OK this post really gets me, aside from the desperate bloodthirstiness, because thereâs a trick here which people fall for all the time. I see a lot of antisemitic stuff get passed around & lots of people just donât recognize it or say anything about it unless it specifically spells out âthe Jews.â The screenshotted rant really shows it; if you think about it, the person obviously means "The Jews."
First, theyâre talking about the need to kill Zionist kids. (As an aside: WTF? Kids?) But it doesnât make much sense to talk about Zionist babies any more than Communist babies or fascist babies. They care about milk and wet diapers, not class warfare or territorial conflicts. Babies donât have political ideologies; they arenât born with them and donât automatically inherit the affiliation of their parents. They CAN be born with a preexisting identity of some racial, national, or ethnic group ⌠like Jewishness. Theyâre talking about Zionists as an ethnic identity, and also assuming babies have some inborn (lesser) value determined by their descent, which is racist, even by a conservative definition of racism.
Then theyâre talking about the concentration camps. Aside from the weirdness of talking about the Holocaust as a lesson that needed to be learned by its victims, the Holocaust was not some kind of action against Zionists, or Zionist Jews, but simply Jews. They targeted that ethnicity. Nazi persecution targeted Jews regardless of political affiliation. Itâs not like they left Jews alone if they werenât Zionist. Zionist Jew, Bundist Jew, Jew who didnât get involved in politics and minded his own business, to Nazis a Jew is a Jew is a Jew and if youâre in German territory, then die. Nazis did not target Zionists, but ethnic Jews. Again, they are talking as if they are talking about an ethnic identity, not a political viewpoint.
(Aside: What is the unspecified lesson Zionists should learn from the Holocaust? What does this person think the lesson of the Holocaust is?)
This person never actually said âJew,â they said Zionist, but they seem to be talking about Jews, which they call Zionists. They're obviously viewing their enemies as some immutable national / ethnic group. This person is not angry at some political movement or worldview or personal actions, theyâre angry at an ethnicity. An ethnicity persecuted by Nazis. Theyâre angry at Jews. This person isnât telling us an important critique of the Israeli government or war. This person is telling us they hate Jews and think the Nazis were right.
Sadly, there are tons of other posts that are less theatrically bloodthirsty that probably never consciously register with people. I see posts like âZionists control the mediaâ which is exactly the same old âJews control the mediaâ claim but they changed one word. I have no doubt that they flew across the screen of plenty of people who considered themselves kind, just, and tolerant, and saw the word âZionistâ and thought âWell they said Zionist not Jew, this is antizionist, not antisemiticâ and did not really think âWhat is this guy actually saying?â I mean yeah, they said Zionist, but they meant Jew. There are a lot of people who do that, and can be pretty openly antisemitic as long as they just donât say âJew.â People need to learn this and notice this.
It doesn't have to say "The Jews." Think about what the person is actually saying.
And if youâre the poster of the original post seeing this, please stop for a minute and think. Were you just overwhelmed by anger for a moment, do you really want to kill children?