On Antisemitism

You might ask yourself: Why would he do that? It‘s just incredibly stupid. Yes, it is. But, you know – I am doing this, because I’m an Atheist, and because I often times make fun of religions, also some of what I write or paint might make you think: what an Antisemite…

So what I want to make clear, is that I am not an an Antisemite, I want to explain my position regarding Antisemitism, just to make things clear once and for all. Also, since  some authorities made me a German, I am constantly being confronted with Antisemitism and german moralization and that’s something that pisses me somewhat off. I feel offended by that, because it’s a very german thing to do that, and it is understandable, because of the Holocaust and, how Adorno put it, the Germans’ new categoric imperative to do everything they can to prevent something like Auschwitz from happening again. But I don’t agree with the measures taken – because obviously, it didn’t work quite well. As the tagesschau noted to today: antisemitic actions have increased by 13%.

So, first things first: I will use the IHRA’s working definition of Antisemitism:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

A quick interjection: “We do not hate as long as we still attach a lesser value, but only when we attach an equal or greater value.” – F. Nietzsche

Secondly, when I talk about Jews, I don’t mean ALL Jews, because there is nothing such as all Jews. There are different varieties of Judaism, there are for example secular Jews, and I just suppose that, as every human being, no Jew is like the other, even if they may be twins. Also, when I talk about Jews, I mean male as well as female members of the cult. I do exclusively NOT mean children. To me, no immature human can be a cultist, they are being brainwashed and brought up that way. Furthermore and mostly, a Jew, to me is a member of this specific Religion, but that must necessarily also include, and I’m not happy about that, people who view themselves as Jews.

So let’s begin with my impious infamy of this article.

First of all, I strongly dislike the term Antisemitism. That is, because it’s a term belonging to racism. As far as I know, racism has been disproved decades ago, which made me conclude at one point in my life, that humanity as a whole is a continuum and that being human means you are on a spectrum of possible outcomes. Races don’t exist. They only exist in our heads. Often times people claim: Yeah, but there ARE races, idiot! Like People of color, asian people, or look at the different breeds of dogs, you imbecile! So, what happens here, is that people see a certain aspect, like the color of one’s skin or the shape of one’s eyes, concluding that this must have a meaning or significance. It’s but ONE aspect. So what does this say about a human being? Races of chicken or dogs have been bred deliberately BY HUMANS for specific qualities. We humans don’t do that. We did that in the IIIrd Reich, for racist reasons, but that was a fault and wrong on so many levels. As always, inbreeding comes with problems of its own. Again, where there are different kinds, it’s mostly because animals or people for that sake are divided by space or ideologies.

So Antisemitism is racist terminology. Racism identifies different races and then makes conclusions regarding the qualities of them. That’s proven to be wrong. I do strongly disagree with the idea of Jews being a race. This is why I will from now on speak about hatred towards Jews (htj). Also, using that racist terminology will ultimately lead to core errors, because the term itself is racist, but then again, the term has been reframed, ridding it of its racist origin and opening it up to whatever you deem to be antisemitic. There are, for example really stupid equations around, like: Antisemitism = racism = culturalism = sexism = whateverpissesmeoff. I find that to be inaccurate. We use different words or terms to discriminate. If we use but one word for everything, then let‘s just use „I“ for everything. Of course, what Antisemitism, racism, culturalism and sexism have in common are the mechanics, still they do apply to different subjects. Although both a racist and a sexist are braindead, they don’t necessarily hate Jews, right.

What I also don’t like about that working definition is that it is held very, very openly. There are eleven examples that are supposed to clarify that (https://www.state.gov/defining-anti-semitism/ )but I believe not all of them do the job. That’s the point, where you will call me an Antisemite, and that can be annoying, see Jeremy Corbyn. What I also find puzzling, is that it’s just stated: this IS Antisemitism – not why. So that’s what I’ll do. In medias res:

