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

[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.