Anti-Semitism

This a series of posts explores anti-Semitism, its origins, the motivations behind it, its various manifestations, its consequences, and its possible future. The series also proposes a method for determining when an act or statement is anti-Semitic and concludes with some suggestions for remedying the consequences of anti-Semitism. A series of discussion questions is also included.

Review of the previous post.

The previous post, post number 23 of 33, discussed the new anti-Semitism.

Preview of this post.

This post, post number 24 of 33, discusses the new anti-Semitism.

 Determining Anti-Semitism

1. Introduction

Having broadly discussed anti-Semitism, it now is important to determine what actions are “anti-Semitic” and what are not. This will be done in this section of the essay.

1. Anti-Semitism Definition^[1]

As discussed in his book, The definition of Anti-Semitism, Kenneth Marcus first shows that the issue is so complex that no single definition of anti-Semitism is all-encompassing and the definition must account for ideological, attitudinal, and practical aspects as well as its role in the construction of individual and collective Jewish identity. Thus, depending on the motivation, the ideology, or the practical aspects of a particular act or statement, the statement may or may not be considered anti-Semitic.

A person’s mental state is generally impossible to discern with any accuracy, and thus a person’s “motivation” or “ideology” may be nearly impossible to know, per se as to whether or not the statement is anti-Semitic. The speaker may be deliberately hiding his motivation, or may not even be overtly conscious of it and may even contend that they are not anti-Semitic and meant nothing harmful or anti-Semitic and “some of their best friends are Jews” and they would never hurt them; but it is there nonetheless. As such, as was the case in determining other complex issues, such as true and false prophets, nationalism, Jewish identity, etc, it is not a particular overarching definition which is used to reach a conclusion, it is a process which is used to reach the conclusion.

Preview of the next post.

The next post, post number 25 of 33, is the first of ten posts discussing aa process for determining if an act or statement is anti-Semitic.

[1] Marcus, Kenneth L. The Definition of Anti-Semitism, Oxford University Press (NY 2015), pp 193-94, Print