Bari Weiss, NYT writer, answers a question I've had for a long time...

[TreasonousBastard]

I have no use for Antisemitism, but I occasionally wondered why it is somehow separated from other forms of bigotry. What's so special about it that makes it special?

Well, Ms Weiss tells us that yer common, garden variety racism is looking down on people with contempt. Antisemitism is looking up at people you fear have too much control over you.

There's the difference.

https://www.msnbc.com/stephanie-ruhle/watch/the-rise-of-anti-semitism-and-right-wing-violence-68666437514

[FM123]

1. She was wonderful on Stephanie this morning, she explained so much so well!

[hedda_foil]

2. Yes. And she said that the fear is of a hidden group that runs everything behind the scenes.

That's what it boils down to, isn't it? When things are falling apart, people can be convinced that there's an evil cabal behind everything that's gone wrong for them. It suddenly struck me how easily the mysterious "deep state" so beloved as a boogy man by the taint and his MAGATs could be morphed into "the Jews."

I've thought since his campaign that he could turn against us whenever it suits him. Jared will get on his nerves and the princess will unconvert in a New York minute to stay with daddy. The Jewish Republicans are too small a part of his base to worry about if he's in trouble. He'll cut them loose too.

I really hope I'm wrong.

[marybourg]

3. I don't buy that as much more than a fringe explanation.

I don’t see that it explains Jews being kept out of brokerage jobs, expensive suburban neighborhoods, Miami Beach hotels or Ivy League colleges, all of which happened in my lifetime.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. All of which happened to Irish and Italians, too. And others, like Asians...

I remember when they were barred from white shoe law firms and brokerages. And country clubs.

Discrimination is a complex thing, and simple at the same time. We are always suspicious of "the other".

[Behind the Aegis]

5. She is going to be on Bill Maher Friday night (9/13).

I haven't read her book, but I imagine she explores a variety of anti-Semitism points, including some which people outright deny. Should be interesting.

[question everything]

6. She was very good. I am sure Rhiannon12866 will post it by tomorrow

[Behind the Aegis]

7. I reposted it here.

Also check out this article:

Modern anti-Semitism provokes questions of Jewish identity

“If, heaven forbid, someone walked in here this moment and began to shoot, it’s logical to assume that the shooter would be a male white supremacist,” Bari Weiss declared, much to the surprise of an audience gathered at Yeshiva University. “But that does not mean this is the only kind of anti-Semite who’s out there today.”

Weiss, 32-years-old and a staff editor at the New York Times, is promoting her new book whose title, “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” is a subject with which American Jewry, in particular, has been tumultuously pre-occupied lately.

Almost every day, there is a report of a new anti-Semitic incident in the United States. Over the past few days, a member of the Chabad community in Brooklyn was the victim of a bloody attack and more than 100 car tires were slashed in a Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey.

Weiss is a native of Pittsburgh, where the recent murders at the “Tree of Life” community occurred. This attack brought home to her an unfamiliar danger: “I always search for my friends whenever there is an attack in Israel and send them SMS messages,” Weiss remarked. “’Is everything alright? Are you alright?’ I want to know. But now, suddenly, a flood of messages arrived from Israel. ‘Are you alright? Is everything okay?’ It was hard for me to absorb that everything that was happening over there was now happening here, too.

“For me, anti-Semitism was supposed to be something that belonged to Europe, to France, but that could not possibly belong to us. I remember the chills that ran down my spine the moment I heard the words that the Pittsburgh murderer shouted when he began to shoot: ‘All Jews must die.’”

more...

Interestingly enough, when she confronted Crystal Ball on Bill's show, she had to shut Ball down with the same analogy about the white supremacist being the most likely shooter. Ball totally missed the point, but is an example of the problem with many, including Jews, which I think Ball is also one.