Posted on 07/15/2020 11:42:18 AM PDT by SJackson
The Hollywood Reporter columnist calls out the hateful outbursts against Jews by Ice Cube, DeSean Jackson and others and explains how the muted response "perpetuates racism" and contributes to an overall "Apatholypse." Recent incidents of anti-Semitic tweets and posts from sports and entertainment celebrities are a very troubling omen for the future of the Black Lives Matter movement, but so too is the shocking lack of massive indignation. Given the New Woke-fulness in Hollywood and the sports world, we expected more passionate public outrage. What we got was a shrug of meh-rage.
When reading the dark squishy entrails of popular culture, meh-rage in the face of sustained prejudice is an indisputable sign of the coming Apatholypse: apathy to all forms of social justice. After all, if it’s OK to discriminate against one group of people by hauling out cultural stereotypes without much pushback, it must be OK to do the same to others. Illogic begets illogic.
Ice Cube’s June 10 daylong series of tweets, which involved some creepy symbols and images, in general implied that Jews were responsible for the oppression of blacks. NFL player DeSean Jackson tweeted out several anti-Semitic messages, including a quote he incorrectly thought was from Hitler (not your go-to guy for why-can’t-we-all-get-along quotes) stating that Jews had a plan to “extort America” and achieve “world domination.” Isn’t that SPECTRE’s job in James Bond movies?
These statements would be laughed at by anyone with a middle-school grasp of reason, but then former NBA player Stephen Jackson, a self-proclaimed activist, undid whatever progress his previous advocacy may have achieved by agreeing with DeSean Jackson on social media. Then he went on to talk about the Rothschilds owning all the banks and his support for the notorious homophobe and anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. That is the kind of dehumanizing characterization of a people that causes the police abuses that killed his friend, George Floyd.
June continued to bust out all over with anti-Semitism when performer Chelsea Handler, herself Jewish, posted videos of Farrakhan to her 3.9 million followers. That means almost 4 million people received a subliminal message that even some Jews think being anti-Jewish is justified.
That same month, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign also has been criticized for exploiting anti-Jewish biases, even though Trump’s son-in-law and campaign honcho Jared Kushner is Jewish and his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism before they married. Playing on the same Rothschild’s trope, they issued a letter accusing three billionaires of Jewish descent of using their fortunes to “rig the November election.” This is the kind of “very fine people on both sides” Trump has employed throughout his political career — pandering to hate groups that has emboldened racists who feel like they’ve gotten the presidential OK to attack people they don’t like.
These famous, outspoken people share the same scapegoat logic as all oppressive groups from Nazis to the KKK: all our troubles are because of bad-apple groups that worship wrong, have the wrong complexion, come from the wrong country, are the wrong gender or love the wrong gender. It’s so disheartening to see people from groups that have been violently marginalized do the same thing to others without realizing that perpetuating this kind of bad logic is what perpetuates racism.
Yes, some of the above have apologized — DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson, Chelsea Handler — while others continue to defiantly marinate in their own prejudice. Their arrogant and irrational response to accusations of anti-Semitism, rather than dissuade us, actually confirmed people’s worst opinions. Ice Cube’s response was remorseless: “What if I was just pro-Black? This is the truth brother. I didn’t lie on anyone. I didn’t say I was anti anybody. DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE. I’ve been telling my truth.” His “truth” was clearly anti-Semitic but, like Trump, he believes his truth exists outside facts. As writer Roxane Gay summed it up: “It is impossible to take you seriously with regards to social justice or anything when you post anti-Semitic imagery. What the fuck are you doing?”
Even the apologies floundered, more attempts at spin than true contrition. In a CNN interview, Stephen Jackson was angry and belligerent at being called out: “I stated I could have changed my words. There’s nothing that I said that I support any of that. There’s nothing I said that I hate anybody. I apologize for my words and I could have switched up. That’s the end of it. I love everybody.” While it’s possible the words were wrong, celebrities have a responsibility to get the words right. It’s not enough to have good intentions, because it’s the actual deeds — and words — which have the real impact. In this case destructive impact. In 2013, there were 751 reported hate crimes against Jews, but by 2019 the number had nearly tripled to 2,107. That same year, a gunman in San Diego entered a synagogue and murdered one person while wounding three.
