What's the deal with the recent surge of Swastikas, anti-semitism, and general racism going on the past few weeks in many TDSB schools?
- Thread starter xmontrealer
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I remember watching the Great Escape with my cousins kids. Since the Nazi's where in charge of the jail, and the authority figures the kids assumed the Nazis where the good guys. Kids have no sense of 9/11 let along stuff that started 100 years ago. Nazi stuff was meant to appeal to youth and Hitlers inventions are used by Facebook and other advertizers to this day - the whole brand craze has its roots in Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstah .
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I suspect that we agree that anti-Semitism has never gone away. It was always boiling underneath the surface.
Why the surge?
1)Time.
The further we get from the war, memories fade. There are very few Holocaust survivors left to remind us first hand of the horrors that occurred. The slogan was always "Never Forget", but that's what's happening.
2)trump
He emboldened white nationalists. They feel braver to spew their hate. The more it it happens, the more copycats do the same.
3)The internet.
It is so easy to spread lies now. It makes it easier for the anti-Semites to communicate.
4)Israel/terrorist propaganda
The terror groups, Hamas etc. are winning at the propaganda game. Even as they launch missiles into Israel, at the same time they are using the Palestinians as a sympathetic group to gain support. So many young people look at Israel and, by extension, Jews in general as being oppressive and evil. It is fostering a new generation of anti-Semites.
It is getting very ugly out there.
Kids who want to get a rise out of people will often graffiti the thing that is the most taboo thing of the day.
These days it is this.
Next year it may be insulting people with purple hair.
Whatever is the most egregious thing of the time, delinquent kids will use it. Not because they take it seriously, but because the people they want to get a rise out of takes it seriously.
These days it is this.
Next year it may be insulting people with purple hair.
Whatever is the most egregious thing of the time, delinquent kids will use it. Not because they take it seriously, but because the people they want to get a rise out of takes it seriously.
So it's not really anti-Semitism. It's just a fun kind of thing.
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I'm with you on #2 and #3 for sure.
#3 we see with the freedumb convoy organizers.
But #4 is the opposite, its Israel losing the propaganda war. Israel is the very definition of settler colonialism and the Palestinian movement is now with BLM as a rights movement against apartheid.
If you want to stop antisemitism and racism you can't fixate on racism for only one people, that's its own kind of problem. You need to align with anti-racists, including BLM, those against Islamaphobia and the BIPOC crowd and you need to be seen as actually fighting against racism, including in Israel. It can be done, IJVCanada is a great Jewish activist group that is working hard against racism, including antisemitism.
All racism is stupid and should be ended.
As expected...Franky want us not to focus specifically on anti-semitism.
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I wouldn't be surprised if anti-semitism in schools is simply making the news now and I'd bet there's still a bunch more that is unreported. Same thing with anti-Muslim, anti-black, and anti-gay actions actions.
Further...
There are differences in causes of different types of discrimination so the actions and education about them need to be nuanced and differentiated. Anti-black or stereotypical racism is based on a very identifiable physical difference. Same for some Muslim women who dress traditionally. Anti-muslim hatred has a mix of racism for being a visible minority and racism about their religion. Anti-semitism and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination are used despite many of the people having no specific physical difference to focus on.
Anti-Muslim racism in the West has been around for a few hundred years but until the last 50 or so, most North Americans had never seen a Muslim person. Anti-semitism in the Western form has been around for 1500+ years meaning it is so deeply engrained in Western culture so it needs to be battled in a different way than some other forms of discrimination. Also a major issue is under the American context of racism, everything comes down to white = power and non-whites are the target of discrimination. As Jews are generally white, they are often ignored as potential victims of racism.
And the problem that is encountered with relying solely on a unified anti-racism platform is that many of these forms of discrimination also occur in communities that face discrimination themselves. That means either some forms of discrimination have to be ignored to allow all targeted groups to have a voice and will be so watered down so as not to offend anyone. As a specific example, a Toronto teacher sent out info last summer that included anti-semitic material and links to a terrorist group (according to the board's human rights investigator). A Jewish trustee mentioned this on twitter and she was called racist by people saying she implied all Palestinians are terrorists. They ended up with a circle of finger pointing instead of addressing the different issues going on.
And to be completely clear, I'm for acting and educating on all these types of discrimination even though I think a targeted approach for individual types is the way to go.
There are differences in causes of different types of discrimination so the actions and education about them need to be nuanced and differentiated. Anti-black or stereotypical racism is based on a very identifiable physical difference. Same for some Muslim women who dress traditionally. Anti-muslim hatred has a mix of racism for being a visible minority and racism about their religion. Anti-semitism and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination are used despite many of the people having no specific physical difference to focus on.
Anti-Muslim racism in the West has been around for a few hundred years but until the last 50 or so, most North Americans had never seen a Muslim person. Anti-semitism in the Western form has been around for 1500+ years meaning it is so deeply engrained in Western culture so it needs to be battled in a different way than some other forms of discrimination. Also a major issue is under the American context of racism, everything comes down to white = power and non-whites are the target of discrimination. As Jews are generally white, they are often ignored as potential victims of racism.
And the problem that is encountered with relying solely on a unified anti-racism platform is that many of these forms of discrimination also occur in communities that face discrimination themselves. That means either some forms of discrimination have to be ignored to allow all targeted groups to have a voice and will be so watered down so as not to offend anyone. As a specific example, a Toronto teacher sent out info last summer that included anti-semitic material and links to a terrorist group (according to the board's human rights investigator). A Jewish trustee mentioned this on twitter and she was called racist by people saying she implied all Palestinians are terrorists. They ended up with a circle of finger pointing instead of addressing the different issues going on.
And to be completely clear, I'm for acting and educating on all these types of discrimination even though I think a targeted approach for individual types is the way to go.
