This article was posted after CNN weighed in on the Spencer video I linked above. Much of being made of the CNN marque stating "ALT-RIGHT FOUNDER QUESTIONS IF JEWS ARE PEOPLE" and the round table discussion on national TV actually giving airtime to his poison (even if only to disagree with it.)
Many will harp on the CNN marque as if that is where the issue truly lies. We will admit, for the sake of consistency, that despite being a horrible anti-Semite, Spencer never actually asked "Are Jews People?" or said that they aren't. But again, you have to remember euphemisms and rhetoric. Spencer didn't outright say that Jews were not really people. But he certainly implied it by evoking the Golem from Jewish mythology.
Does that sound like a cop-out, an excuse to cast aspersions on what might be an otherwise honest and innocent statement? Again, only if you have remained ignorant of history and how these groups have operated for nigh-upon a century now; even the Nazis themselves never outright admitted to killing Jews, and became expert at finding all kinds of euphemistic ways of making their mass murder more palatable to their own citizens and the rest of the world. Spencer's not an idiot. He knows damn well that speaking plainly would be rejected by a vast majority of Americans. What he has said, couched in euphemisms and dog-whistles, will be understood by the true believers, but leaves him enough wiggle room that he can call a literal Nazi salute a "rhetorical flourish." It's bullshit. Everyone knows it's bullshit, but he and people like him will respond to anyone calling it out for what it is as if he is the injured party, and lament loudly about being unfairly judged.
Do not fall for it. Do not let Nazis define the terms of our national conversation, even if CNN's marque isn't technically correct.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2016-11-22 06:18 pm (UTC)http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a50906/are-jews-people-was-a-real/
Many will harp on the CNN marque as if that is where the issue truly lies. We will admit, for the sake of consistency, that despite being a horrible anti-Semite, Spencer never actually asked "Are Jews People?" or said that they aren't. But again, you have to remember euphemisms and rhetoric. Spencer didn't outright say that Jews were not really people. But he certainly implied it by evoking the Golem from Jewish mythology.
Does that sound like a cop-out, an excuse to cast aspersions on what might be an otherwise honest and innocent statement? Again, only if you have remained ignorant of history and how these groups have operated for nigh-upon a century now; even the Nazis themselves never outright admitted to killing Jews, and became expert at finding all kinds of euphemistic ways of making their mass murder more palatable to their own citizens and the rest of the world. Spencer's not an idiot. He knows damn well that speaking plainly would be rejected by a vast majority of Americans. What he has said, couched in euphemisms and dog-whistles, will be understood by the true believers, but leaves him enough wiggle room that he can call a literal Nazi salute a "rhetorical flourish." It's bullshit. Everyone knows it's bullshit, but he and people like him will respond to anyone calling it out for what it is as if he is the injured party, and lament loudly about being unfairly judged.
Do not fall for it. Do not let Nazis define the terms of our national conversation, even if CNN's marque isn't technically correct.