How to confront Catholic antisemitism?

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Tolle_Lege said:
Again, it’s just what is reported. Who decides what is reported? Do all countries have the same standards for reporting these things? Who decides what makes the news?

For all we know, the actual cases are less, but they’re just reporting it more.
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But your argument is essentially this:

“I don’t believe there’s an upsurge.”

** shows evidence **

“I don’t believe any sources.”

What this means, then, is that you’re resistant to seeing what’s happening as truth. (Not that this is your goal.) I don’t really care what sources you trust – the FBI, the ADL, whatever. They’re all saying the same thing. There is a documented upsurge in antisemitism speech and activity. As Catholics, we must respond to it. We must to remain moral.
 
Tolle_Lege said:
They (the media) can create these narratives. They can create victims and heroes. There are probably hundreds of high school climate change activists, but one of them gets all of the attention. How did this happen? Who decides to make someone “the voice” and “the face” of certain movements?

I don’t believe these stories. Confronting it is not a concern to me, because all hatred should be despised, not just what is directed at certain groups.
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I beg – BEG – of you to stop looking at this issue from a political perspective. Antisemitism comes from every corner of the globe, every faith, every political persuasion, every race, every sex.
 
Catholic/Christian antisemitism is so strange. The strangest variety of a strange hatred.
 
There is a lot of hate out there, especially among those who are neither jew nor Catholic.
It has been my experience that those who hate Jews usually get around to hating Catholics.
 
I’m not Catholic, so feel free to take what I think with a pinch of salt. As this thread sadly shows, I think the first step needs to create awareness that this is happening. Homilies speaking out and about such vile hatred I think would be a good way to do that.
 
JoeShlabotnik said:
There is a lot of hate out there, especially among those who are neither jew nor Catholic.
It has been my experience that those who hate Jews usually get around to hating Catholics.
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If it takes being self-interested to respond to antisemitism, that’s fine by me.
 
Most hate is a byproduct of ignorance.
And it is easier to hate than it is to love, unfortunately.
 
gracepoole said:
Respectfully, there is a documented jump in antisemitic speech and activity – it’s at its highest level since the Holocaust. This is why I feel desperate to respond to it. If only more had done so in, say, 1933 Germany.
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Source please, it’s hard to compare the internet (where everyone publishes) to what was published in the past.

I’m all for combating the issue but I don’t hear it or see it in my community. I question having a Diocesan effort aimed at members when there is no indication it exists in the Diocese.

If the upsurge is occurring in other countries, then the efforts must be focused there if the effort will have an impact. When treating a disease, you target the infected as the priority.
 
Theo520 said:
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gracepoole:
Respectfully, there is a documented jump in antisemitic speech and activity – it’s at its highest level since the Holocaust. This is why I feel desperate to respond to it. If only more had done so in, say, 1933 Germany.
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Source please, it’s hard to compare the internet (where everyone publishes) to what was published in the past.

I’m all for combating the issue but I don’t hear it or see it in my community. I question having a Diocesan effort aimed at members when there is no indication it exists in the Diocese.

If the upsurge is occurring in other countries, then the efforts must be focused there if the effort will have an impact. When treating a disease, you target the infected as the priority.
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I provided three sources above. Let me know if you want or need more. Sadly, there is antisemitism in my community — and in many others across the US.
 
Tolle_Lege said:
What exactly do you think we need to do about it
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Personally I think people need to be a bit more educated about Judaism. There are many conceptions and conspiracies about Jews and Judaism that should just be conclusively wrapped up. Sure, you can’t educate everybody, but we can definitely help decrease the ignorance that leads one to believe in Jewish conspiracies or to hate Jews.

For instance, many Christians have a mistaken idea that the Talmud says that (for example) non-Jews are cattle, Jesus is in Hell, etc… which seems to be a cause of anger among Christians. A person with a surface knowledge of what the Talmud is would know that it is a book that’s not in the slightest concerned with Christianity or Jesus.

There’s also the belief that Jews dominate world banking and politics, and conspire to take over the world. Like all conspiracy theories you’ll find that this is not grounded in fact.
 
Jews are both a small minority as well as highly affluent, which sets up a perfect combination for people to despise them.

Anti-semitism has been on a rise, spurred on by social media. In general, social media has allowed hate groups to flourish more than in previous decades.
 
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I don’t believe anti-Semitism is rising or that it’s happening particularly among Catholics.

There are constantly articles written about this, that anti-Semitism is rising and rising and it seems almost every corner you turn, there is anti-Semitism. There are also articles about how homophobia is rising, and about racism is rising etc. It seems like every year anti-Semitism, homophobia, racism etc. is at the highest and most alarming rate ever.

One thing you don’t see as much of in the mainstream media, is Christianity being the most persecuted religion in the world.

I’m not saying there isn’t strong anti-Jewish sentiment out there. I have seen it too. Some people talk about nothing but Jews and see Jews behind any problem they see. There are also Jews who talk about nothing but Jews and see Jews as being responsible for the good we have in the world.

What I have a bit of a problem with though, is the definition of anti-Semitism. The United States Department created a working definitions of anti-Semitism a few years ago, and some of the examples of what constitute as anti-Semitism in there are, to be quite honest, a little absurd. Many studies on anti-Semitism, such as a recent one done by the ADL (don’t get me started on them), used that working definition to determine questions it asked people, so I would not trust the surveys either, given the criteria that they use to define it.
 
This post reflects mastery of deflection. I do thank you, as I need to be informed about why and how people deny what’s happening.
 
I read the Time magazine article about the Kantor report. I’m not sure what to think about it because nothing really stands out as being anything other than the normal ‘haters are gonna hate’. Apparently, one mass shooting has skewed the numbers for the US.

Another thing that is mentioned is the online hate groups and rhetoric. But that’s just to be expected when everyone can go online anonymously. But the one thing that does stand out of the report is the increase in anti-semitism on college campuses related to support of Israel. And because young people tend to spend so much time online, the college campus thing might be partially fueled by the anti-Semitic online morons.
 
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