What can one even say about this vile smear one X user received today? I’ll try to say something. We need to say *something* about this.
The antisemitism that has been more forcefully revealed lately in Canada is shocking to me as someone who schooled with, befriended, and lived amongst Jewish people right from a young age. I also dated several Jewish women who were kind enough to tolerate me.
All of these people became fantastic parts of my life. I learned a lot about Jewish life, traditions, history, and so on, from them and their families. I attended weddings at their synagogues as we all grew up and got married. I still yearn to visit Israel simply because of what I’ve learned from them. I’d love to go with one of them as a guide for me and my wife.
I never thought of them as anything but fabulous people – and they were some of the smartest, kindest, most generous, and in the case of my dates, the most gorgeous people I’ve ever met (until, clears throat, I met my wife, clears throat, etc).
I never could have imagined — until recently — that deep down in some Canadians’ minds, there was this level — and this quantity — of vile hate — of a people I had only loved all my life. Alas we see it a lot lately, in our streets, schools, colleges, and certainly online. Openly. Brazenly. Almost proudly. Maybe not even “almost” (dear God). It’s so rampant that the news media hardly notice anymore.
Michael Geist wrote today that now, “Antisemitism no longer shocks.” He’s right, as I’ve alluded. But that statement in itself shocks me as I read it and try to distill it. Read it here: “When Antisemitism No Longer Shocks” https://mgeist.substack.com/p/when-antisemitism-no-longer-shocks?publication_id=754507&post_id=150709596&isFreemail=true&r=2c132&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I would venture that this horrid example directed at Jonathan Kay today — one of the smartest and often funniest, and seemingly kindest, and among the most tolerant people on X — proves, because of those attributes, that it’s not particularly targeted at him but rather it’s a random attack on Jews writ large. That doesn’t make it better, of course. I don’t know what it makes it, other than to help explain that it’s not “personal,” and rather that it’s truly a display of hatred of all Jews, no matter who they are, which makes it a pathological “ism” of some or many sorts, not the least of which is antisemitism obviously.
It’s also a display of some sort of mental sickness to be sure, beyond simple anti-social behavior. I’ll leave it to others more qualified than me to figure out what exactly the diagnosis is, and how to treat it.
But I’d also like to know how so much of this has been undiagnosed and untreated to date. Where did this sudden surge come from? How did this foment so quickly? How on Earth did it so quickly go from my happy life with my Jewish friends and lovers, into this hell which has become so “no longer shocking” in Canada? And where, if left unaddressed, will this lead? We owe it to ourselves and our country — and our Jewish countrymen — to figure that out.
Michael Geist provides a valuable clue: “Antisemitism is no longer hidden and neither must be those that oppose it.” Well herein, is my small part.
Shabbat Shalom.
I sometimes get email from antisemites who simultaneously say
1. holocaust didnt happen
2. it *should’ve* happened
Holocaust denial is arguably unique among consp theories. I don't know any 9/11 Truthers who say al-Qaeda didnt do 9/11, but also that al-Qaeda *should’ve* done 9/11 pic.twitter.com/5svZRpsBgG— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) October 25, 2024
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