#Anti-semetism | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thiswaycomessomethingwicked · 1 year

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what godforsaken corner of twitter did the comparisons between napoleon and adolf fucking hitler, ye’s new boyfriend, come from? because iirc, one of them spread those good vibes 👌🏼👌🏼 towards jews, and the other gassed millions of them and worked millions more to death ???? like what???

uggh gross.

So, I haven't seen what's on twitter lately, mostly because I've really taken a step back from the platform over the last year or so. It's a cesspit and I hate everyone on it (barring my friends who I love).

However, the comparing Napoleon to Hitler is an old nonsense that's been going on for years and it's a real fucking piss off. It absolutely comes from the fact that Napoleon represents strong, centralized state power and is, obviously, associated with years of war in Europe (who started what, where, and when is a discussion for elsewhere). The supposed analogy to Hitler is drawn by those who literally know only the previous two points about Napoleon.

Aside from, like, Napoleon's reputation (dude's fine), the bigger issue, the more important issue, is how it trivializes what Hitler did and all he represents. It's harmful and hurtful to survivors and their decendents, and all Jews everywhere, and it's an absolute fucking pissoff.

The holocaust and Hitler are not things to throw around as edgy internet points - whether in an attempt to slag off Napoleon (please people, the man has enough shit in his legacy, you don't need to bring Hitler into it), or in an attempt to idk, grant Hitler some edge of "legitimacy" or "he's just like others" or something.

I hate this garbage. Fuck all that noise.

gross gross gross

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Some stuff on Napoleon and Jews

[Disclaimer: I'm not Jewish, nor is this area of Napoleon's reign a speciality of mine, so I may get things wrong, or not-quite-right. Sincere apologies in advance. Please feel free to add on or correct me if I put my foot in it.]

Napoleon's relationship with the Jewish community in France was complicated, as these things usually are in the late 18th and early 19th century Europe. Especially when undertaken by a child of Revolution and Enlightenment who was still cultrually Catholic (though, his faith and associated beliefs were complex and changed over the course of his life) and grew up within all the anti-semetic baggage that was part and parcel of European life at that time (and still is, in many respects, today).

Note: Historians are all over the place on Napoleon’s views, whether he hated the Jews or not, whether he was purely out for his own gain or not, whether there was any altruism present or not. People are very, very, very heated about the subject - which makes sense. Just like, as a general flag.

Some of the first laws in France that emancipate the Jews came into effect during the French Revolution - so they pre-date Napoleon's assencion to power by a good few years. E.g., the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789, granted freedom of religion and worship, provided that it did not contradict public order.

Napoleon himself kept these laws, building some aspects of them into the Code. In countries he conquered, he emancipated the local Jewish population - all as part of his effort to further spread the French Revolutionary ideals then, later, the French Imperial ideals.

The big thing Napoleon's famous for is revoking the laws that required Jews to reside within ghettos thus enabling them to rent or own property with greater liberty than previously experienced. In 1807, Napoleon passed a law designating Judaism one of the official religions in France alongside Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinist Protestants (i.e., Hugenots). He also opened up previously restricted occupations and broadened the economic opportunities of the Jewish community.

Napoleon had the national Israelite Consistory established which served as a centralized authority for Jewish religious, economic, and community life within France (Napoleon loved centralized authorities). There were regional Consistories as well that answered to the national one. The Consistories were all run by a board composed entirely of Jews, appointed by the local prefect (who would not have been Jewish). So it was a blend of Jewish autonomy and independence yet structured within Napoleon's top-down approach to government (as the prefect would have been one of Napoleon's appointments/his hiring would have been informed by Napoleon's preferences).

An unintended benefit of Napoleon mucking around in Europe was that he broke up many of the existing caste systems simply by steam rolling in and saying "alright, have the Code Napoleon." Through the dissolution of these systems, and the political values/regulations imposed via Napoleon's takeovers, life, broadly speaking, improved for Jews - especially in the Rhineland and other areas of the Germanies and states subsumed into France. As always, though, YMMV and this is brush strokes.

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However. It's always more complicated than just "only good(ish) things."

As noted, Napoleon was a Christian-acculturated man born in 1769 and this reflects in his approach towards Jews and his policies and the motiviations behind said policies.

