06/19/2019
"John Cusack’s tweet is similar to a long list of similar racist antisemitic incidents, from The New York Times posting a cartoon of a dog with a Star of David, to Congressional candidate Valerie Plame who retweeted an article claiming “American Jews are driving America’s Wars.” Or there is the incident of Oberlin College professor who pasted numerous anti-semitic comments on her page, one claiming the Rothschilds were behind AIDs.
In each instance the excuse is someone made a mistake, was just being “dumb” or quickly tweeting, they didn’t “notice” the anti-semitism.
Just decades after the Holocaust, racism against Jews, which everyone should be educated about and know about, is used “by mistake.” No one is racist by mistake. People don’t tweet blackface images “by mistake.” No one draws a cartoon with a Star of David “by mistake.” You have to consciously insert the symbol, just like you’d put a cross on the dog’s neck instead of it, if one wanted the dog to represent Christians and not Jews. But how many dogs with crosses appeared in New York Times cartoons? Someone has to add the “follow the money” to the tweet, and that is when the racism is clear.
The thing about antisemitism in America is that ostensibly we have a scandal like this every month almost. In February US member of Congress Ilhan Omar was criticized for adding “it’s all about the Benjamins.” In April the NYT ran the anti-semitic cartoon. How can people still not recognize and be educated about racist antisemism? It’s like if we had a new black face scandal every month.” - Seth J. Frantzman
