It’s too early in the day for me to do a diary entry, but there’s a topic that’s been on my mind for the last two or three days, brought on by some news item that I don’t even remember at this point, coupled with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I have a whole string of issues that concern me, and that I try to cover in my musings. Racism, fascism, anti-LBGTQIA+, misogyny, environmental degradation, anti-immigrant nationalism, science ignorance, those are the things that spring immediately to mind. But there are more things that will set me off. And there’s one that I sometimes mention don’t talk about enough, that should be front and center with all those others. I can manage a number of issues of concern, I’m a multi-tasker. The issue that I refer to is anti-Semitism.
Among other childhood incidents that set the stage for my movement from my Christian, conservative roots to a commie hippie was a friendship with a Jewish couple my parents knew, who took to me after my mother reported my response to the Pope’s declaration that the Jews were to be forgiven for killing Jesus (I forget which Pope, but what I said was “I bet Jews are dancing in the streets over that”) to them. Jews are about as common in the white wastelands of Indiana as black people (not counting da region, where I was born and lived for about 7 years), but there were enough of both for me to have at least a passing acquaintance.
Anti-semitism is clearly a part, and not a minor part, of the rise of trumpian fascism in the US. And it needs to be addressed. Don’t let it slip by. Jews have been a target of populist nationalism since long before Hitler, there has never been a time it has not been a part of WASP culture in Europe and the United States. And it is a problem even on the left, which is pretty peculiar given the Jewish contribution to leftist movements. The lines between the government of Israel, and its Jewish population and the diaspora, tend to get blurred in a way that can become anti-semitic. People tend to forget the history of Palestine and Israel, and the inherent problems between Israel and the rest of Palestine, are rooted in the botched colonialism, mostly English, but with plenty of culpability to go around, that screwed up the whole region for well over a century now. Permanent conflict in the region might as well have been planned outright, instead of simply through greed and stupidity. Maybe it was.
But I’m not smart or thorough enough to give a history lesson. What I’m saying is that anti-semitism, which is gaining strength along with anti-black, anti-latinx, anti-native American and anti-asian sentiment in the US. It deserves equal billing in our repertoire of things to fight.
Never forget.
Weather Report: 79/54. Dewpoint 49, Humidity 89%, Barometer 30.11
Covid 19 report: Over 200,000 deaths in the US. Trending up again.
A Diary of Interesting Times 