Napoleon was keen on creating an integrated, somewhat unified French society and identity, with French language and cultural norms being the dominate traits that people should embody. The concept of national identity was still, broadly, in its infancy in 1800 but he was certainly a proponent of it.** So, while Jews were liberated from the ghettos, Napoleon expected them to assimilate into French society - which he thought meant giving up some of their religious and cultural traditions.

In addition, Napoleon still restricted where Jews could migrate within the French Empire, which was done in tandem with his attempt to end, or at least greatly restrict, Jewish money lending. Again, all tied to attempts to support assimilation.

Money lending had, historically, been one of the few trades open to Jews in Europe (e.g., Venice limited Jews to money lending and selling of second hand items. They could practice as doctors only with a special papal dispensation which required sponsorship from a respected patron - usually bishop or cardinal, sometimes a nobleman or patrician) and Napoleon was concerned, in typical anti-semetic style, that Jews were taking advantage of their customers.

Napoleon was also seeking to try and push Jews into new professions - primarily the trades and agriculture - so there was a focus in his regulations to encourage Jews to pursue farming or artisinal trades, among other things. Again, again, assimilation - but it’s also informed by the fact that France’s economy by 1806/08 was showing signs of slowing down and Napoleon was attempting to stall this. His restrictions on migration, I believe, were revoked in 1811 and the remainder of the restrictions ended when the Infamous Decree of 1808 was not renewed (during the Bourbon restoration).

Another negative impact was the loss of Jewish naming traditions. In his effort to make the world’s largest bureaucracy, Napoleon began requiring people to have surnames. Not necessarily a common thing at the time, and he had certain rules about the names people could choose. For Jews, they couldn’t pick anything from the Torah, nor could they use town names, and these restirctions - along with the entire requirement itself - led to a loss of Jewish naming practices in these regions, at least outwardly. How communities worked to maintain these traditions within themselves is another story.

In addition, while the Jews had far greater freedom to worship than previously experienced, some of the aspects of their relgious life remained regulated - though it was via the Consistory system previously mentioned. The actual day-to-day impact of this on religious and cultural life for France’s Jews, I don’t know. I’m sure someone’s done a study on it though.

(**Napoleon was generally pro-immigration and believed it didn't matter "what side of the Rhine" a person was born on, if they wanted to be French they were French. However, they were expected to assimilate into to French society, to super over simplify his stance. I've a post somewhere in my backlog about Napoleon's immigration stuff. [Insert obligatory disclaimer about applying broad statements and how it's always way more complex and nuanced etc. etc.])

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On a personal level, who knows what Napoleon actually thought about Jews and what he was hoping to attain as a final outocme of his various legislations. Some of his quotes say he was aiming for full integration to the point where Jews are no longer visibly distinct (clothing, culture, language, food etc.). Some was just more general “I just want everyone to be French(tm) but otherwise, so long as you pay taxes, I don’t care”.

I suspect it was a mix since, in terms of extant quotes, he swings in his motivations, his views, his expectations. There are quotes where he's quite anti-semetic (see some of his comments in 1806) and ones where he's not as bad.

I don’t think he’s every wholly not anti-semetic - even his better statements are still tinged with it. Which, unfortunately, was par for the course of most people at that time. He wasn’t virulent or violent, the way some were (and are), but the broad anti-semetism of the time was certainly in him.

That said, Napoleon valued his appearance of being a liberator and understood the importance of having people On Side, which impacted his regulatory and legislative decisions. I also think he did believe in some of the old values of the Revolution. There was an idealist streak in him that came out from time to time and was, to my reading, truly earnest.

It's also important, for the sake of context, to note that in passing a lot of his more liberatory laws, he pissed off powerful groups. As emperor, he was always balancing different political interests of many parties - both internal and external to France - and this does need to be taken into account. Many of his actions, as they pertain to the Jews, would have been seen by much of Europe at the time as quite revolutionary (even if today we look at it and go "some of this was good, some of this was not good"). So there was some sticking-his-neck-out-a-bit.

Some of the powers-that-be, such as Austria, Russia, England, were opposed to Napoleon's approach to his Jewish subjects, not to mention internal-to-France powers and pressures. It's all a balancing act in a situation that could be a powder-keg.

