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Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League for some $22 billion over its slandering of him as an antisemite, which he alleges has tanked X’s advertising revenue. “Based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss,” Musk says.
Judging from my own feed, there are plenty of real-life antisemites who have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to participate in the #BanTheADL movement over this kerfuffle. It’s unsurprising that more open discourse brings out more bigots. That’s an unfortunate price of free speech. Clearly, those who campaign to “ban” accounts don’t care about an open platform. Nothing stops us from calling them out.
That said, though, Musk’s criticism of the ADL isn’t antisemitic. First off, the ADL isn’t a “Jewish” organization in any genuine ethnic or theological sense. Its primary mission is no longer to stop the defamation of Jews. The ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, a former Barack Obama appointee who often appears on MSNBC to chat it up with bigots such as Al Sharpton, has created a partisan leftist social justice outfit. And its primary goal these days is cynically using the organization’s historical position to advance often illiberal, completely irreligious, leftist ideas.
One of the ways it does this is by dishonestly framing an endorsement of free expression as an endorsement of the things people say using free expression, including antisemitism. That’s what it has done with Musk. So it would be no surprise if the ADL were leading a politically motivated boycott effort.
Musk, for example, contends that the ADL wants him to ban the Libs of TikTok, a popular account run by an orthodox Jew, Chaya Raichik, who gained fame by reposting real leftists saying real things. It’s certainly plausible, considering the ADL already has an entry for Raichik in its “glossary of terms.” Now, I’m not a big fan of nutpicking, but I haven’t seen anything in her feed that could be rationally construed as antisemitic. And that speaks to the problem of who gets to decide what “hate speech” entails.
For Greenblatt, who worked to get Tucker Carlson fired but can barely muster a word of disapproval for Jew-baiters such as Rashida Tlaib or any other elected progressive, hate speech is a finely tuned political weapon. The ADL has spent years exaggerating the threat of antisemitism on the right, finding offense not only in demonstrably ugly speech, but also in an endless number of dog whistles (including criticisms of leftist megadonor George Soros). At the same time, it gives perfunctory attention (but mostly ignores) the threat and normalization of anti-Jewish sentiment among leftists on college campuses, within activist movements, and in the government.
Don’t think of it as a double standard. Think of the ADL as a run-of-the-mill activist shop — something akin to the Southern Poverty Law Centery — and it all makes complete sense.
You only need to look at the organization’s educational recommendations to understand that its worldview is detached from any traditional understanding of Judaism. One strongly doubts the founders of the ADL could have foreseen their organization endorsing the idea that Jews were among the racial oppressors of American society.
Yet the ADL’s school curricula and readings on race and racism are littered with identarian tracts such as “How to Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, a fan of a number of brazen antisemites, and “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo. How can the ADL claim to fight against the defamation of the Jewish people and recommend authors who insinuate, or worse, that Jews represent a disproportionate amount of power in the United States — one of the most enduring tropes of antisemitism? The ADL also recommends the pseudohistorical 1619 Project and the podcast “The Urgency of Intersectionality” by Kimberle Crenshaw, a leading “scholar of critical race theory,” the teachings of which are also inherently anti-Jewish.
I’m not saying that many, maybe most, American Jews don’t agree with the ideological outlook of the ADL. But many do not. Nothing in Judaism teaches that our immutable appearances predetermine our societal role, actions or worth. Why is a group claiming to fight Jewish defamation spreading trendy ideological puffery? Because it is not what it says it is.
Now, the ADL, self-anointed arbiter of antisemitism, is certainly useful in providing lazy journalists with quotes confirming preexisting notions about antisemitism being largely a right-wing phenomenon. And risk-averse corporations might use them for guidance. But it has no moral standing to dictate appropriate speech. Certainly not in the name of Jews.
That’s what the DemoCraps do. They hijack your org
. Greenblatt is an Obama creature. What can be expected of him? I note that amongst the Jewish communities with which I am familiar, the ADL is treated with the scorn and disdain it so richly deserves. The ADL, as. Jewish organization, is irrelevant and indeed dangerous.
ADL is NOT a Jewish organization! And there are other orgs using the words”Jewish” or “Israel`’` or `”Tikvah” who hate `israel, hate `Jews and hate what they know of Judaism. . Some of these orgs have Muslim presidents! Its an insidious way to foment Jew-blame and anti-Jewish tropes, especially for people on the right who may not know better.
How it is that some Jews remain leftists is a question that is the same as how some Christians remain leftists. The left has taken over certain religious denominations (not all Jews) and the training of clergy in certain institutions. And so unsuspecting or lazy members hear lefty talk from their religious leaders and swallow it without analysis. Also, with the culture changing leftism sneaks in as more people are gay, trans, or educated in or employed in places where there is DEI brainwashing. Synagogues and churches are shrinking in membership and so accommodate the popular culture to keep members up.
But, I am a broken record in saying that no one in my family or circle votes for the left. And Jews are not monolithic. The stats I see in the mainstream media paints American Jews, as the author here has, as mostly leftwing. That is NOT my experience. Here and in Israel, those people I know love Trump, for example.
First you say most Jews are leftist. By the end of your post you say they are FAR leftist. Wow! If your post were any longer, then by the end you’d say most Jews were Bolshevks who are trying to take over the U.S. and then the world.
Most Jews may (repeat MAY) be liberals but they are not leftists. There’s a difference. I don’t know what you are but I suspect you don’t like Jews very much since you are choosing to besmirch an entire group of people (which number around 14 million I believe) with a label that evokes fear and hatred in the majority of the world’s people.. I highly doubt you actually have personally known or talked to more than 5 Jewish people in your life and of those that you have, I wonder how they perceived the conversation. I am Jewish and so were my parents and grandparents. All were vehemently anti-leftist and communist. So please shut the F up until you become better educated.. Incitement always has a way of biting the inciter in the behind when he doesn’t want it to.
