Tag: Anti-Semitism

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Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #067: Talk Is Cheap, And So Is Trump

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #067: Talk Is Cheap, And So Is Trump

Posted on by Mike Gold

What will you do if we let you go home / And the plastic’s all melted / And so is the chrome? / Who are the brain police? – Frank Zappa, Who Are The Brain Police, 1966

One of the many ways we get into trouble as a society is when we issue sanctions on semantics. Acts can be evil. Thoughts can provoke bad acts – but thoughts can prevent bad actions as well. We can deal with the bad thoughts if we stay vigilant and use our brains from time to time.

Controlling the language has been an effective means of political persuasion. One of the reasons I admire the LGBTQ movements is that they seized the words gay and queer, turning insults into advocacy. This started about six decades ago, so we’ve had a couple generations of Americans who do not automatically perceive those terms in their original discriminatory context. We’ve got a way to go; change takes time and commitment.

I am often bewildered by the statements made by our president, and by “often” I mean “at least every day.” Because he gets his beliefs from Fox News and Vlad Putin, our dickhead-in-chief buys into the axiom that Jews are a monolithic group who are compelled by a hive-mind. This is a complete misunderstanding of the Jewish culture. As a group, Jews love to debate and discuss, generally with open-minds (I exempt the most fundamentalist of persuasions from this argument) but usually with great passion. I was raised in a Jewish environment, and I truly enjoy this exchange. Judaism as a culture encourages debate between the religious elders and their flocks. “Rabbi” means teacher. A teacher who is willing to discuss and debate. Continue reading “Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #067: Talk Is Cheap, And So Is Trump” →

Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mind #042: The New York Times: Toonless, Clueless Cowards

Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mind #042: The New York Times: Toonless, Clueless Cowards

Posted on by Mike Gold

About a month ago, the international edition of The New York Times launched a shitstorm when they published an editorial cartoon depicting Donald Trump as Benji Netanyahu’s blind toady. In response, the Gray Lady was loudly condemned by the rabid right for anti-Semitism.

In response to these foolish attacks, the New York Times took a courageous stand. They decided to drop their editorial cartoons across the board. All of them, in both their international edition and their regular American daily. This disappearing act, unless repealed, goes into effect July 1st. Continue reading “Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mind #042: The New York Times: Toonless, Clueless Cowards” →

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #032: Some Of My Best Friends…

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #032: Some Of My Best Friends…

Posted on by Mike Gold

Lately, our nation’s Despot-In-Chief has been facing growing accusations of anti-Semitism. On one hand, acts of anti-Semitism in America have been growing faster than the measles outbreaks in Orthodox neighborhoods. On the other hand, we have a tendency to think that just because a person repeatedly shows bigoted behavior towards various groups – in Trump’s case, Muslims, Hispanics, Africans and most all other people who are imbued more eumelanin than Casper the Friendly Ghost – they must be bigoted towards all groups.

That is just silly.

Clearly, Trump is also highly bigoted towards women, and, arguably, towards attractive women and women in power. He is bigoted towards anybody who vocalizes opinions that differ from his, even though his opinions frequently change within the course of his speeches, and sometimes within his sentences.

But is he bigoted towards Jews? That is an interesting question.

“Hey,” Trump might well say, “Some of my best friends are Jewish.” Then he would point to Stephen Miller, the juggler best known for simultaneously being both a Jew and a Nazi, adding “Yeah, that guy jewed down the price of those cages. He saved us a fortune.” Miller would be at home with the likes of Emil Maurice and General Erhard Milch.

Miller is a toxic turd. He is the mastermind of Trump’s immigration policy – the modern-day pogrom – and he got that job after years of stellar service to Jeff Sessions and Michele Bachmann. If we had been in a declared war and we had lost that war, Miller would be in chains shivering before Spencer Tracy. Yup, Miller is Jewish. He self-defines as a white nationalist, so his understanding of American history is negligible. Continue reading “Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #032: Some Of My Best Friends…” →

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #028: Divide And Conquer, by Mike Gold

Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #028: Divide And Conquer, by Mike Gold

Posted on by Mike Gold

Before I begin this week’s tirade, I need to make one thing perfectly clear: when it comes to the never-ending middle east conflict, I have no horse in the race.

This is because I believe in freedom of religion. I’m not in favor of a Jewish state, and I’m not in favor of a Muslim state. I’m also not in favor of a Christian state, although the presence of a large Christian population in the middle east seems to have escaped notice.

Now that I’ve pissed everybody off, let’s talk about Benjamin Netanyahu and Ilhan Omar.

Last week, Israel’s famed fascist leader Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens… According to the basic nationality law we passed (last summer), Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.” This is not to suggest that Benji is about to build ovens, but our Muslim-Israeli friends are justified in their belief that they are second-class citizens… at best.

Also last week, U.S. Congressperson Ilhan Omar implied that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee pays politicians to support Israel. This is likely to be true, but the global Jewish conspiracy has nothing to do with it. Lobbyists of all persuasions use all sorts of means every hour of every day to influence, rent or buy America’s lawmakers. Republicans who have been on the take from (for example) the National Rifle Association, FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity have been porking up at that trough for decades. The difference is, questioning AIPAC’s influence is often perceived as anti-Semitic. Of course, this puts Omar in bed with many Jews, including Israeli Jews (such as actor and Israeli soldier Gal Gadot) who are opposed to Netanyahu’s totalitarianism. These Jews are decidedly not of the self-loathing variety, which is the common response from the Israeli far-right. Continue reading “Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind #028: Divide And Conquer, by Mike Gold” →