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In exile, Napoleon's doctor Barry O'Maera asked about his reasons for "encouraging the Jew so much" (to use O'Maera's words) and Napoleons' response really was a balance of different motives - some good, some YIKES, some anti-semetic, some pragamtic, some a clear carry over of revolutionary ideals etc.:

I wanted to make them leave off usury, and become like other men. There were a great many Jews in the countries I reigned over ; by removing their disabilities [i.e., their legal restrictions], and by putting them upon an equality with Catholics, Protestants, and others, I hoped to make them become good citizens, and conduct themselves like others of the community. I believe I should have succeeded in the end. My reasoning with them was, that, as their rabbis explained to them, that they ought not to practise usury to their own tribes, but were allowed to do so with Christians and others, that, therefore, as I had restored them to all their privileges, and made them equal to my other subjects, they must consider me the head of their nation, like Solomon or Herod, and my subjects as brethren of a tribe similar to theirs. That, consequently, they were not permitted to practise usury with me or them, but to treat us as if we were of the tribe of Judah. By this, I gained many soldiers. Besides, I should have drawn great wealth to France as the Jews are very numerous, and would have flocked to a country where they enjoyed such superior privities. Moreover, I wanted to establish an universal liberty of conscience. My system was to have no predominent religion, but to allow perfect liberty of conscious and of thought. To make all men equal, whether Protestant, Catholics, Mahometans [Muslims], Deists, or others ... [Napoelon then goes on to talk about making government independent of religion and the strong importance of separation of church and state. Napoleon was particularly keen on ridding the Catholic Church of their power within state/civic happenings.] - A Voice from St. Helena, Barry O'Meara, p. 183

[I broke out the paragraphs for easier reading. It's one block in the original.]

As always, with exile memoirs, Napoleon is structuring his legacy and trying to create a specific image of himself. That said, I think this is one of the times where I believe what he said does reflect, more or less, his motives and his thinking back during the height of Empire.

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Anyway - I hope this helps add some nuance to the Napoleon & Jews thing - though written by a non-expert. And yeah, comparing Napoleon to Hitler is bunk history and people should know that by now.

But I will end by again emphasizing that it is disgusting and disrespectiful, if not outright harmful, to throw Hitler and the Holocaust around as edge internet points. That is the real issue here, not Napoleon's reputation.

The real issue is, always is, the anti-semetism.

#can of worms! can of worms!#anti-semetism #Napoleon bonaparte #ask #reply #anon #history #napoleonic #jewish history #19th century #holocaust mention #shoah mention

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gwydionmisha · 2 years

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The Scarlet Pimpernel ~ Lost in Adaptation

I read some of the books back in the ‘90′s and was horrified.

#The Scarlet Pimpernel #Books #TV #Anti-Semetism

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chaotic-emo-pigeon · 2 years

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being Jewish right now is scary!! actually!!

#as if i didnt have enough to worry about rn #anti-semetism #jewblr

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cottoncandyopinions · 1 month

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Wow, even a mental health subreddit I'm on has slurped down the kool-aid, they're all parroting the "Zionism is a settler-colonial project" and the usual crap about Israel.

Like fuck jews with mental health issues, especially right now, amirite /s

#Anti-semetism

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socialistgamergirl · 7 months

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So a while ago I made a post saying that I think a consistent outlook on conflict would lead someone to be both Pro-Ukraine and Pro-Palestine (or the opposite if you're a fash, I guess.) I made this post to criticize the majority of liberals and neoconservatives in the US who are pro-Ukraine and pro-Israel, but ironically it started a debate with someone who's hypocritical in the opposite way. In hindsight I could’ve done a lot better at explaining myself there, though. Some of my points fell flat, and there were more convincing arguments I could’ve made that I didn't think of. Lucky for me, I got a chance to redeem myself this morning when I was running late for work and hungry.

It started with a YouTube video, specifically this one:

youtube

While the video itself is objective and not an opinion piece, I took issue with some of the polls cited in the video; specifically the way they irresponsibly framed the conflict. For instance, one poll asked people if they were more sympathetic towards Israel or Hamas. The problem being that generally, people who are condemning Israel's actions aren't doing it because they support Hamas, but because they view it as a disproportionate and unjustifiable response to Hamas's initial terror attack. At least, that's my view on it. You can find stupid dipshits here and there on Twitter or TikTok or... probably here somewhere that are unironically cheering on Hamas and saying that they're revoluntaries, but that doesn’t seem to be common for obvious reasons. As such, this poll, along with a lot of the other messaging from western politicians and media, commits one of the underhanded tactics used to muddy the waters on discussion of this conflict, that being boiling it down to an ethnically essentialist perspective.

