[lbo-talk] America's Anti-Muslim Prejudice

[Seth Ackerman]

Joel Schalit wrote:

> You see, that's where I think you have it wrong, Yoshie.  Outside of 
> major metropolitan areas - and college towns - anti-Semitism does 
> exist. I spent eight years living in Oregon, where I encountered it 
> numerous times. Unfortunately, the consequence of the ideological 
> invocation of anti-Semitism, by Jewish conservatives, and the new 
> philo-Zionism of the general American right makes it hard to see.
>
> Nevertheless, as America gets more Christian,  Jews do experience it. 
> That is part of the reason why there is a renewed emphasis in Jewish 
> cultural circles to re-identify as Jewish - from more conservative 
> cultural projects emphasizing "Jewish continuity" sponsored by the 
> Bronfmans, to extremely progressive publications ranging from Heeb to 
> Jewschool.com and radicaltorah.org .

Hi, Joel. I've thought a lot about this question (as a Jew, obviously) 
and I've always instinctively gravitated toward the basic position 
Yoshie expressed. I've never experienced any actual anti-semitism, to 
put it bluntly. Not that I can remember. I've never exactly lived in the 
sticks, but I lived in Oregon too, as a little kid, and then grew up in 
a moderate-Republican suburb with a very visible Christian Right 
presence. Whenever I heard modern-day US Jews warning that anti-semitism 
is still around, my gut reaction was always one of sincere baffelement - 
and that was true long before I was old enough for politics to enter 
into it. I can remember far more occasions of feeling embarrassed by 
some goy's anguished philo-Semitism than noticing anything that smacked 
of real prejudice directed at me. I'm not, of course, denying anything 
you've experienced and maybe it's just that I haven't been to the right 
places.

Maybe this debate needs a frame of reference. One often hears Catholic 
conservatives bewailing anti-Catholic prejudice in America. I've never 
really bought that either, but who knows. Do you think it exists? Do you 
think it's in the same league as today's anti-Semitism?

Seth