• “Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.” Well. In which case is justifying the killing or harming of any person or people on this planet okayish? And what do you actually need a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion for. Is it okay to justify the killing of Jews, if it’s say Capitalism? I don’t think so. In Germany we have the Bible, namely the new Testament, where just that is being done. But you know, Christianity is prestigious in Germany.
• “Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.” Why they don’t set that right is a mystery to me, because it’s so easy. As of Wikipedia, in 2018 there were 14,6 million Jews, equating 0.19% of humanity. So in 2018 there were also 2.208 billionaires, of which 719 in Asia. Conclusion: not every Jew is a billionaire. And even if you’d say every Jew was rich and therefore influential, being a part of the global 1%ers, still 81% of them wouldn’t be Jews. So how’d that work? It’s just preposterous.
• “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.” I mean, is it really antisemitic to say something like that? Can’t Jews do something wrong at all? Germany is Hitler, as Hitler is Germany, we used to say in Germany. That’s wrong, isn’t it. Still accusations like this happen all the time. I understand that this is about Jesus getting crucified by romans, blaming all of the Jews for this, which is BS. Because it’s religion. Jesus was a Jew, which makes it even more absurd. And regarding Germany. We Germans are being held responsible for the Holocaust, mostly by Germans themselves. This doesn’t mean though, that we don’t have no responsibility at all, again, see Adorno. To some extent, there might be something that looks like double standards there, too.
• “Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).” I find that one stupid. In Germany, it’s even a crime to deny the Holocaust, which I find even more stupid. First of all, not even Himmler denied the Holocaust, he even stated it was the Party’s program to achieve this. The Holocaust is a proven fact, I mean just watch authorities from back then during the Nuremberg Trials or Hitchcock’s movie on concentration camps. But there are people out there who claim the earth was a disc. That’s not a crime, that’s stupid. There are people out there that claim there was a theistic deity, getting involved in earth’s course and human actions. That’s not only stupid, but dangerous, yet, not a crime.
• “Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.” Again, that’s just stupid and defies any facts.
• “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.” I don’t know. Doesn’t come shit like this from people who demand loyalty of their own people, to their own ideologies, nations or states? So wtf.
• “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” This one is a really hard nut. I have multiple problems here. First of all, nations in general have nothing to do with self-determination. On the contrary, the idea of nations is a crazy, dangerous invention of the 19th century. It’s used to oppress people. Somebody, when I was a child, told me I was a German. And by the way, conditions apply, did you know what we did last summer? Obey, little german slaves, to our rules, our police, our state run or approved crime syndicate and what not. All Nations need to be abolished. We need to rid us of that. Nations have never done anything good to anyone. Then again, same “rights” for everybody, so why not the Jews, too. I could live with that, only that it isn’t true. The Rohingya don’t have their own state, the Zoroastrians don’t and, look, the Palestinians don’t. Unfortunately this is not the case. To me, Zionism comes across like blood and soil policy, I don’t say it is, it just looks like it. Again, I know that Jews actually need a state of their own, simply because they are, for a fact being persecuted and discriminated against. But I deny the use or legitimacy of any state. Hasidic Jews for example state, that Israel was one big reason for Antisemitism. Since they are practicing Jews themselves, they can‘t be antisemitic. Also, I think that Netanyahu and Likud don‘t improve the image of Israel in the world. Needless to say, the NSU and AfD don’t shed a calming light on Germany either. And don’t look at what our mainstream politicians are doing, because it looks not less worrying.
• “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” This one, again. Israel by itself is a double standard, for as long as the Palestinians don’t have their own state. The Problem here is Post-Colonialism. First the area was ruled by GB, then the Palestinians had nothing to say again. In fact I am pro a one-state-solution. Because Israel is a reality. It won’t go away, why would it, if (all) nations are holy ideas. Also, there will never be a solution that Israel and the Palestinians will accept. So the best practical option is, on my mind, a single state for all the people living down there, with the same civil rights for everybody. Now I’m not only an Antisemite, but also Anti-Palestinian. Great. Just great. But where I could roll on the floor laughing my ass off, is that Israel has actually shown what a big pile of shit it is, to run one’s own state. There are no double standards. Israel is as criminal, as any other state on this planet.
• “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.” These images probably will never go away. They won’t go away for as long as there is religious freedom. These are cults, that need enemy figures to explain their crazy worldview, that they need to exploit people. In group/out group is their dogma: good vs. evil. Regarding NS, I think it’s stupid to forbid the Hitlergruß or swastikas. Because, you know, today it has become almost impossible to identify a Nazi, because everything connoted to NS-symbolism is forbidden. One could as well shoot oneself in the foot. Same thing with those symbols and images. It would just be so damn easy to find out, who’s an Antisemite, and then talk to that person. But no, let’s forbid it. But coming back to my statements on point #1 and prestigious culture: Remember the Hitler-bell of Herxheim? Some jewish citizen opened a lawsuit in order to get rid of this infamy. To no avail. Hitler still rings the bell: “Alles für Deutschland – Adolf Hitler”. No-one sees Hitler ringing the bell, right? It’s stupid to assume the Nazis didn’t know what they were doing. Anyway. Oh, and there is the “Judensau” in Wittenberg, still showing off antisemitic, lutherian imagery. Just luvely. Why remove it? Because Luther, you know. Great man. And coming back to my initial worries: this actually shows how structurally antisemitic nowadays Germany actually is. Does this impair the friendship between the FRG and Israel? No! Let‘s be friends with structural Antisemites!
• “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” I believe that this is only antisemitic if you use this to justify the actions of the Nazis or other regimes. Again, downplaying the Nazis’ deeds is a crime in Germany.
• “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” The thing is, although it’s wrong, this happens all the times, especially in democracies. Virtually no American is responsible for US-policies, I don’t even vote, but I’m still being held responsible for German policies. That is nothing exclusively antisemitic, it’s prejudices in general.

