I have now simmered down enough to write about this. Yes, anti-Semitism is a problem and it’s an ancient problem. However, the United States has never sent soldiers into the homes of Jews or Jewish places of worship, dragging them off for imprisonment or execution. France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iran, Egypt, and any number of other countries have. Many of them within living memory.
Drawing an equivalence between anti-Semitism in the U. S. and that in other countries is at best alarmist and poorly informed. In Pittsburgh first responders, i.e. the police, arrived in a timely manner to help Jews not to kill them.
That is not to defend anti-Semitism in any way, shape, or form. But a difference in degree is a difference in kind.
We have a problem in that the few anti-semites are extremely violent.
I think we actually have quite a number of anti-Semites and that a handful of them are violent. The problem is more one of personal empowerment—the fire power that a single individual can draw on.
I don’t think there’s much we can do about that without really draconian action and it will only get worse. Today a person can readily buy highly capable weapons and Google how to make a pipebomb. Tomorrow they’ll be making their own chemical and biological weapons. They’d be making their own nuclear weapons but the materials are hard to come by. Our technological development has outstripped our moral development.
I’ve never mentioned this before on my blog but I’ve been the victim of anti-Semitic bigotry and the beneficiary of pro-Semitic prejudice as well. It’s the “Sch” at the beginning of my name, my brains, and my darkish hair. I’ve got Jewish customers who are still convinced that I’m Jewish even when I tell them I’m not.
I’ve also experienced anti-Catholic bigotry any number of times. I know people who’ve experienced anti-Catholic bigotry from their own relatives.
Perhaps we’re using different definitions. I regard an anti-semite as someone who actively hates jews, and to my knowledge have encountered very few.
I think that if you use abusive language towards Jews or exclude them from your social circle, you’re an anti-Semite. That’s what I mean. I think it’s commonplace.
Have to say this carefully, I’m lower class working class, and would never meet Jewish people. But if I did, I Imagine they would be the ones doing the excluding. If I were a businessman, I’m sure we would get along fine. Guys like this killer, they’ll probably find his computer history full of anti-semite links, posted by people who, just like the killer, are jealous of Jewish financial success. Which is the root of all anti-Semitism.
Grew up in a Bircher household so I am well acquainted with American anti-semitism. While not uncommon, there wasn’t much violence that I remember back then. To be clear, I dont think we are necessarily going to have lots of violence now, but we should have known it was probable we would have some. As I said before, the stuff coming out of the alt-right is pretty toxic. You just wouldn’t see that with Birchers in the 60s or 70s, mostly because we didn’t have social media. I think that social media really amps up the virulence. Then you have to add in the gun culture. You have way too many fat, middle aged guys, mostly losers who can’t stay married or cant keep a job for long, who like to run around with guns to prove their manliness. When these two sets of people meet, you have the right recipe for shootings. It’s the same recipe that the fundamentalist islamists use after all, so we know it works.
Steve
Careful about deprecating “fat, middle aged guys”. That’s just a dog whistle for the youth culture.
Late thought, there’s something interesting about people hating groups of other people they’ve never met. If I tell you I viscerally hate the Inuit, or say, Polynesians, you’d ask me why. If I told you I hate Israelis, you’d ask me why, If I told you I hate Jews, you’d tell me why.