Antisemitism - Blog Posts
Look, I am not Jewish – I was raised Catholic and am now agnostic/atheist (I don’t know what there is but I know for a fact it’s not the Christian God) – but I think it is important to point out that being a leftist, socialist/communist, anti-Semite is absolutely like carefully picking out a gun to protect your family with and then carefully and deliberately lining it up with your foot and pulling the trigger.
Anti-Semitism has been used for at least the last 120 years to deflect the working and impoverished classes’ absolutely justifiable rage against the wealthy elite into attacking another oppressed class, which does nothing at all to improve their situation and, in worst case scenarios, feeds the corporations blood money. (IBM sold 1940′s-era computers to the Nazis.) By conflating “wealthy elite” (most of whom have always been Christian, in Europe and the US) with “Jews” (most of whom are not wealthy, although their strong emphasis on getting a good education and pursuing careers in fields where the demand is always strong, such as medicine and law, means that they are probably statistically more likely to be middle class than people who were allowed to own farmland, which for centuries Jews were not, who are now suffering because big agribusiness ate all the farms), the actual wealthy elite get to redirect the peasants with pitchforks off their doorstep. We can see it very, very clearly nowadays, where idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene repeat misinformation about Jewish space lasers instead of demanding accountability from the giant barely-regulated utility that actually caused the California fires, thus attempting to preserve that utility’s stockholders’ fine dividends.
If you exist anywhere left of center in your beliefs, then anti-Semitism is a tool of your ideological enemies, and only helps them. You are not going to improve the situation of the Palestinians by conflating “the government of Israel” with “the Jewish people” (and if you’re American or British you’re a massive fucking hypocrite for doing so, given what Americans and what British colonialism in general has done to indigenous peoples worldwide.) All you are doing is feeding the misinformation machine that keeps poor white Christians – and for that matter, middle-class white Christians – from recognizing who the actual wealthy elites are and what they’re doing. In fact, you make it really hard to even talk about wealthy elites because of the extent to which “wealthy elite” has become an anti-Semitic dog whistle.
The Left can be, and often is, as anti-Semitic as the right… but the problem for the Left is that anti-Semitism is, in itself, a tool of corporatism and right-wing beliefs. Anti-Semitism, like racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc, is wrong because it’s wrong, because it’s morally bankrupt, incorrect, accomplishes nothing positive and causes enormous human misery, etc… but anti-Semites don’t care about that. Well, care about this. If you’re on the left, expressing prejudice against Jews, conflating Jews with the capitalist 1% (or hell, even the bourgeoisie), or conflating Jews with the government of Israel, is actively harming your cause. Actively. Harming.
So get the fuck out of your own way and stop clinging to anti-Semitic beliefs, expressing them, repeating them… just fucking stop, okay? It alienates your allies, it gives aid and comfort to your enemies, and oh yeah, it also makes you a bad person. But even if you don’t give a shit about being a good person, try to at least be a good Leftist, or liberal, or progressive, or whatever you define yourself as.
Stranger Things and Netflix are trying to capitalize off the Holocaust.
No, this is not a joke. This is not a stretch of the imagination. And no, I’m not putting a read-more on this post because it deserves a full look-through. This is happening in Lithuania, right now, where Netflix has turned a former Nazi prison into a Stranger Things themed hotel.
Yes, you read that right. Just a quick Google search will confirm its existence. The Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius, Lithuania is a former Nazi prison. In a country that already tries to erase it’s involvement with the Holocaust (I’m still talking about Lithuania), this offense is particularly egregious.
Here’s the change.org petition that @chaosklutz sent me that first alerted me to this abhorrent, insensitive bullshittery: https://www.change.org/p/hold-netflix-and-stranger-things-accountable.
Copy-pasted below is the description from the petition.
It has come to the attention of the Jewish and Rroma community that the new season for Stranger Things was filmed in the Lukiškės prison in Lithuania. Though having functioned as a prison centuries before, it became notorious during WWII for it’s Nazi involvement and the kidnapping, imprisonment, and torture of about 100,000 Jews, Rroma, and political prisoners.