I hope I could explain what I think sufficiently. I am an Anarchist. I don’t approve of any nation. I am an Atheist. I don’t approve of any religion. I am a Humanist, I believe science, facts and human rights do the trick. I believe in the equality of every single human being on this planet. Also, I am doing this, because I am against hatred or violence against Jews. I don‘t believe accusing people of being Antisemites is helpful, it might even be counterproductive.

And I‘m around 5% kike myself. Hail genetics. Just sobering.

Anyways, I don’t get why the IHRA wouldn’t just talk about hatred towards Jews. Because Antisemitism is an imprecise word. How would an Arabian be an Antisemite, ffs, if he, by the same racist dogma is of Abraham’s jizz? That doesn’t make sense. It’s hatred towards JEWS. Nothing less and nothing more. I am a lingual purist, and I hate the reframing and relabeling of words that should be used to describe reality, not to prescribe it. Anyways…

But coming back to the perception problem: In Germany there is a media obsession with Jews. Some Rabbi I was talking to some years ago pointed this out to me. And it‘s true. I did some „research“ on two news platforms in Germany, probably the two most popular ones, the tagesschau, which is recepted by around ten million people in Germany every day and Der Spiegel. What I did, I used their search bar to look up articles. This is by no means scientific or representative, sometimes I was a little bit puzzled by the relation of the terms used to the result, but anyway I think it shows pretty good what’s happening:

Tagesschau: Jews: 1469 hits. Christians: 1061 hits. Muslims: 1566 hits. Atheists: 31 hits.

Spiegel: Jews: 18186 hits. Christians: 12204 hits. Muslims: 17075 hits. Atheists: 1386 hits.

Tagesschau: Antisemitism: 877 hits. Climate Change: 1802 hits. Economic crisis: 1794.

Spiegel: Antisemitism 4184 hits. Climate Change: 8580 hits. Economic crisis: 12018 hits.

So what is obvious to me, is that there are some cognitive distortions playing out here. Not surprisingly, Muslims are of the biggest interest, because they have been framed a problem for more than twenty years. They make up like 5-6% of the german population, but are in the media most of all. Followed by Jews, who are insignificant being only around 200,000. Like 50% are christian, and almost 40% are atheists, who are significantly underrepresented. So you can see who‘s being prioritized by media coverage. Sorry: covfefe…

When I compared Antisemitism to Climate Change or Economic Crisis, I didn’t do this to downplay Antisemitism, but to relate it to other important business. It‘s my random choice, I could have used other terms. But again, you can see how overrepresented this is in media.

So these hate crimes against Jews account to 2000 ones. Whilst some of them affect all 200,000 of them, because they attack Jews in general, some of them, like physical ones may have affected only a fraction. Again, I don’t want to downplay anything. Every single one deed is despicable. But set in comparison to people who have to die in private individual traffic everyday, to woman and children being exposed to violence, to people who have to live in poverty and indignity because of capitalism, our weapons exports that kill people, our emissions that displace people elsewhere and so on and so on? Again, no crime against anyone is okay. But I suppose the Jews are used by media to make people rather think of Jews, than other things. In Germany we have a saying that it was better to have a sparrow in the hand, than a pigeon on the roof – I perverted this once, saying it’s better to have the Jews in your hands, than the Germans on their roofs. And I think that’s exactly what’s happening: Look! The Jews here, the Jews there. Media is like magic. It’s 2000 documented crimes, so it might easily be 20,000 in reality – but regarding 83 mio. Germans it’s fair to say that not every German is an Antisemite. It’s also true, that the other issues are covered by media. Again, it’s the relation that I think might turn out counterproductive. And again, regarding Covid 19 or climate change, lots of conspiracy theories around there, too. So maybe it’s the way Media presents issues, rather than the actual news.

To return to the beginning: it’s a perception as well as a reception problem.

What also annoys me, is related to the symbols of the third reich and the common practice in Germany to accuse people of antisemitism, especially media and policy wise. When I draw a face of Hitler inside a corona virus, with its receptors looking like two swastikas, I am not doing this to downplay the Holocaust. When I, as some other (somewhat leftist) people do this, too, compare the Holocaust to the total industrial extermination of all of humanity — Jews included — I don’t do that to downplay the Holocaust. The Holocaust was horrible and cannot be compared 1:1 to the current situation. However, Fascism and Oppression have been on the rise for decades. Covid 19 is being used to scare people, its being used to cut civil rights. Politics and political correctness have impaired people. Social inequality has risen. These were the actual problems that lead to people voting for Hitler. And whenever things like that come up, the first who have to suffer, are minorities, and the one minority that’s always the victim, are the Jews. To go even further: In the thirties, and even before, a misunderstanding of Darwin’s theory has lead to racism and racial hygiene. By the way, the first ones to implement laws, were the USA. Sterilizing people with disabilities or mental illnesses. The idea, there and later in Germany was to get rid of these “problems”. They are no problems, of course. Now as well as then, hygiene and health were used to make people obey. I don’t say we shouldn’t do anything against Covid 19, but what’s happening regarding the results is worrying. So what I do has nothing to do with downplaying things, its about warning people. Because the more social unrest we get, the more the Jews and other minorities will be affected.

