‘Antisemitic Comments From Public Figures Spark Concern Over Real-World Implications’

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‘Antisemitic Comments From Public Figures…

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In recent weeks, blatantly antisemitic comments have emanated from public figures — most notably former president Donald Trump and rapper and producer Ye (formerly Kanye West). What are the ramifications of this worrisome turn of events for American Jews — and indeed, for Jews everywhere? The videos linked below provide insights.

Quote: “I think the real danger here is that both President Trump’s remarks and Kanye West’s have a danger of normalizing antisemitism. Legitimizing it. I mean, these are people who have a huge number of followers, particularly on social media… and when they are coming out and saying this, it kind of gives license to many other people to also express antisemitic sentiments. It signals a wider mainstreaming of antisemitism in our political discourse today.”
— Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science at UCLA

Learn more about antisemitism in the United States from Wikipedia. ►

Watch “Antisemitic comments from public figures spark concern over real-world implications” [7:53]. ►

Watch “ADL’s Greenblatt: Trump’s Social Media Attack On Jews ‘Are Dangerous Comments At A Dangerous Time’” [7:20]. ►

Watch “Cuomo, Ye discuss star’s anti-Semitic remarks: Full interview | CUOMO” [20:44]. ►

Photo: Vox.com

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Quotable

“[T]he foundations for extremism usually are held in check by various restraints. Societies are not liberal, moderate, progressive, and free because almost all their citizens – let alone their politicians — are liberal, moderate, progressive or committed to the freedoms of others.

“But societies consistently avoid extremism when the infrastructures of freedom are strong: when key institutions and norms encourage a more decent, rights-respective, lawful politics; when powerful social movements and independent media hold leaders to account, expose rather than reinforce political fantasies, and champion the rights of the vulnerable; and when information is produced and scrutinized by scholars, civil servants, and non-governmental organizations devoid of either government repression or vested interests.

“Yet no infrastructure is rigidly immovable, and once key components are eroded and weakened, once sections of the political and cultural elite attempt to mobilize the foundations of extremism, the system of restraints can swiftly collapse.

“While genocide on the scale of the Holocaust is historically exceptional, its central lesson is that the broader danger of extreme atrocities is not. In the words of the great historian Ian Kershaw, the Holocaust ‘lit a warning beacon that still burns brightly: it showed how a modern, advanced, cultured society can so rapidly sink into barbarity… It showed what we are capable of.’ Only by rejecting false narratives of conflict and polarization, and maintaining systems of rights and freedoms for all, can we hope to prevent that capability from once more becoming a reality.”

— Jonathan Leader Maynard in his incisive article “Could It Happen Here?: The Holocaust and Atrocities in the 21st Century” To read the entire article, click here.