Antisemitism *Dun-dun-duuuuuun*!

[eumelia]

A few days ago I was reading the blog of an entertaining graphic designer, she's a Palestinian Arab and mentions it probably as much I mention that I'm an Israeli Jew (meaning offhandedly and not always politically), which is cool. It's always good to remember that the blogosphere isn't different shades of White.
However, she wrote something that bothered me and I didn't comment, because my GDess the backlash it would have caused, and the grief it would have given both her and I wouldn't be worth it.
So I'm going to write my much longer, would be comment, here on my own little piece of the Internet.

Arabs like Jews, are part of the larger ethnic group known as Semitic.
In this little exercise in semantics someone (anyone) accusing Arabs being antisemitic would be saying that they are prejudiced against themselves.

This is beside the point, seeing as the term "Antisemitism" was coined in the 19th century when people realised one couldn't, in that post-Enlightenment era, accuse the Jews of murdering Christ as a reason to hate them. And so began the more racial aspect of Jew-hating.
Dictionary.com has this to say about Antisemitism:

-noun.
discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews.
[Origin: 1880–85]

-noun.
1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism.
2. Discrimination against Jews.

1881, from Ger. Antisemitismus, first used by Wilhelm Marr in 1880, from anti- + Semite (q.v.). Not etymologically restricted to anti-Jewish theories, actions or policies, but almost always used in this sense. Those who object to the inaccuracy of the term might try H. Adler's Judaeophobia (1882).

(Emphasis theirs - and this is the first time I've come across the term Judaeophobia, which makes as much sense as Islamophobia >:/)

I get that as a member of an ethnic group which is Semitic in origin the term being used is irritating, but missing the point about the use of the term and trying to retcon it, is not, in my humble opinion, a valid way of saying "Arabs can't be prejudiced against themselves".

Jews, Arabs, Blacks, Whites, Christians, Muslims and every other ethnic group, race, religion, mixed or not can be, has been and will be prejudiced/racist/irrationally hostile towards someone who is different from Them.

Ignoring the fact that there are members of a Semitic group collectively (and mistakingly) known as Arabs hate Jews (for various reasons), and trying to explain that Antisemitism isn't just about the Jews, ain't gonna fly, because its completely ignoring the origin and history of the term and the meaning of the term as it is used in this day and age, seeing as there is a whole lot of anti-Jewish sentiment going around these days.

Yes, there's a lot of backlash towards Arabs and specifically Muslims, which I oppose whole heartedly, but I cannot stand when someone tries to co-opt and change the meaning of a word which is very specific in its use, just to suit their own sensibilities and views.

That's what I think about Antisemitism the word.

I think racism and racial prejudice are a base and vile kind of prejudice found in every society and that we have to try and eradicate it from our collective consciousness, since more often than not (and historically), racial prejudice (and sometimes atrocities) are directed towards those who are ethnically and racially closest to each other.

Should I prepare for my own backlash?
*hides* ;)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

Thanks for clarifying.