms.

February 4, 2021

Every antisemitic thing Marjorie Taylor Greene has said and done (so far)

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated as necessary.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jewish space laser post shot her into the Jewish press; there was just too much there, comedic and serious, to give it up. While the statement was made before her election, she has refused to apologize for her comments, according to CNN.

Antisemitism is not alone among Greene’s problematic beliefs — as is often the case, it comes along with myriad other conspiracy theories. She has also used anti-Black and anti-Muslim rhetoric, promoted death threats against prominent Democrats and supported the false claim that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. But to make this list manageable, we’ve limited it to her antisemitic statements.

QAnon
When Greene was elected, many outlets noted her previous support for QAnon, which she had mentioned in videos and written about in a blog post.

QAnon, a set of conspiracy theories based off on the cryptic posts of an author who goes by Q, has gained traction among the far right. The beliefs it promotes include a cultlike support of Trump and a theory about a satanic cabal of pedophiles who secretly rule the world.

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February 4, 2021

A 'Jewish space laser' sounds funny. But Marjorie Taylor Greene's anti-Semitism is no laughing matte

I’ve been watching the disturbing rise of conspiracy theorist and Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene with horror. Last week, another baseless theory of hers was unearthed — about Jewish space lasers starting the California wildfires. (Did I ever think I’d be writing these words? About a Congress member, no less? No, dear reader, I did not. )

Here’s the story: On Thursday, a 2018 Facebook post written by Greene was unveiled in which the future lawmaker blames California’s wildfires on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in conjunction with the Rothschilds — the Jewish family that’s been prominently featured in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories for about two centuries. Apparently, according to Greene, “Rothschild Inc” started the fires using a space laser, and its goal was to clear the way for a high-speed rail project.

You can read the entire bonkers tirade on Media Matters. (Perhaps not, if you value your brain in its current, unexploded state. )

Since the news broke, Jewish Twitter had a field day — because, of course! Making jokes out of virulent anti-Semitism has been our shtick for time immemorial. Humor, after all, is a classic Jewish coping mechanism. And this particular theory, well, it seems perfectly tailored for so many Jewish jokes. I mean, it’s like Mel Brooks‘ “Jews in Space” segment from “History of the World: Part I” has just been lying around for four decades, just waiting for this moment!

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As we laugh, we shouldn’t lose sight of what’s really at stake here.

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