Before the narrative congealed into the familiar images of Orthodox Jews “defying” lockdown curfews that didn’t seem to apply to other minority groups, while Gov. Cuomo and his cronies led an illegal crackdown targeting a single group, backed by an outpouring of vocal media support and cheers from lefties, there was an earlier narrative.
Before Orthodox Jews were accused of being anti-vax, they were being accused of illegitimately gaining access to the vaccine. That particular antisemitic narrative fell apart to be replaced by the most familiar one of Jews spreading the disease by refusing to get vaccinated or comply with restrictions.
While both are classic antisemitic tropes, classifying Jews as thieves and spreaders of disease, the existence of that earlier narrative shows how situational pandemic antisemitism really was.
The story changes and yet remains the same.
Early on when the vaccine was just released, Jews were accused of illegitimately gaining access to it. Once it was widely available, then the story became that Orthodox Jews were refusing to take the vaccine.
I mention this in light of the media’s latest casual venture into vaccine antisemitism.
The Washington Post ran an article on a “rapidly growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio” which mainly involved Somali Muslims. The paper does devote several paragraphs to the Somalis but illustrates the story with two photos of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.
No Somalis are depicted. That would be racist. And Islamophobic.
A number of people have called attention to this antisemitic stylistic choice. Little else ought to be expected.
What is notable here is the persistence of vaccine antisemitism. The way that it’s taken so much for granted that it’s a reflex. And how people who claim to be progressive, tolerant and self-aware of their biases refuse to acknowledge what they’re doing. Diversity and inclusion means that they’ll spend weeks checking to see if they’re committing microaggressions and then reflexively bust out a picture of Jews spreading disease to illustrate their story which only mentions Orthodox Jews at the very end.
Antisemitism isn’t really about Israel. It’s not about vaccines. It’s about an underlying worldview that finds it very convenient to link any cause to Jews. That’s worth remembering as the media dashes through its pretexts much as it claimed that any mention of China’s role in the pandemic was racist while swarming over Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods to demonize the residents during the pandemic.
A crisis often shows us who we really are. The rest is commentary.
Norman Cantor wrote some nice stuff on such stereotypes, such as “In the Wake of the Plague”, which I borrowed from my neighbor, UC Prof Emeritus and national class doctor, which showed it had content worth reading. I greatly enjoyed the book, although the reviews sometimes criticized it for being too short, though that can also be a virtue.
Brevity is a virtue the best writers strive for. Saying the most with the least words is something ironically, children are naturally very good at. Ending two consecutive sentences in prepositions, lol, my 5th grade grammar teacher is rolling in her grave. She might reach out yet and snatch a knot in my neck.
Indeed. We all need to remember how this Covid story was handled.
I won’t forget this anymore than the leftist governors, like Cuomo, unloading Covid patients into nursing homes to spread illness and death.
They made disease a tool of their political goals, and blaming the ‘Jew’ was an old-faithful just waiting for them to employ for blame. It certainly showed the world – they have not changed.
and since they got away with it, we know they’ll do it again
At the risk of being too logic (Newspeak: – White) – you bet your bottom dollar they shall. Simply ‘amazing’ how fast all these old things are coming back. Can the ‘Christ-killer’ nonsense be too far behind?
I’ll never understand why the Jews are constantly attacked by so many. I was taught that it was because they crucified Jesus Christ but then I rapidly learned that it was the Romans.
Culturally we always associated Jews with being misers and then there’s always the people who blame Jews for Marxism and communism and then they are blamed for capitalism because of the Rockerfellas.
I don’t understand how perhaps the smallest nation in the world could be considered to have caused everything bad in the world.
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
Jesus speaking through John 5:26 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.”
Jesus speaking through John 10:18 “No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
God Himself is responsible for the crucifixion.
I’ve heard the first, but as a Baptist, it was always my understanding that Rabbi Jesus was born to die for our sins, and He knew it. It was God’s will, not anybody else’s, and the Romans were just His instrument. I don’t hate them either. We’re half Jewish at least.
Culturally, many of us Southerners relate to stereotypical Jewish miserliness. We even wash our Solo cups and plastic silverware. I’ve been called an honorary Hebe, from my closest friends, and I take it as the complement it was meant to be.
The Jews of communism aren’t practicing Jews, they are the ones who rejected God, and fashion themselves as Him. Capitalism is just economic freedom, if Jews are to be blamed for something, that’s a good one to be ‘blamed,’ for. I think it had more to do with my Christian side, but I recognize my base is Judaism, and it wouldn’t have come about without my Judaism. Judaism is based on choice, freedom, one chooses to be Judaic. Y’all aren’t evangelical( though I think it’s better to be annoyed by evangelicals myself than the alternatives) . But at the same time, I understand being Judaic, entails nearly as much a variety as being “Christian.”
Maybe you’re right, you’re right over the target of God and humanity, and that’s why you catch so much flak, despite the small target you make.
“Oh the protestants hate the catholics
And the catholics hate the protestants
And the hindus hate the muslims
And everybody hates the jews,”
“National Brotherhood Week”
Tom Lehrer
“National brotherhood week,” that says it all.
This is what happens when you have entire generations without the capacity for critical thought who get their ideas from the mothership of the MSM industrial complex.
Covid was a watershed moment and it didn’t go well even though we have to tell ourselves everything is fine so there can be a recovery and most importantly for even some of the wrong thinkers find some reconciliation. There can be no reconciliation without truth.
If we ever find out what the cause of all this excess mortality is which I highly doubt because we are not a culture that gets to the bottom of things anymore then all of this panic induced static could be a blessing in disguise.
