Reply #169: So by your definition this is anti-semitic right? [View All]

[izzybeans]

the post you responded to. I suppose the only time I've seen this charge on DU has been after someone criticized Isreal it seems people are on the defensive on this one; which is not anti-anything in most cases but a response to a concrete charge actually being made. Maybe I only see this charge then because the truly anti-semitic stuff gets deleted. I don't participate in these discussions enough to know.

As for getting beyond anti-semitism, which rereading the OP again I think was the quasi-hidden point (perhaps buried by misapprehension) and is probably the best avenue for a discussion; what do you propose? Obviously defining it is getting us nowhere. I would suggest a thread that is simply titled "Beyond anti-semitism", leave the syntactics and semantics for linguists, and allow the definition to remain open. The solution comes from the dialogue.

I like dialogue, which is why I visit this forum, and this is the place for it.

How to create a dialogue? And with who? On this forum it seems allies beat each other up over this issue. Some have nationalist loyalities that divide them and others do not. I propose one way of getting beyond anti-semitism on this board is to focus the dialogue on "beyond nationalism". It's the root of this problem from the start IMO. This will require some heavy self-reflection on all sides; but every dialogue should. However that is a proposal because I won't be the one with the answers. I have some ideas and so does about everyone else.

Getting beyond anti-semitism outside of DU is like getting beyond any other prejudice. It will take a long term shift of our unconscious presuppositions about ethnicity and nationalities. How to do that? No one knows. The color line, in Dubois' estimation, was and is still a decisive problem in our country. Anti-semitism remains as well. Getting beyond it will require trust building between groups and the recognition of commonality. So far ethnic divisions lock groups into corners cowering in fear of one another. Add in the purity seeking force of nationalism and we've got a cauldron of trouble on our hands. Getting beyond that will take a sustained effort at trust and partnership building. Perhaps creating new identities and cultures along the way. But again these are just ideas...