The most important thing is not to fear at all

zaataronpita:

coffeejewess:

I’ve been meaning to write about this since last night, but my mom is relapsing as far as her wounds go… so frankly, that takes priority. But to get right to the point here:

If you’re a Jewish person, I highly suggest you unfollow @casual-isms. If you’re not, but support the Jewish people, I would again suggest the same measure. The blog is good in theory — the key word here — but as a Jewish person who is sick of casual antisemitism just as much as the overt kind, @casual-ism’s proved to me yesterday that they don’t really give a shit about antisemitism. Like, at all. In fact, the owner is more than okay with trivializing the oppression of the Jewish people. Which says to me, as a Jewish person, that @casual-ism doesn’t represent me nor will fight for me.

The short version of this very long tale, is that @casual-ism’s replied to a thread about Fritz the Cat and paraded the stereotypical trope of the Jew in Hollywood in response to it. While what they might have meant to say was that “white men in Hollywood,” what came out was “white Jewish men.” Where “Jewish” wasn’t even needed. It was a slip-up, whether or not it was intentional, which @casual-ism denies. Maybe it wasn’t intentional, but even if it wasn’t, that says something about the nature of antisemitism that @casual-ism’s has internalized without realizing it.

Which, if they had admitted that problem, would have been one thing. However, they haven’t. When called out about this by @thearcanetheory and other Jews, @casual-ism’s response has been hostile. They brought up Jews of Color like the Beta Israel, saying that white Jews never mention them. Which, I know just speaking from my own tumblr’s content is a lie. We all remember the debacle and hate-filled rant I went on about when it came to my religion class, where the Beta Israel were mentioned briefly and by a slur. And how it got their history all wrong, amongst just about everything else wrong with the book. I have personally went and scoured out accurate resources whenever possible to make sure that as many Jewish groups are included in our dialogues and within our history. While it’s been a busy semester so my ability to use it has been hampered, I have amassed and frequently update the @antisemites-of’s resource page with titles about the Beta Israel, Jews of Color, LGBT+ Jewish issues and any other source I can get my hands on and read (and recommend.) I also peddle as frequently as a can, the pamphlet The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere, which is a resource the left (particularly the far left) is in desperate need of reading. Despite a few errors here and there, it is an amazing resource for the history of Jews, how to approach race relations amongst ourselves and with gentiles, and many, many other subjects. 

And there’s also the problem of the term “white Jew” to begin with, because that’s very US-centric way of thinking. Where Ashkenazi — and some Sephardi and even Mizrahi — Jews pass for white. The problem is, outside of the USA, this starts to melt away very quickly. Outside of the US and Canada, Jews are not considered “white” despite our appearance. If we mix with other white people, we are still considered to be tainting blood lines. Particularly in Europe. Even back at home (at least for me), many Jews here in the US are rebelling against the assimilation of our parent’s and grandparent’s generations and are trying to break our culture away from the greater gentile one. We are not willing to give up what our foremothers and forefathers gave away to try and get ahead. We’re becoming more spiritual, more religious, and are trying to actually keep our practices. A trend that’s been growing steadily since our parent’s youths, and it will continue that way likely into the foreseeable future.

My whole point here, is that they could have admitted they were wrong and the issue would have been behind them. They could have said, “I wasn’t aware of that stereotype and given the nature of my blog, I’m sorry.” They didn’t. They became hostile. They’ve let their attitude and their words — which give away the animosity they’ve internalized about Jewish people — speak for them. Even when Jews of Color have spoken up and said that this isn’t okay behaviour, they have been told to be quiet. Or that they’ve drank and believed in the white supremacy kool-aid. Which, no, we haven’t. We just want you to realize you dun fucked up, but you aren’t willing to hear it.

It’s like they always say, “if you’ve crossed so many people with your words: can you really believe all those people are wrong?” Yes, there have been some stupid rebuttals, I’ll give @casual-ism’s that. I wouldn’t have bothered to respond to them or give them the light of day, because they didn’t deserve it. Yet, when people have told you that you were wrong. When Jews of Color tell you that you were wrong. You need to stop back and realize why. You need to think about what you’ve said, or what you’ve implied, even if it wasn’t what you meant to imply. In this case, you’re not helping anyone. You can talk about white Jews all you want — vague a term as it is — but traipsing around a stereotype about our people hurts all Jews. Bringing up Jews of Color to divert blame is tokenizing them. 

This doesn’t mean there aren’t Jews who have issues with race.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems in the Jewish community or within Israel that we have to work on, because we do. We’re trying, trust us.

What it does mean is, simply, that you’re wrong. And you need to admit that you’re wrong. And if you don’t, and you keep saying awful things? You deserve to lose your followers. And that’s why, my Jewish brothers and sisters (and our supporters), you should unfollow @casual-isms. Because they are okay with their casual antisemitism, perhaps even happy with it. I could argue with them on that note alone for the whole weekend, but I don’t think they care to see why at this point. And I don’t want to waste my time. They’d much rather wallow in it and justify it behind flimsy remarks and diversions. And you, much like me, shouldn’t waste time with people like that. 

Because I will defend whoever needs defending, regardless of who they are. If they need the help, I will be there to provide it to them. I want the same respect in return, because social justice is not one-sided. We all need to work together to end our collective oppressions in this world. If you want from me and won’t give in return, then you’re not really in this fight for the right reasons. And you’re not an ally to my people, so I’m not going to waste my time. 

And that’s all I have to say on this matter. 

What hypocrisy from a blog that should be dedicated to calling out their own behavior.