Our test is crisis and observation.
it’s also when people are losing their identities, sense of belonging, family and confidence in the future
they go mad, cling to identities that spring up overnight, go tribal, lash out, and try to erect their own boundaries
It does not appear that there are any boundaries outside of those delimited by crisis.
Understand that WaPo’s utterly despicable, Jew-hating propaganda is part and parcel of the Jew-hate and Israel-hate/vilification that is now widespread and accepted as a core part of the contemporary Dumb-o-crat Party ethos.
…that has become the water they swim in so they don’t even notice it
The Jews are a small people in the world, who have been scattered among all the nations, as Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 4:27: “And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.”
They were and remain God’s chosen people, ordained by Him to remain a distinct nation, a chosen nation. It is the will of God to keep Israel distinct, whereas all the other ancient nations have disappeared — destroyed or blended out of existence. The Jews arouse hatred and envy because they are God’s peculiar people (arousing Satanic, spiritual envy), and because they prosper wherever God sends them (arousing crass, ordinary envy of prosperity, used as a Satanic tool for the “unspiritual”).
Israel remains a useful “time clock” for us gentiles to see the hand of God in the world today. God bless Israel and establish her borders, giving her joy and strength in her Messiah.
While I completely agree with your comments, regarding the disparate manner in which Jews are portrayed in the media and how they are targeted and singled out in a way which does not appear to exist for other groups, as a religious Jew, I must admit, that I was often ashamed and, yes, angered, by the manner in which my fellow Jews reacted to the various restrictions and prohibitions, placed upon all of us, as a society, to keep us safe during a terrifying pandemic. Many of the frum shuls and yeshivot, in NYC, did not abide by the mask restrictions. . .a strong statement to make, yet one I am willing to stand behind. If Jews wish to be shown in a more favorable light, they need to comport themselves in a manner which is in compliance with something as basic as wearing a mask in settings, like a crowded yeshiva or a crowded shul. . .both that I can attest did not occur at the height of the pandemic, as people were dropping dead, left and right. Yes, there is unfairness in the media as to how it depicts Jews, but let’s get our own house in order and wear masks when asked to do so. . .that didn’t occur, in multiple religious settings, and it’s a disgrace. . .a disgrace which resulted in the deaths of those who should have been protected, in such settings, but were not. . .
I appreciate your strong feelings on the subject, but non-Asian minorities in NYC rarely wore masks or complied with restrictions and whether or not the masks accomplished anything remains debatable. There’s little evidence that masks were associated with lower death rates. Especially the blue surgical masks that were widely worn.
But beyond that whole technical debate, the entire premise of antisemitism means that the Jews will always be at fault. Turning on ourselves just leads to more internalized antisemitism.
Whatever our communities should or should not have done would not change antisemitism.
The first step in fighting antisemitism is recognizing that we are not its cause.
Daniel, it’s not about turning on ourselves. . it’s about holding up a mirror, to ourselves, and making sure that the manner in which we behave does not turn into a chilul Hashem. I, personally, had friends, who refrained from attending shul, to daven, three times a day, because the shuls, themselves, would not enforce the mask mandate, and they didn’t want to become ill or bring the virus home to loved ones. I am not Asian. If I were, I would be speaking about the shortcomings of that community, but, I’m not. I’m Jewish, and while I understand the hesitancy to have an invasive procedure, like the vaccine, shot into one’s arm, a virus, which is airborne, does not need a litany of tests and clinical studies to prove that a barrier–any barrier–over one’s mouth and nose, is going to reduce the chances of being infected with the virus. It’s a no-brainer.
I was so concerned, for the health of the community, that I actually called and spoke with a shul’s administrative office, asking why the shul was not enforcing the mask mandate, which was required at the time. The individual hung up the phone. . .so, please, before you believe that I am turning, on my own, understand that the community, to which we both belong, is creating a black eye, all by itself.
“The first step in fighting antisemitism is recognizing that we are not its cause.” – Profound and true words.
This is all very nice from an insular perspective but here is the outside perspective.
Thomas Sowell Akbar! He is truly a great American and a world treasure. Thanks for embedding this video.
lol, thanks Una, great takedown of the PLO at the end, the expressions on their faces was priceless 🙂
Some good coverage of economics in the middle, some of it goes back to Aristotle’s book on economics.
“If Jews wish to be shown in a more favorable light, they need to comport themselves in a manner which is in compliance with something as basic as wearing a mask in settings, like a crowded yeshiva or a crowded shul…” – Then again, if you understand a medical mask against a virus is like shooting a bb against a chain link fence, you understand the reality. The pandemic, which killed only 13 out of 10,000, rather than the 1o out of 10,000 that type A or B flu does, was only “terrifying,” because it was deliberately made so. What happens when a serious bioweapon is released?
What happens if a serious bioweapon is released? It’ll be Katie, bar the door.
But masks provide no protection against disease. So why asphyxiate yourself wearing one just so that you don’t make a shanda in front of the Gentiles?
I remember when Israel hanged Eichmann.
I approved.
Churchill wanted them all shot but America interfered,
My Lord and Savior was called “Rabbi”.
I think people are asking the wrong question:
The CDC report says the “the virus was never isolated and identified, and they used a replacement element in the vaccines”. What is the “replacement element” that the manufacturers are using, and are they all using the same element?”
I have a copy of the articles and Notice of Liability that I sent to the Health Department in San Diego California. It fully documents the violations of Federal Law
Let me know if you want a copy