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this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2024
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I reject Israel's modification of semitic to only refer to themselves. It originally meant the inclusion of Arabs, and I'm going to continue using it that way, regardless of it's "obsolete" designation.
It is still used to this day in linguistics to refer to the same thing, and I'm going to use it more broadly to ensure that Israel can't gatekeep its usage, and utilize it in a way to harass others and as a universal cover-all any time anyone criticizes them for anything.
I am not ignorant of its linguistic origins, I am purposely reappropriating it. It seems fitting, especially in this case, to be able to turn the word on them.
It's not a conspiracy of the israeli government to modify english words to exclude arabs.
Semitic was a termed coined by a german academic in the late 1700s, to mean semitic languages. Antisemitism was being used to mean hatred of jews by the mid to late 1800s, mostly by german and prussian nationalists describing their own hatred of jews as antisemitism. When english borrows the term from german in 1881, it already meant hatred of jews.
I'm using it in this context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages
If they speak a Semitic language, and they're being targeted, I'm calling it Anti-Semitic. I reject your reality, and substitute it with my own. It removes the power of the claim that Israel uses it for. I could think of no better way to reappropriate the power of a word to claim victimization. It's used to deflect criticism and push blame onto the person criticizing.
Hi, I heard you like to cite Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy
Using antisemitic to mean hatred of speakers of semitic languages doesn't make sense because no one groups all speakers of semitic languages together. Hatred of jews and hatred of arabs are two very different phenomena with vastly different sets of prejudices and stereotypes, each deserving of their own term.
The point is to remove the air from the sails of the word "antisemitism". Much like many groups who have adopted slurs against them, and turned their meanings around.
We can have a new word for hatred of the jewish people that doesn't connotate back to the incidences of WWII that Israel uses to shield against criticism every single time.
If you want one for Arabs, or whatever other division of people you go ahead and do that.
But including semitic speaking people under the umbrella of antisemitism serves to relinquish the power it has over people when Israel uses it as a mallet to deflect criticism. Quite literally, nothing you say will cause me to change my viewpoint on this.
I am not arguing this to discuss and enlighten my viewpoint. My viewpoint is already the enlightened one in my eyes. Call me wrong, call me whatever you will - but I'm going to continue to push the term antisemitism to include the cultures which speak semitic languages.
We both know why the definition is being muddied. I completely agree with you. It's a pretty common tactic. It's just like DEI and CRT actually encompassing many things, but now only being used as a way to claim "reverse racism."
Only a "certain type" of person can be a victim. The others are just too brown and oooobvioisly deserve all the hate they get!
The state of israel is already doing more than enough to "remove the air from the sails of the word "antisemitism".
Antisemitism is real and a real threat and it deserves a term that reflects the level of horror that it has inflicted. Minimizing the horrors of the holocaust against the jews does nothing to combat the holocaust israel is conducting. You can't draw attention to a genocide by minimizing a different genocide. That's not how horror at human barbary works.
No one is happy that israel is abusing the term antisemitism but the solution is to point that out. Or just laugh at israel when they make obviously untrue claims, as most people do.
Homo means same. So homophobia means hatred of people like oneself. No one can change that.
Are you familiar with the concept of reclaiming and reshaping terms?
Why should the term stay the way it was coined
Especially as it is clearly an euphemism to sound more sophisticated and give it some sort of "scientific" sound. Also nowadays fascists and other far-right arseholes have shifted their target on mostly Arab Muslims (or anyone looking "brown" really) even instrumentalizing the term and "support for Israel" as they cheer on the killing of Arabs. Of course that does not stop them from also hating Jews, but they are very happy with focusing that on "leftist" Jews for now, which Jewish pro Israeli lobbies are often also happy with.
It is long overdue to seize the control of the term from the fascists.
The term was coined by an academic and then claimed by fascists to describe their own hatred of jews. If anything, the current meaning as something to be reviled is the reclaimed version.
Antisemitism is a word that a historically oppressed group uses to defend itself. Others taking that away from jews is not the same thing as the reclaiming of queer or the n-word by their communities .
The word is being misused by israel and that's truly appalling, but there is still a valid use case for it's current meaning.
I don't think including other semitic people is "taking it away" from Jews. Also i don't think think that bigots are well differentiated in who they target. Mostly it boils down to "looks brown" or "looks asian". So Arabs are targeted in Anti-Jewish attacks too, as well as Jews are targeted in Anti-Muslim attacks too.