I grew up with undue warnings about anti-Semitism too. When the Likud came to power in Israel in '77, its pretty much all they talked about, and it was clearly more about their leadership's historical experiences in Europe than it was real. It was very clear to many of us that the Arabs weren't a reincarnation of the Nazis, and a second Holocaust wasn't right around the corner. It was just a generalized discourse of nationalist self-victimization to advance other concerns, such as introducing a free market economy to Israel and taking more aggressive settlement initiatives in the Occupied Territories.
When I moved to Oregon at the age of 16, I experienced recurring bouts of discrimination that was a lot different than anything I ever heard about racism from right-wing Jews. I got turned down for jobs during the summer (both in high school, and in college) based on my ethnicity, and frequently got ruled out as boyfriend material by the parents of folks I would try and date. It was all fairly consistent and fairly stupid. I'd say high school was the worst - tons of Christian kids would give me grief (up until my senior year, I was the only jew in my high school.)
the best summer job i actually got - before my senior year in college - was working as a dish washer and prep cook at an Arab restaurant. my boss knew where i was from, and was very up front about being a Palestinian. "Good thing we both got out of there," he always used to remind me.
On May 6, 2006, at 10:47 PM, Seth Ackerman wrote:
> 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
>
>
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