The Gloved One's 'Jew Me, Sue Me' Moment
By Benjamin Ivry
Amid the media scandal-mongering over the untimely demise of Michael Jackson, only a few reports have zeroed in on the Gloved One’s infamous 1995 song “They Don’t Care About Us,” which “outraged” the Anti-Defamation League with its “antisemitic” lyrics: “Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/Kick me, kike me, don’t you black or white me.”
Jackson explained to The New York Times: “I am the voice of the accused and the attacked. I am the voice of everyone. I am the skinhead, I am the Jew, I am the black man, I am the white man.”
If Jackson was really the Jew, one wonders if he would have been welcomed later by members of the Nation of Islam movement quite so enthusiastically Whatever the rationalizations, there is really no sane reason for Jackson to be praised as he is in “TYPISCH!: Klischees von Juden und Anderen” (“TYPICAL!: Clichés of Jews and Others”) a current exhibit at Vienna’s Jewish Museum, for supposedly having “attempted to destroy stereotypes” by marring his face with multiple nose jobs.
Far from seeing the late singer as a breaker of stereotypes, readers might side instead with ADL National Director Abe Foxman, who castigated the Gloved One for making a “decision which reinforces intolerance” by releasing a video version of “They Don’t Care About Us” as well as for later manifestations of antisemitism.
Jewish Conspiracy Theories All The Rage in Asia
By Gabrielle Birkner
Books that purport to chronicle world Jewry’s plot to rule the world are flying off shelves in China and Japan. Such conspiracy theories are also prevalent in Malaysia, the Philippines and, to some extent, throughout Asia, according to a recently published essay by the Anglo-Dutch writer Ian Buruma. But unlike standard-issue Western antisemitism — accusations of Christ-killing, blood libel — the anti-Jewish propaganda in contemporary Asia is not religious in nature, Buruma writes:
“So what explains the remarkable appeal of Jewish conspiracy theories in Asia? The answer must be partly political. Conspiracy theories thrive in relatively closed societies, where free access to news is limited and freedom of inquiry curtailed. Japan is no longer such a closed society, yet even people with a short history of democracy are prone to believe that they are victims of unseen forces. Precisely because Jews are relatively unknown, therefore mysterious, and in some way associated with the West, they become an obvious fixture of anti-Western paranoia.”
November 1, 2007, 5:20pm
The Glass Is 85% Full
By Daniel Treiman
The ADL concludes from its latest survey that 15% of Americans have “unquestionably antisemitic” views. Interestingly, this proportion matches perfectly the percentage of Americans who said, in a different survey, that they wouldn’t want a Jewish president.
In any case, according to a recent Pew survey, we’re better liked than many other religious groups: 76% of Americans say they view Jews favorably and only 9% say they view us unfavorably. That’s better than prevailing views of Muslims (43%-35%), Mormons (53%-27%, and even Evangelicals (60%-19%) and Catholics (76%-14%). So we’re doing pretty well by comparison.
Read the Forward’s article on the ADL survey here.
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