The only Jews Ive ever known are Conservative and pro gun. Maybe your group of Jews consists of seeing what is on the net.
“…most Jews are leftist.”
“…almost all the leftist Jews aren’t really Jews.”
You were right the second time.
I replied to you which is fine but I meant to just post my comment generally. I was not “lecturing” you. We agree.
My mistake in posting.
Jonathan Greenblatt worked for the Great Narcissist Barack Hussein Obama, an antisemitic Marxist wannabe whose most fervent hope is a nuclear Iran. And he is urging Jews to support Al Sharpton, who railed against “diamond merchants” (why who could that mean?) during the Crown Heights Pogrom while leading mobs who chanted “Hitler should have finished the job!” He’s nothing but a kapo working for the Democratic Party’s Judenrat.
Most secular Jews still believe Obama is some sort of god. Since Greenblatt was an Obama flak they probably think the ADL is still working in their interests.
I don’t know what it will take to wake them up.
Someone asked Florida Congressperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is the very model of a secular “Jew” why Jews should support the party of Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Antony Blinken, Peanut Dhimmi Carter, Barack Hussein Obama, Al Sharpton and Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson. She shrilled a classic non sequitur, “Democrats support abortion rights!”
I am a secular Jew, but I have never and will never hide or disguise my pride in my identity. Most American secular Jews seem to think this is a good idea. It is not.
Again. I disagree. My family is not Orthodox and no one supports Obama. He is seen as a vicious anti-Semite as is his leftist “team.” No one in my circle ever thought of him in a positive way. .I don’t know why that mainstream media idea that Jews are running around loving the left will not unstick itself from people’s minds. Maybe its another way to “blame those Jews” for the plague and bad weather and for Obama..
Jews are not monolithic. In my comment, above,I have described how some denominations incorporate lefty ideas to keep membership numbers up. I think some Christian denominations do this too. I do not attend or join where this is done. Look, our entire culture is being brainwashed and nudged. Its certainly not only Jewish people who accept leftist ideas. Jews often still have a difficult time fitting in with American culture and may want to.
And sometimes those involved in a Christian “revival” that is occurring mostly on the right are stymied in their enthusiasm and confused when Jews just want to stay Jewish. So it isn’t always welcoming on the right. And its so toxic on the left.
But that is part of what it means to be chosen, after all.
It is not a long step to go from slaughtering babies to slaughtering Jews or Christians. It is obvious that proponents of abortion lose their minds along with their moral underpinning and will line up with other Satanic outrages,
The ADl has moved away from its old purpose of fighting anti Semitism vut which spent too much time and money supporting the nonexistent wall of sepa4ration of church and state to being a full time suipporter of the woke agenda.
Elon Musk has said the ADL is itself fomenting further anti-Semitism. I believe he is right. Many Americans consider the ADL to be both a protector of the Jewish people and one of its most important voices. The ADL’s attacks on the US constitution and half the country’s politics gives the false impression that these are Jewish values.
Yup. ADL foments Jew hate. Maybe that is its current goal. After all, ADL partners with Sharpton!
Those who already hate Jews can use the ADL as their representative of all Jews. When I was on GAB briefly, the creator of GAB stated he was fighting those Jews,meaning all Jews, because of something the ADL did. ADL a handy tool for those already prejudiced. And it can mislead the naïve.
OCTOBER 15, 2020
(JTA) — A new poll shows overwhelming support for President Donald Trump among Orthodox Jews.
The poll, published Wednesday by Ami Magazine, found that 83% of Orthodox respondents plan to vote for Trump in the upcoming election, while just 13% plan to vote for Joe Biden. Those numbers represent a dramatic increase from a 2017 poll by the American Jewish Committee which found that 54% of Orthodox Jews had voted for Trump in 2016.
The Ami poll, which was conducted over the past month by an unnamed firm, also found low support among Orthodox Jews for public health restrictions due to COVID-19.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the ADL originally founded to defend the reputation of Leo Frank regarding the murder of Mary Phagan?
No question the ADL is bad for Jews and America. They cause more people to hate us…Very dangerous group
Since they merged with the CPUSA (Communist Party USA) in January 2015 “(Communist Party chairman John Bachtell published his essay last week at People’s World, a “daily news website of, for and by the 99% and the direct descendant of the Daily Worker.”)
“[L]abor and other key social forces are not about to leave the Democratic Party anytime soon,” Bachtell promised. “They still see Democrats as the most realistic electoral vehicle” to fight against perceived class enemies.) ” Just goooogle “CPUSA merges with Democrat Party” to see more use that search engine beginning with g and enter cpusa merges with Democrat Party.The Democrat Party has become a lot more anti semitic just like the Soviet communist party under Stalin did. The Communists – now Democrats hate God and Orthodox Jews love HaShem or Adonai- God. The Communists hate anybody who loves God and by extension hate anyone who loves Humanity. That’s why the Democrats support sex slavery, abortion and pedophilia and brainwashing children into trans crap etc, etc. because it is all anti human in line with their new master – the Devil himself. (the devil is in the details) Most Americans including American Jews haven’t caught up with those facts yet because the are “too busy” or just aren’t paying attention or they have some personal agenda that blinds them, or, pick a reason
Nutpicking? I think you mean “nitpicking.”
As I write, there is a protest happening in front of ADL’s HQ in Manhattan.
It is organized by Orthodox Jews.
The group is declaring that the ADL does not speak for them, and that the ADL in fact provokes hostility against them.
It remains to be seen how the Leftie media in NY will cover that protest. Or whether they will cover it at all.