> 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