To make matters worse, Stranger Things and Netflix have both agreed to turn Lukiškės into a fully functioning hotel, ran by Airbnb, where visitors can spend the night in themed cells, tour the Stranger Things themed building, and make waffles. The price ranges from about €104-114 a night and it was said to start it’s function June 4th.
Fans of Stranger Things are now getting numerical tattoos on their arms because they are inspired by the show, the Stranger Things Instagram has even reposted photos their fans have submitted; thus encouraging their behavior. Not only does this mock the shared trauma of the Jewish and Rroma community, but it further desecrates the living memories of Holocaust survivors (a significant portion are alive today) and their descendants.
Lithuania is already known for their outright denial of their participation in the Holocaust and their allyship with the Nazis. Lithuania turned Seventh Fort, a concentration camp responsible for one of the worst mass killings in Lithuanian history, into a wedding venue. A Nazi prison where Jews, Rroma, and political kid prisoners were kidnapped, starved, imprisoned, and tortured is now a wedding venue.
We refuse to let this continue.
We, Jews and Rroma, call you to sign this petition and hold Stranger Things and Netflix accountable for their Holocaust erasure. Money earned from this season should be put back into the Jewish and Rromani communities of Lithuania as reparations for the damage this season is causing and a public apology from Airbnb, Netflix, and Stranger Things should be issued immediately with a full understanding as to how this adds to the erasure of the victims of the Holocaust and the ongoing persecution of Romani communities. We also demand the immediate shut down of the Airbnb.
We will not be erased. The Holocaust is not for the entertainment industry to build wealth off of and turn into theatre. It is our genocide and for Rroma it is ongoing.
We hope to reach out to current Jewish and Rroma communities in Lithuania in hopes of help for accountability. Either way, sharing this petition, signing it, and donating to the Jewish and Romani organizations and charities below would be a great help! Thank you!
TO CONTACT US PLEASE EMAIL: JxRSTPetition@protonmail.me
WAYS TO SUPPORT THE JEWISH AND RROMA COMMUNITIES:
LIETUVOS ZYDU (LITVAKU) BENDRUOMENÈ (Lithuania Jewish Community): donations accepted! https://www.lzb.lt/en/
ERRC (European Rroma Rights Center): A perfect tool to learn, volunteer and donate http://www.errc.org/get-involved/donate
Domari Society: Rroma in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip! Donate, learn about them and support their businesses! https://www.sunbula.org/en/article/10/Domari-Society-of-Gypsies-in-Jerusalem The Jewish Center for Community Development: https://www.jdc-iccd.org/#about
ERGO (European Rroma Grassroots Organization): donate, learn, volunteer, and support their projects! https://ergonetwork.org
Memorial Museum of Holocaust in Lithuania and Vilna Ghetto: https://www.jmuseum.lt/en/about-the-museum-3/i/220/memorial-museum-of-holocaust-in-lithuania-and-vilna- ghetto/
Again, here is the petition link: https://www.change.org/p/hold-netflix-and-stranger-things-accountable.
Please sign and share the petition, and donate if you can. The signature goal is 7.5k - they’re almost there! We can surpass that goal!
This kind of behavior is utterly disgusting and those at fault need to be held accountable. If your blood isn’t boiling after reading about this, read again.
I'm Chinese, how come we're not all getting blamed for China's genocide and colonization against the Uyghurs? Meanwhile Jewish people are all getting attacked for Israel's killing of Palestine civilians. This seems like a double standard to me.
OP you need to say this so much louder for the people in the back!
If you’re not Jewish, you can kindly shut the fuck up about the following:
The Talmud
Zionism
What is or is not antisemitism
The word “goy/goyim”
Jumblr: Feel free to add more.
hi its prox
a reminder : antisemitism isn’t tolerated here .
this might sound like a no-brainer but ive seen a lot of asinine takes in my circles so thought i’d make my views clear
if you’re hostile , unaccepting or discriminatory towards any Jewish person … get . Off. My blog.
this place is a safe space . you have an ally in me .