Actual racism

[andrewducker]

Cheers fo Mr Grossberg for pointing out these anti-semitic cartoons.

Despite knowing about this kind of thing in a general sense, seeing examples of it is still rather disturbing.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

The scariest example of anti-semitism was something I saw about 5 years ago on the mailing list for the RPG Nephilim. This game was originally French (although Chaosium put out a far superior version in the mid 90s) and several of the people on the list were French. One of these people posted a Nephilim scenario that completely appalled me (and several other people on the list). It featured Jewish Kabbalists as the (truly horrific) villains, which is not in and of itself bad. However, the descriptions of their appearance, behavior, and personalities were clearly based upon some of the worst of the 19th and early 20th century anti-semitic stereotypes. About the only thing that was not included was the old medieval blood libel, and in thinking back on it, I not absolutely certain that this wasn't there in some version or other.

The most disturbing part was that the writer clearly had no idea that he had created an RPG scenario that would be beloved by Neo-Nazis everywhere, he just wanted to create scary villains and so that's what came to mind. I was vividly reminded of watching the old South African film The Gods Must Be Crazy, where people who were obviously moderates, if not mild liberals (by SA standards) made what was to me a deeply offensive film, largely because they could not see what was so offensive. That sort of unconscious racism is IMHO the scariest form of racism. For me, seeing highly bigoted statements and images created by people who actually hate or fear a group of people is unsettling but not unexpected, seeing the same images from people who do not hold any deliberate negative feelings toward that group is far more disturbing.

[andrewducker]

I agree, because it means the attitudes have become pervasive.

Still, it's better than 200 years ago, when nearly everyone felt that way...

[rainstorm.livejournal.com]

about a year ago i was walking in eidnburgh and saw that someone had painted a swastika and some slogan (i can't remember it exactly but it was along the lines of "fuck off asylum seekers".)

it scared me. i can't remember wher eit was, i just remember seeing it,

[allorin.livejournal.com]

You'll probably start seeing more things like that.

Just be thankful you don't stay south of Hadrian's wall - there the BNP can actually win seats in local elections. Now that is some scary shit, right there.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

What's the BNP? I'm assuming British X Party, how bad are they?

[andrewducker]

British Nationalist Party.

Of the "send them all the coloured people back to their home country" persuasion.

Not Nice People. Have managed to gain a (tiny) amount of power in a couple of areas rife with racial problems.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to be rude or offensive, but many of those cartoons seem to me to be more criticizingIsraeli politics than anti-Semitic, don't they? I've seen cartoons just as vicious about other governments. In fact, these cartoons seem to lampoon America nearly as badly, including decidedly non-Jewish Americans (like Powell) being nothing but puppets, and Uncle Sam being just as "dirty" and "hook-nosed" as the figure representing the state of Israel.

I only comment at all, because I think it's important to draw a line between criticism of Israel as a nation and anti-Semitism. It seems that sometimes, that line is (purposely or not) blurred in order to detract from that criticism.

[andrewducker]

That was one of my thoughts - that a large chunk of it is criticising Israel (and though I have relations over there I still think Israel needs a lot of criticism). But it's not just Israel it's criricism, and the implications of zionist plotting and jewish illuminati are most unsettling.

[diffrentcolours]

Very unsettling. We don't want the goyim finding out, after all ;)

heh

[josephgrossberg.livejournal.com]

Yes, but look at how the Jews are portrayed.

You can criticize Israel without portraying Jews as monsters.

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

Right, sure. I'm not saying it's a nice cartoon, or that I agree with it. But political cartoons are often very nasty. And considering the U.S. is not portrayed any better, and the U.S. is not a race, it doesn't seem like the portrayal is inherently racist to me.

To me, it seems like the cartoon portrays both the Israeli and U.S. governments in a very nasty light. But I don't see an awful lot about the Jewish people specifically. And that's what I would consider anti-semitism.

Here are some other political cartoons, which look similar but are clearly not anti-semitic:

Mexico

France

Germany

In each of these cases, the opposition was made to look ugly and unattractive to prove the point of the cartoon. I think the prevalence shows that it's a frequent technique used in political lampooning, more than a direct stab at the Jewish people.

Re: heh

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

But that just demonstrates that racism is a standard technique in political cartoons. Racism is what's bad - anti-Semitism is just one example of it.

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

So the U.S. is now a race? Because like I said, they are not portrayed any better than the Israeli government. Similarly, I wouldn't call either Germans, French, or Mexicans a race.

And although the names for my links might not have made it clear, it was also the governments, not the people, that were lampooned in my support. I could also give examples where specific people are used.

Therefore, I think it is more that some political cartoons try to portray their targets in the worst possible light, than a case of anti-semitism.

Though mocking people (whether race, country, or whatever) based on a caricature of what other people expect them to be is definitely bad, and one of the reasons why I don't tend to enjoy political satire.

Re: heh

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

that just demonstrates that racism is a standard technique .

I don't really think that Americans, Germans, French, or Mexicans are a race. They are nations. And although my headings might not have stated it well enough, most of these cartoons lampoon, again, their governments, not their people.

Political satire often casts the target in the worst possible light, using hyperbole as a tool. It's one reason why I don't tend to like it much. But I think to call this stuff racist, devalues the horribleness of real racism.