Antisemitism

[Meshuga]

First I would like to begin this thread by saying that it is being posted to explain the definition and origin of the term "antisemitism" and not a way to say it exists here in DU or to accuse anybody of antisemitism. So there is no need for anybody to be on the defensive.

I felt the need to post this here since there is a controversy here when we have discussions where many here argue that anti-Arab sentiments or hatred against Arabs is synonym with antisemitism using the logic that since Jews and Arabs are both Semites therefore anti-Arab equals antisemitism.

Many people don't know that the word "ANTISEMITISM" was coined by Wilhelm Marr, an antisemite himself. Ironically, Wilhelm Mars created the expression "antisemitism" in 1879 with the intention to be known among all future antisemites as a leader of a powerful movement of Jew-haters but today he is only known to Jewish scholars.

Marr wanted to replace the German word "judenhass" (Jew-hatred) with a word that would make Jew-haters sound less vulgar and even somewhat scientific.

The problem is that the term he created is misleading since it conveys the impression that antisemites oppose Semites. This has enabled Jew-haters in the Arab world to deny they are antisemites, on the eminently logical grounds that they are themselves Semites. But for Marr, Hitler, and other Jew-haters, the term "antisemitism" has always been a code word used exclusively against Jews.

Hitler himself had not compunctions about welcoming (Semitic) Arab leaders, including the Mufti of Jerusalem, to Berlin during World War II. For this reason, many writers today have adopted the practice initiated by several Jewish and Christian scholars and write antisemitism as one word. Spelling antisemitism as "anti-Semitism" in the conventional manner, only fosters the false impression that there is a wider ethnic entity against which "anti-Semitism" is leveled.

Throughout history, antisemitism has been directed against Judaism and its values.

The term "antisemitism" defined by the The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:

an·ti-Sem·i·tism (n.)

1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism.
2. Discrimination against Jews.

The term "antisemitism" defined by WordNet 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University:

antisemitism

anti-Semitism n : the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people

[bloom]

1. While it's interesting to know more of the background

"Marr wanted to replace the German word "judenhass" (Jew-hatred) with a word that would make Jew-haters sound less vulgar and even somewhat scientific."


I still don't think that the term makes sense. Maybe Jew haters should sound more "vulgar" - and just be called Jew-haters. Since the term antisemitism is NOT scientific - nor is there anything reasonable behind it. Your enhanced view actually makes the term seem to have less sense than ever.

And I think that when a Jewish person says that Arabs are "human filth" - that that IS anti-Semitism - every bit as much as when someone says a similar thing about Jews or Semites in general.

[oberliner]

3. Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee site

http://www.adc.org/

Some good info here.

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. It's hard to hide behind a term like Jew-hater. Antisemitism is

a much easier word to hide behind because people use it in much broader terms.

[EFerrari]

4. That's a very good point. And when you think about the

Republican party's exploitation of bigotry and in particular, their use of coded language, the Cabal's orwellian use of language isn't so surprising, is it?

[William Seger]

5. Fill in the blank

________________(n.)

1. Hostility toward or prejudice against Arabs
2. Discrimination against Arabs.

"...many here argue that anti-Arab sentiments or hatred against Arabs is synonym with antisemitism..."

Many here instead argue that, whatever you call it, it's the same thing, which seems to be a much more pertinent question than the semantics.

[Meshuga]

6. I hope everybody here

understand that antisemitism (its true dictionary definition) and hatred toward Arabs are both wrong and unacceptable. Just because they are not synonyms it doesn't deny the fact that they are equally wrong and abhorrent. Given to the explanation in the OP I find it important to talk about semantics.