I guarantee you've heard this before if you're even remotely plugged into this issue. You have to support Israel or you're anti-semetic. You can't sympathize with the plight of Palestinians or you're pro-Hamas. There is a total conflation between the powers of the region and the ethnic groups of the region. I consider this way of thinking to be insane and incredibly reactionary. Imagine if we treated any other conflict this way. Does not liking the government of China give you a right to be racist against Chinese people? Does disapproving of Modi's government give you a right to disrespect Indians on the basis of their race? Obviously not. Anyone with basic critical thinking skills should be able to figure this one out. Unironically, I think this way of thinking is what's actually anti-semetic. You're essentially saying that any wrong that Israel commits, every Jew should also be held liable for. (By the way, this is a perspective currently being pushed by Nazis who are using the situation to spread anti-semetism.)

Anyway, tangents aside, I went to the comments to see if someone had already shared my concerns, and thankfully someone had.

However a look at the replies completely set me off, leading to this (I'm the anime pfp, obviously.)

I got kind of mean with the third one (and cheesy at the end,) but I really hate that kind of anti-intellectualist line- blaming any opinion you don't like on the vague concept of "Twitter" or "TikTok." (People used to do this with Tumblr all the time!)

In summation- It’s pretty obvious to me by now that Americans didn't learn a single damn thing from the war on terror.

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jwood718 · 1 year

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I’m listening to a story on WBUR’s Here and Now about the rise of an anti-Semitic group calling itself the “Goyim Defense League.” I mean oy vey such name! It’s almost laughable -- well OK it is laughable but the group is not as it targets Jewish communities and is sensible enough to keep some plausible deniability between its anti-Semitic fliers (or whatever) which can be covered by the 1st Amendment and any violent acts. It leaves law enforcement unable to make any positive connections, and so unable to arrest and subsequently prosecute. Full audio with host Robin Young speaking to Carla Hill of the Anti Defamation League.

What I think as the segment ends? This:

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“...all the goyim say I’m pretty fly -- for a rabbi!”

#anti-Semetism #WBUR #in the news #weird al yankovic

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proudzionist · 9 days

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ANON IS AN ABBREVIATION FOR ANONYMOUS .

THEY DON'T WANT TO BE SEEN .

Nothing wrong with that except we have on TUMBLR ANTI SEMITIC ANONS who are not only Anti semitic but racist too

Shocker 🙄 right?

These ANONS are a 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Also 👇👇👇👇👇👇

Yep I went to Wikipedia 😂

This sums up the ignorant Anti semitic Anons on Tumblr !

🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯

#anti semitic anons #anti semetism #anti semites #anti semitic Tumblers

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helloitshaley · 1 month

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"Steven Lim was disproportionately blamed for the fiasco" and "Steven maybe isn't qualified to be a CEO and doesn't quite have the X factor" are two statements that can coexist

#I'm sorry he doesn't have a business degree! that should be the base priority for ceo!#and yeah I had my fun I reblogged the paris hilton meme im not innocent lol #but three grown ass men guys #also thankfully i missed the racist shit whats wrong with you people #i did see some anti semetic stuff directed at sara on tiktok though that wasn't cool #unrelated to the last statement but i never knew she was a content stealer that sucks lol #and to walk into a pagan shop and yell THIS ISN'T REAL is also pretty shitty like read the room gf #anyway #watcher

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cleopatraxi · 6 months

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White European Ashkenazi jews post about how they don't feel safe anymore because someone was mean about Israel on twitter while Gazans can't decide if they should leave their home and get bombed or stay and get bombed while having no internet service to post about it.

#also you will lose your job for hating only one of them #this was gonna be a reply to a post but op blocked me before I could type it out #fuck israel #free palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #anti zionisim #anti zionism is not antisemitism #Palestinians are semetic

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mikeywayat2005warpedtour · 6 months

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Reblog if you stand with Palestine

#free palestine #gaza #free gaza #palestine #🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸#long live palestine #it is not anti semetic to support Palestine

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noperopesaredope · 3 months

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Disclaimer: I barely know what I'm talking about. I'm just putting some thoughts out there because I'm honestly confused about some things. These are the words of someone who can barely understand what anyone is saying and also trusts no one on the internet. I've accepted that I am too stupid to understand this conflict and no matter how much research I try to do, I will never understand any of it. Believe me, I have tried. These are the ramblings of a confused idiot who is out of the loop on everything and will never really be in the loop.