One of the most powerful songs in the struggle against racism is Billie Holiday’s melancholic “Strange Fruit,” which was first recorded in 1939. The song met strong resistance from radio stations afraid of its graphic lyrics about lynching:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Despite those who wanted to suppress the song, it went on to sell a million copies that year and became Holiday’s best-selling record ever. The song was written by a white, Jewish high school teacher, Abel Meeropol, who performed it with his wife around New York before it was given to Holiday.
The lesson never changes, so why is it so hard for some people to learn: No one is free until everyone is free. As Martin Luther King Jr. explained: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” So, let’s act like it. If we’re going to be outraged by injustice, let’s be outraged by injustice against anyone.
It’s people like this that I can respect- we don’t agree on much, I’m sure- but he nails it in this piece! Excellent work, Kareem.
Enough with that childish crap. We Jews changed our names when we came here too. As did PLENTY of Italians, Irish, Eastern Europeans, etc.
If you are TRULY a conservative you know it’s NO ONE’S BUSINESS but your own what name you choose to make legal.
That does it. He has to turn in his muzzie card.
It’s frustrating how liberal KAJ is, because the man is otherwise very intelligent and reasonable. Reminds me of my late dad. Endless intellect, heart of gold, but incurably liberal to the very end.
More like Sleepy Joe Biden, “We believe in truth over facts”.
You may have but our family hasn’t. There’s nothing childish about how islam wants to destroy Jews. Lew changed his name so he could identify with islam.
If you want an education, go to Youtube and do a search for “Farrakhan gay marriage”
There is a double-standard.
Most of Farrakhan’s Anti-Semitic stuff is below the radar, wink wink, nudge nudge. We went on a bus tour of DC and the guide made a reference to the Rothschilds and control of the world monetary system when we went by the World Bank, an obvious dog whistle.
In that world, Jew is a euphemism for “any rich white person in power”
“My understanding is Mike Tysn gave up on islam and became a **Christian**.”
You misspelled “stoner” there, FRiend.
He's smart, no question. Lew Alcindor went to a boys' Catholic high school, Power Memorial, which may have prepared him for the work, thought, and self-discipline. The Christian Brothers were strict.
Tipping my hat to the Captain for this onem
Even Jemele Hill is going after DeSean Jackson:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/jemele-hill-desean-jackson-anti-semitic-posts
Where is the outrage? Is Kareem suggesting DeSean Jackson, the Eagles receiver that spewed antisemitic trash on Instagram, be suspended? How his teammate, Malik Jackson, who was caught praising antisemitic Louis Farrakhan?
The anti-Semites I see on the Internet all think Trump is owned and operated by World Zionism...so I don't know, either.
Yo, Kareem - provide specific instances where President Trump asserted "truth" outside facts, or STFU. You are reflexively anti-Trump, and had to leaven your otherwise welcome screed with anti-Trump BS.
I cannot think of any dispute between the press and the President that the press has NOT been found to be lying.
I don’t condone his Islamic conversion but I understand why he wanted to ditch “Alcindor” since that was surname of his ancestors slave owners. I don’t know what was wrong with “Ferdinand Lewis” though.
Anyway I appreciate his comments here but he still called us all Nazis a few months ago.
Could be he’s a little kookoo.
That same month, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign also has been criticized for exploiting anti-Jewish biases, even though Trump’s son-in-law and campaign honcho Jared Kushner is Jewish and his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism before they married. Playing on the same Rothschild’s trope, they issued a letter accusing three billionaires of Jewish descent of using their fortunes to “rig the November election.”
Yeah, thoughtful as he rides that seesaw shifting from thoughtful fair minded to typical liberal hack.
Also the way I read this is he's bugged not because of the insults to Jews so much as because he thinks it opens the door to racism against his fellow Blacks and will cause the Police to kill more Blacks.
Yeah thoughtful BLM bullshit. That's my take on it YMMV.
Oh, wait, I didn’t think blacks could be racist!! They cannot hate whites or Jewish people. Just not in their DNA. They only murder their own in street gun fights in Chicago.
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