Content Warnings: Anti-semitism, Mass murder, Racist terrorism.
A creepy antisemite killed some people the other day, in the usual way. It was at a synagogue during a religious occasion. According to tumblr user prismatic-bell:
“You know, the news is really sheltering gentiles from the full horror of what happened this morning when they keep using the phrase “Brit Milah.” Yes, that’s what was happening in the synagogue this morning, but do you know what it is?
It’s a baby naming.
Every bit as important as a christening or first birthday.
That is what this shooter opened fire on. A baby naming with people praying for that baby’s health and happiness and future.”
And what did Robert Bowers, the mass murderer have to say about the baby-blessing business?
“HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people.
I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered.
Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
There’s a little bit of unexplained lingo in the terrorist’s tweet (or was it a “gab”?) HIAS is an organization that helps immigrants, originally dedicated to helping jewish people escape pogroms and the like, now helping refugees more broadly. Nazi conspiracies have it that all those immigrants from south of the border are hot to kill the white man and take his women.
To the terrorist, those baby blessers were inhuman wizards, summoning an army of orcs to take out the magical people of light. Where is the evidence that refugees kill people? Recently Faux News helped Cheeto Hitler through a rough week by hyping a story about a young lady murdered by a shitty boyfriend who happened to be an immigrant.
No haps from them that week about how often white men – especially veterans god bless the troops – murder the ladies in their lives. It paints a picture for people like our nazi terrorist du jour, this lopsided reportage, in combination with less accountable news sources on facebook publishing flat-out lies.
Anti-semitism is baked into Western civilization, like, oh, say, blood in a loaf of bread. As something of a cultural outsider – a neglected destitute child of two mentally ill black sheep – I missed the memo that I’m supposed to hate jewish people. But because of these centuries of persecution, wild folklore, pogroms, general shittiness in christendom, it’s really easy for many culturally christian people to buy these murderous lies about jewish ethnic groups.
I suspect the people in our fuhrer’s clique that are capable of being semi-thoughtful would really rather not have anti-semites be their main supporters. To them, it’s about oppressing negroes, which is much more politically safe in the United Snakes. But they can’t hit one target without causing splash damage to jewish people. They try to stoke anti-latin prejudice and nazis figure out a way to blame it on “The Jews.”
But leaving aside the reason he believed jewish people were murdering whitey, he seemed quite convinced of it. And if you care about a group of people who are being murdered, wouldn’t you want to go to bat for them? I see jewish people actually being murdered, and could come back with a very similar train of thought to this creep:
“Nazis like to kill innocent people. I can’t sit by and watch my fellow humans being slaughtered. Fuck trying to look socially acceptable, fuck my personal safety, I’m gonna whack those fools.”
That makes perspective the main difference between this terrorist and me at my worst. I don’t like that. And that perspective makes me think maybe I should try to be more peaceful in life, in the struggle, despite the violent oppression of our times. I don’t like that either.
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Peaceful resistance only works when the enemy has a conscience. When they don’t even consider us human, it’s just being conveniently easy for them to slaughter.
Ya know, I’ve actually begun to wonder if “terrorism” and “extremism” are actually things. My philosophy is that just because you start saying something and then get other people to start repeating it, that still doesn’t make it any more phenomenal. I’ve been digging around Twitter and there are a number of anarchists who believe that the word terrorist needs to be dropped because it only seems to be used when it’s most useful or convenient…or something like that.
wontbehere4long: “Ya know, I’ve actually begun to wonder if ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ are actually things.”
You really ought to be less blatant about your trolling if you want to stick around here.
cubist @ 3, I’ve seen enough of wontbe to be pretty sure they aren’t trollish, but they do seem to have communication difficulties sometimes, and are in a pretty extreme state of mind lately. Which is understandable, I sure am.
Extremism and terrorism as terms are intense and provocative, with their respective connotations. I’m an extremist by US standards, and if I acted on my own urges re: nazis, I’d be considered a terrorist. Or maybe not, because I’m white and AMAB. So are they useful terms? Does the shoe fit on me? And extremism in the right wing sense is almost meaningless when all the levers of power are in those hands. Can you really say the mainstream of political and media US are extremist, when they’re all on the same page and it’s decent people who have become outliers?
I don’t know if that’s what they were getting at, but it could be.
abbey @ 1, I know there’s a big difference between me and those creeps. But still, do I see *them* as human anymore? I think it’s worth entertaining these kind of thoughts, even if you never act on them. That is to say, it’s good to consider alternatives even when the unavoidable path of war is in front of you. I guess I’m trying to remember what it’s like to not dream about killing nazis every day.
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@wont #2: Terrorism as a term has definitely been used selectively in a political sense. Although generally speaking, avoiding it has also been a strictly partisan affair, usually used in racist ways. So I recognize the idea but disagree with the reaction. And yes, impressing a large number of people with an idea doesn’t automatically make it a good idea. Just remember to apply that logic to ideas you like as well as those you disagree with.
@Satan: I’m going to assume emotional appeals to nonviolence are obvious: collateral damage, emotional impact of ending a life, damage to friends and family of both victim and perpetrator. So this is a strictly logical version of why to keep ones Nazi killing in the realm of video games.
When someone is part of a fringe group and is killed for their beliefs, they become a martyr to the cause. It doesn’t matter how ugly the beliefs seem to you and me. That group still gets to shout “They killed Kenny!” or some variant of it. The current situation is especially volatile. They have figureheads in positions of power that support them. And to be honest, we’re a week away from having any inkling as to whether that even has consequences.
So… Rage out in the video games. There are lots of them that let you shoot Nazis. Or if you prefer the tabletop RPG experience you could always look into SIGMATA: This Signal Kills Fascists. Don’t have that one personally but I’ve been curious about it.
I’ve given up on communicating with others on the grounds that always always always do I get treated as the butt of the joke. As long as I exist, I’m just gonna be a punchline. =(
Lanir – thanks for the response.
Wontbe – You were taken seriously insofar as you were understood here. Don’t get them hackles up if there’s no need to.
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I’m not angry, just tired,
Between trying to get my mind off of the chaos by playing Sonic, but the consensus being that “only autistic people play Sonic,” (Egoraptor has pretty much started this trend of hate and Sega actually thinks it’s a good idea to cash in on that) and people telling me that I am not welcome anywhere because I’m an SJW…it’s hard.
I appreciate the effort kiddo. Enjoy your sonicking. It’s been a few years since I highspeed hedgehogged, but it was good times.
Regarding Latin people and Jews.
My family has Sephardim in our background. One cousin by marriage is actually from a hidden Jew family that didn’t lose what they are.
That’s right, it’s why I mentioned jewish ethnic groups in the plural. Lotsa different types of jewish people, including from spain. I read once some of ’em went to istanbul to escape the reconquista. I don’t know much, but I have heard of the sephardim a smidge.
It’s been a woolly time since I wrote this post and I’ve read some things that make me think I was too generous with cheeto’s people near the end of it. I’m now convinced they know they’re courting antisemites and actively promoting the hate that leads to this violence. Wotta world.
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