You can add your own thoughts or disagree. But don't yell at me for my thoughts. I've tried to educate myself, but that has failed. But I still want to throw some thoughts into the discussion using my limited understand of everything. I will likely be turning off notifications to this post if too many people shout at me for not understand shit or agreeing with them, so probably don't try to change my mind. Just say what you want to say and add your own essays in the reblogs.

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I've been trying not to say too much about the Israel-Palestine conflict (not just Gaza, but in general) since it's so complicated and messy and I'm not informed enough on another country's massive, decades-long conflict for me to feel comfortable commenting on it. However, I have had a little nugget in my brain that has been bothering me for a while now. A common Zionist argument I occasionally see is that Palestinians aren't actually "indigenous" to the region of Israel-Palestine, and that they are invaders. They came from somewhere else to live in that area, and therefore aren't "the true people of Israel." But I find this argument rather silly and a bit hard to believe.

First off, and I'm not even saying this as an argument against Israel, but isn't the whole point of Jewish mythology (mythology is the technical term) that Israel is "the Promised Land?" As in, the end point? The final destination rather than the start? Maybe I'm confused and need to brush up on Jewish mythology, but from what I remember, the Hebrews came from a different region in the Middle East, then migrated to the region where Israel is. Therefore, they didn't exactly "originate" from there either.

It's also kind of hard to believe that there weren't already other people who were living there already. And then Abraham and his family moved to Egypt anyways due to drought, and the Hebrews were there for hundreds of years before coming back to Israel. And by the time they'd come back, a bunch of other ethnic groups had already made their homes in Israel, as people had been doing likely long before Abraham and his family first came to the region.

And even if Abraham and his family originally came from that region, Abraham already lived in civilization. Civilization still existed there, and people were still living there. Abraham was basically part of a different ethnic group before he created the Hebrews. Therefore, the Hebrews would be from Israel, but so would all of the other people already living there who weren't descendants of Abraham.

Whether or not you believe that the region belonged to the Hebrews by the will of God, all those other mfs were still living there first. You can say that you own the land because God said so, but you can't truthfully say that all the people who were there before Abraham was even born are not native to the region.

Even if we're not looking at Biblical accounts, realistically discussing archaeology and patterns throughout history leads us to the conclusion that there was no singular native ethnic group in Israel.

It is well known that Israel has had, like, hundreds of different peoples who have lived there at different points throughout history. It has switched around a lot of times, and has definitely had multiple ethnic groups living there at the same time. It is a region that has historically been diverse, and many have called it home.

On top of that, who is to say that Palestinians aren't actually also natives to that region? I've heard some people say that the Palestinians are decended from Arabs who invaded the region, but is it really true that all of them are of Arab decent? Again, this area is incredibly diverse, and I'm pretty sure it was ethnically diverse even before Israel was founded. It's unlikely that

Also, haven't the Palestinians been living there for thousands of years anyways? Because in that case, I'd say it's questionable to declare a pretty diverse group of Middle Eastern brown folks to not be native to a region they have been living in for hundreds/thousands of years.

Especially when a large number of those who moved to Israel when it was founded (refounded?) back in 1948 were of white European decent. I believe that Israel is still the homeland of the Jewish people, but is a white Jewish person whose family has been living in Europe for hundreds of years really more native to the Middle East than a brown person whose family has been living in Palestine for hundreds of years?

Like, I see these white ass mfs sitting here saying "I belong here more than you" to these brown people who have been there for generations. This statement is not about Jewish folks who have been living in the Middle East for generations, mainly just those of European decent who declare that the land belongs to them more than those who have been there forever.

I still believe that the Hebrews should be considered "indigenous" to Israel, but to say that they are more indigenous seems disingenuous when both groups migrated to the region. No one group has ever been the true native group of that area, and I feel that either side arguing that the other is not native to the region is full of shit.

We don't know who is native to the region. We barely even know if Israelis and Palestinians each are made of singular ethnic groups. So I feel like declaring the "One True Indigenous Group" is pointless and redundant to the discussion. Either both are or neither are. Shut the fuck up.

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