Jon Stewart on how to fight antisemitism
JVL Introduction
Comedian Jon Stewart speaks with ease and comfort about antisemitism and how to deal with it. No “zero tolerance”, no throwing antisemites to the wolves, but rather, engaging.
To those who say this will “normalise antisemitism” Stewart’s response is that antisemitism, like many other forms of prejudice, is normalised already.
So the best way to combat tropes of Jewish control, for example, is not by forcing an apology tour or silencing any murmurs of conspiracy, but by having frank and public discussion.
“If we all just shut it down, then we retreat to our little corners of misinformation, and it metastasizes and the whole point of all this is to not let it metastasize,” Stewart said.
Wise words. And Stewart is dealing with real cases of real antisemitism not imagining it where it doesn’t exist.
The Labour Party, for starters, should listen – but won’t. Generalised, meaningless accusations of “antisemitism” – often against Jews – have proven far too convenient in purging the party of socialists and imposing authoritarian control.
This article was originally published by Forward on Wed 16 Nov 2022. Read the original here.
Jon Stewart is right about how to fight antisemitism — and should maybe be our ‘spokesjew’
The comedian gave a sober (if funny) analysis of the frenzy surrounding Kyrie Irving, Kanye West and Dave Chappelle
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It’s all very well to propose listening and having a discussion, but that is exactly what Labour, the JLM and the B.O.D does not want, neither does the government. All these bodies and the rest of the Israel Lobby is to shut down dialogue and free speech and simply enforce edicts and gagging laws.
The IHRA definition is a gagging charter, and the declaring Hizbollah and Hamas as terrorist entities, and punishing those who wish to suggest they are the resistance under international law, or those who propose BDS, precisely to prevent any change in Israel’s hegemony or allowing free speech. These are all attacks on democracy and a threat to the Charter of Human Rights.
Very well said that man but the problem is people are being called antisemites for Criticising the Israeli Governments violent oppression of Palestinians, it is disgusting that racism is being used as a political propaganda weapon. This needs to be talked about as well.
Jon Stewart wants us to engage with all kinds of antisemitism, including the complaints that derive from a partially observed reality. Yes, Jews are disproportionately represented in the higher echelons of Hollywood, for example. So shouldn’t we ask why, does it matter, does it signify anything, does it adversely impact non-Jews etc etc, not just punish people for saying “Hollywood is ‘controlled’ by ‘the Jews.’ ” Such analysis of how an antisemitic trope came about, and what it means it seems to me would be a very good discipline for all of us.
For an angry rejoinder to Stwart, also on the Forward website see Elad Nehorai’s “Jon Stewart is not our ‘spokesjew’ — he normalized hate speech”.
For example, Nehori writes: “At the beginning of his interview, Stewart responded to the idea that Chappelle normalized antisemitism by pointing out that it has already become mainstream. “I don’t know if you’ve been on comments sections on most news articles, it’s pretty [bleeped] normal.”
This was a painfully fallacious argument: Antisemitism spread by a celebrity to millions doesn’t matter, because the world already hates us.
But celebrity speech fuels even more of the behavior that puts Jews and other minorities in danger. When leaders of any kind engage in hate speech, hateful acts become normalized.”
Read the full article at https://forward.com/opinion/525214/jon-stewart-is-not-our-spokesjew-he-normalized-hate-speech/