Also, because I am a humanist, I don’t approve of genital mutilation. To me, this is not freedom of religion, who ever does this. This is no reason. There are laws in Germany that forbid that, not the Jews though, because whenever one speaks up against that, it’s Antisemitism in stead of pointing out children’s rights. Same things with animals. We kill animals and our lawful practices, although designed to minimize the suffering of animals whilst killing them, don’t suffice. But cutting throats and bleeding animals out is not okay, whether being a Jew or a Muslim or some other lunatic claiming that’s a religious practice.

What I also conceive to be puzzling, is that in their 11 examples „classic“ Antisemitism doesn’t show up. Like it was not antisemitic to make assumptions like the Jews being subhuman parasites. What I believe is the reason for this inaccuracies is that the IHRA wants to raise awareness of Antisemitism on costs of being overly accurate. To come back to Jeremy Corbyn, I don’t suppose it’s antisemitic to not agree with all examples — unless you do this to raise hatred towards or violence against Jews, something he didn’t do. On the contrary, I believe it to be the definition of a critical mind never to agree with everything, even if it costs you your occupation or reputation.

Conclusion:

I don’t think it’s helpful to accuse people of Antisemitism using random phrases or symbols out of context and without explanation. Antisemitism is racism. If we rid us of racism, or the idea of human races, we’d be better off. Also, Antisemitism does never exclusively hit the Jews. They’re just first (or second, to be more precise) in row. We need to stop discriminating minorities. All minorities. Everybody is affected by Fascism, although majorities often even like what they see, because they are least affected. We must rid us of hatred towards humans, Jews included. It just doesn’t help being an asshole.

What we need is equality. We need children’s rights. Children must not be indoctrinated by any religion or nation. That’s a crime, who ever does this. We need equality between women and men. We need social justice and we need to educate people. In Germany, we separate children: some get good education, some pretty much none, others only a little. I know it’s costly. But you cannot produce fools and later accuse them for being fools. You cannot “educate” people to remain immature children and then deny them civil rights, emphasizing how immature and unable they are. That’s just a sick joke.

If people cannot understand politics, if politics don’t do anything for the people but only cults and corporations, then there is something wrong there. If people suffer from little education, no future or poverty, they try to find someone who’s responsible. And when it’s our god damn culture to always accuse the Jews, then there must be something about those ominous Jews, right?

We absolutely need to rid us of nations, because that’s a nonsensical burden that has done no good to anybody. Funny enough, the Jews, due to the diaspora were international. But instead, because of nationalism, people wouldn’t say, hey, look how awesome it is to be free of that bullshit, no, to the contrary.

The reason why I “attacked” the IHRA’s examples, is because obviously they don’t work. Because Antisemitism, hatred towards Jews or be it just idiocy is on the rise. 

Anyways, what I do is to try to prevent any minority from being prosecuted. So don’t call me an Antisemite. I have, in fact, although one might say that’s apologies, cared for two actual “racial” Jews, to the best of my abilities and with all my respect. One even called me “his caretaker” – simply because I was one of the few treating him as a human. That does of course not mean I was incapable of unwillingly being antisemitic or using antisemitic tropes – but I try to avoid that whenever I can. I reflect my self.

If I made errors here or stated false things, please let me know. I didn’t do it on purpose, but unknowingly.

Regards, A.N.E.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the following: I am radically pro voluntary human extinction. But neither can I, nor do I want to exterminate humanity. It’s everybody’s own business. The only responsibility I can take is not to create more Germans to roam this planet. We Germans went way too far. It’s high time this ends. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are the Germans’ greatest hobbies, be it Nama and Herero, watching Arminians perish, Sinti, Roma, or Jews or all of humanity by burning fossile fuels or building gas sucking cars. We behaved like pigs in the past and we still do. It’s our fucking duty to take responsibility in our hands, to give way. I mean, how barbarian can the others possibly be? Having children is a crime, and simply an act of sheer insanity if producing Germans, because how should this horror-show ever end, if we reproduce the same shit over and over again. Grow up and go extinct. Nobody needs german weapons, german cars, german poisons or german genocide.