@NJlonghorn , after reading your comments and the article, I don't think you and Rosenberg are making the same point. Your point seems to be that Trump isn't antisemitic but that he often obliviously says things that are - sorta like my maternal grandmother who used to refer to black people as "negroes" and sincerely thought she was being politically correct and respectful. Furthermore, your tone doesn't suggest hostility. It's clear that you're trying to be fair by acknowledging a lack of antisemitism in his policy agenda.
Rosenberg's point is that Trump is a raging antisemite who genuinely believes all kinds of bad things about Jews but considers them to be good things basically because he's bad and selfish. Furthermore, unlike yours, his tone is full of contempt.
Frankly, I think your point is a little too soft and that Rosenberg's (like most media criticisms of Trump) is so wildly overstated that it hurts his credibility. He makes too big of a deal about offhand remarks like the one about who's counting his money. I'm not saying that sort of thing is totally harmless. It does perpetuate a stereotype, but I don't put it on a level with real hostility and contempt. Hell, I've heard plenty of Jewish people say the same kind of thing and laugh about it.
Obviously I'm not Jewish, but the comments about loyalty to Israel and voting Democratic bother me a lot more. The reason why is that I despise identity politics, because it's a paper-thinly veiled attempt to avoid discussion of issues on the merits and therefore bad for politics. To me, Jews and everyone else should be treated as free-thinking individuals. A Jew can be pro-Israel, anti-Israel, or something in between according to his or her own conscience. Similarly, a Jew can vote Democratic or Republican or something else. We shouldn't try to pigeonhole or pressure Jews on either point just because they're Jewish. That isn't appropriate or fair. Neither you nor Rosenberg focus on this enough.
Of course, if you're a liberal activist or journalist (which are basically the same thing now), you're not going to make as big of a deal out of this for two reasons. First, you just got finished mitigating and/or explaining away Ilhan Omar's dual loyalty comments which are far more directly antisemitic and damaging. Second, if you push the issue too much, you beg the question of why it is bad to say Jews are being disloyal by voting Democratic but that it's perfectly acceptable to say that blacks, Hispanics, and gays (and until about ten minutes ago, Jews) are being disloyal if they vote Republican - a charge that is made far more often.
But it all bothers me. We should be treating people as individuals who have their own thoughts and opinions. We shouldn't expect them to all think alike or vote alike and shouldn't push garbage identity politics to try to force or socially coerce them to do so. It's not fair and promotes social division and racism. And of course, it greatly empowers real antisemites.
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Agree x 1
Last edited: Aug 25, 2019