In the past, I've had my conflicts with the moderating team of the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network. This past week, AVEN's moderating team reached a new low. Specifically, they have given me an official warning for advocating that the general public take antisemitism from non-White people just as seriously as they take antisemitism from White supremacists. More sickening is that the language of their warning indicates, in no uncertain terms, that they believe that the only antisemitism that is truly problematic is antisemitism motivated by White supremacism.
Here's an important recent article talking about when Americans will turn a blind eye to antisemitism.
If you are willing to give a free pass to antisemites who share your partisan views or help promote your partisan narrative, you're not our ally, you're an accessory to our suffering (and sometimes to our murder).
- I made a statement that cannot be considered racist, I called for equal responses to antisemitism regardless of the race of the perpetrator.
- The article I cited cannot be considered racist, it cited actual events and called for equal responses to antisemitism regardless of the race of the perpetrator.
- My main argument was that some people are giving a free pass to antisemites whose actions agree with their own political narratives. This issue should have been at the forefront of the minds of the admods who were evaluating the situation. As you will see, either it was not or (more likely) they explicitly rejected the claim that it is wrong to turn a blind eye to antisemitism in such a case.
We understand that you are concerned about anti-Semitism. However, targeting non-white people won't uplift your own, and linking to racist articles trying to shift the focus of a debate of oppression against another oppressed group is against the ToS. In the future, please be careful to consider the actual source of oppression instead of siding with the oppressors against minorities. Thereby you only slash against another group which Anti Judaists will take as an excuse to oppress people more.
- targeting non-white people won't uplift your own--Nowhere did I target non-White communities. In contrast to the claim made, verbally condemning anyone who harms Jews will uplift us, regardless of the race of the perpetrator. That clause constitutes a false accusation against me and also implies that I must turn a blind eye to antisemitism when the perpetrators are non-White.
- linking to racist articles--As mentioned before, the article cited cannot reasonably be interpreted as racist.
- trying to shift the focus of a debate of oppression against another oppressed group--To clarify, it is not the case that all antisemitic acts are committed at the hands of some global cabal of antisemites. More realistically, most antisemitic acts are perpetrated by individuals unaffiliated with any criminal organization. Blame for each act lies with the perpetrator. However, the admod team seems to think that blame for any act of antisemitism can only be attributed to White supremacists. Again, they are insisting that I turn a blind eye to antisemitism when the perpetrator is a member of an oppressed group.
- be careful to consider the actual source of oppression--As I mentioned before, when a person commits an act of antisemitism, that person is the actual source of oppression. The admod team is insisting that I pretend otherwise.
- Thereby you only slash against another group which Anti Judaists will take as an excuse to oppress people more--Holding a small number of bad actors accountable for their crimes IS NOT an act of slashing against another group. It is true that, when condemning these acts of antisemitism, care should be taken to try to prevent racists from misquoting that condemnation to further their racist agendas. However, this issue cannot be used to prevent people from condemning those acts in the first place.
Not ace-specific, but here's a video taken from Washington, DC's pride parade, where antisemites spread the baseless slander of Israel supposedly committing genocide, physically assaulted marchers waving Israeli flags/Pride flags with stars of David, and called for the destruction of Israel. Here's a tweet that documents the incident. If this does not enrage you, then you have lost your moral compass.
@tinadrin Here's how I see it. There are several different levels of antisemitism. The less extreme ones are the most common. Regarding antisemitic positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, here's what I think is going on, in order from most extreme/obvious and least common to least extreme/obvious and most common:
The antisemitic/jihadist zealots. These are people who either oppose all things Jewish or support Arab supremacy. There's not much to understand here, and not many Americans showing this level of antisemitism.
The anti-privilege bigots. These are the people who will assume that in a conflict, the less privileged/weaker side must be right. In the United States, I speculate that this group has been gaining power over the past decade as rising housing costs and stagnant wages prompts many people to criticize entities with wealth/power in business transactions, and are trying to extend that ideology outside of business. These are the people acting like Israel's existence must be wrong because it's a Western country with much in common with Europeans.
The ones falling for disinformation/incomplete information. These people won't claim that Israel's existence must be a problem, but are more likely to believe conspiracy theories against Israel, such as the lie that Israel is committing genocide, or that Israel is trying to force Gazans into Egypt.
The ones with an anti-Israel alliegance, without even bothering to look into the facts. These people will just latch onto the pro-Palestine cause, repeating the slogans, talking points, and accusations against Israel without even looking at what any of it means.
