Letters to the Editor: Jane Wallace

Letter to the editor,

Everyone is Labeled “Anti-Semitic” But Nobody is Labeled “Philosemitic”
In The Modern Traditional Mass Media of Capitalist Newspapers, Capitalist Television Stations, Capitalist Police Stations, Capitalist Radio Stations and Capitalist Internet News Sources, everyone is labelled “Anti-Semitic” But Nobody is labelled Pro-Semitic Or Philosemitic.

The word “Semitic” was coined by German orientalist in 1781 to designate the Semitic group of languages—Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew and others—allegedly spoken by the descendants of Biblical figure Sem, Noah’s Son.

Philosemitism, also called Judeophilia, is “defense, love, or admiration of Jews and Judaism”. American-Jewish historian Daniel Cohen of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies has asserted that philosemitism “can indeed easily recycle antisemitic themes, recreate Jewish otherness, or strategically compensate for Holocaust guilt.” Wikipedia. In other words, a philosemite is a “Jew-lover” or “Jew-friend”. The 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, described himself as an “anti-anti-Semite.”

Philosemitism is a special interest in, respect for, or admiration for Jewish people, Jewish history, or Jewish stereotypes. By depicting “ideal” characteristics of Jews, Philosemitism creates a “model minority” myth, relying on and perpetuating stereotypes of Jewish traits and values.

Antisemitism (also spelled anti-Semitism or anti-Semitism) [a] is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against, Jews. Primarily, anti-Semitic tendencies may be motivated by negative sentiment towards Jews as a people or by negative sentiment towards Jews regarding Judaism. [Wikipedia]

Both left and right are guilty of promoting a ‘good Jews’ and ‘bad Jews’ division. All Jews should refuse to play along. [When antisemitism goes hand in hand with Philosemitism. Keith Kahn-Harris 02/11/2011]

Jane Wallace, Riverwood Bronx