I shouldn't read the comments, but I do.

[conuly]

When I was a child, I thought that antisemitism was something that happened in the past, and then the Holocaust happened, and now we all knew better and there was no more antisemitism or genocide.

I was obviously wrong on both counts, but I was little and that's what I believed.

Apparently I'm not the only one who thought that, and if you read the comments on any article about rising antisemitism in Europe you begin to see three fairly consistent types of thought to reconcile "we all know better now (at least in the West)" with "rising antisemitism in Europe!".

Variation number one reads something like "Sure, people were bigots in the past, but Jews aren't really suffering that much now, and I don't know why they make such a big deal about the Holocaust anyway because even though it was awful it was in the past, and a few ugly incidents do not antisemitism make, and anyway, they're all doing pretty well except those weird ultrareligious ones, in Hollywood or the banks or whatever, they're not hurting or anything." (This argument is not at all strangely similar to "they control the banks and dominate the media", nope.)

Variation number two goes "That's totally not antisemitism, people are just upset about Israel! And really, it's their own fault for bombing Gaza!" (Yeah, right. Boycotting Israeli products until the situation in Gaza is resolved to your satisfaction is anti-Zionism. Bombing a synagogue in France isn't, no matter how hard you squint.)

And behind door number three we have a truly genius move of blaming it all on the Muslims, as in "We never had antisemitism here before, but now that those Muslims are moving in it's on the rise, but not because of us, it's them, those damn dirty Muslims." (If you point out the tiny percentage of Muslims in the home country of whoever it is spouting this charming idea, you get nothing but crickets.)

The advanced move, of course, is to combine the three arguments. Why is it all the fault of those barbaric Jew-hating Muslims? Because the Jews, who inordinately dominate the government and the media, really pushed for multiculturalism and now they're paying the price, and really, even a civilized person might get upset if their kindred were suffering in Gaza, and...!

And holy shit.

So this is why I read the comments. Yes, they're just on the internet, but somewhere on the other end of the net, somebody really is sitting there spewing out bile. When you read the articles, sometimes you think it's exaggeration, or scare tactics, or just a way to sell papers, but when you read the comments you start to think - holy shit, maybe antisemitism really is on the rise in Europe!

So thanks, random internet commenters. By being your normal vile selves you've managed to help me fully grasp the situation as it stands. Antisemitism is on the rise, and there's a heaping pile of Islamophobia as well.

Sheesh.

Comments

[zhelana]

Now it's too bad we can't get along with the Muslims, because both groups could use a friend.

[conuly]

I get along with plenty of Muslims just fine, but yes, I know what you mean :)

[zhelana]

Well individually, I do, too... but that's not quite what I meant. ;)

[eofs.livejournal.com]

I read an interesting article about attitudes to the Gaza situation in Germany. One of the things it raised was that the Neonazis are enjoying the opportunity to air their antisemitic views. However in doing so they're finding themselves walking alongside some very strange bedfellows, as they're not historically particularly keen on Germany's Muslim population...

[conuly]

You just have to prioritize. Where can you spread the most shit at any given time? Okay, those are the guys you hate today. Tomorrow you can hate the other guys.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, they're also joined by left/communist groups (or at least individuals) -- also not exactly historical partners. But as many left-wing hardliners are a) anti-US and b) anti-war-on-anything-but-capitalism, they're now also extremely anti-Israel. As conuly says, it's all a matter of priorities. >_>

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

When I was a child, I thought that antisemitism was something that happened in the past, and then the Holocaust happened, and now we all knew better and there was no more antisemitism or genocide.

Yeah, same here. And to be honest, I wish I could still believe that!

Sadly, it's "not just on the internet". It's also out in the streets here, and it really doesn't matter that some of the protesters are, in fact, Muslims, because there are also Neonazis, Communists and peace activists marching along. (What a mix.) There actually has been an attack on a synagogue near here. So yes, this is very real.