Well it can be a problem but it's a RARE problem. There really are not very many people who are prejudiced specifically against Jews. A much bigger problem is the fact that vast numbers of people are still prejudiced against blacks, hispanics, Arabs and muslims in general along with various and sundry other groups of people.
Compared to all of the others the number of people who actually hate Jews is very small indeed. The only thing that makes it a problem is the fact that the term is used as a tool................

To keep people from being critical in any way of the activities of Israel they face the threat of being called anti-semitic. As long as that criticism is held in check, Israel is able to keep the dollars flowing in it's direction. Given the incredible amounts of money involved that's a pretty strong incentive to use such a tool at every given opportunity. It has even led to people trying to claim that the term means a lot more things that what it actually means, the hatred of all Jews, period................

One of the things that folks do not recognize is that whenever they
try to point out others as being anti-semitic for slight missteps in speech or disagreements with the way Israel conducts it's business,
they are helping to bring about the deaths, maiming and destruction of homes and livlihoods of a lot more people. Yes, in the process of thinking that a good deed is being done it is actually a form of enabling viscious acts....................

If bigotry itself scratches such a nerve (and well it should), it would make a lot more sense to go after people who have a hatred toward much larger groups, i.e. all Arabs, etc. Unfortunately when too much time is spent trying to single a few people out as anti-semites, given the small number of really true cases, it starts to seem more like a personal vendetta. After all, there are much larger numbers of people who truly are bigoted against so many other groups....................

Personally I HATE all people who are cruel to animals. I can deal with the criticism.

Thank you Boltlady.It matter little what others think of me. I know what I am.It is up to others to mind their own business,just like me. Name calling reflects on those who do it,not the person they try to insult.

I despise any who ae cruel to anyone,anything.So bite me!!!

I was going to compose a scathing reply...

But then I thought 'What's the point?"

BTW, when's the last time you went to an Arab nation (or even spoke at length with anyone who is currently a citizen of one)?

It's your story, tell it like you want.

Boss,My Grandparents on my Dad's side came from Hanover ,Germany.They were Lutheran,but I have no idea what my Ancesters further back were.Frankly,I could care less.I cannot even change what my Dad was,the only person I am responsible for is me.

I am tired of those who cling to the past,like it is a badge.I can only change what I do today,tomorrow.That is my point.

Whining about what happened to my Ancesters does nothing for the present.It is simply a distraction from what is happening today.I choose not to whine about how my Grandparents were cheated of.they did not,came to AMERICA AND BUILT A NEW LIFE,A GOOD ONE!

My reply was to Bolt, not you.

You explained so eloquently that when anybody tries to pigeon-hole a person as an a true anti-semite for an occasional mis-step ,in speech or for questioning current policies ,derived from Israel, that they only succeed in helping to continue the violent injustices against Palestinians, for example.

There is much that needs , no, literally begs ,to be discussed ,today, about Arab/Muslim issues ,and how we came to this point and impasse in history.

At a time ,where so many Americans are trying to understand why we were attacked and why those who attacked us, on 9/11, felt this sick compulsion so deeply, that they would commit such a heinous act of murder/suicide, the last thing we need is to have posters attack other posters as anti-semites simply because they don't like that poster, personally.

My concern,however is as well done, brilliant, as your post is ,in expressing your point, the ones who haunt this fray and commit this injustice in a perpetual state of hatred against personal, specific posters, (that they simply like to stalk and to target , as anti-semites, due to their personal grudges with others ,on here), sadly , may well lack the cognitive skills to really understand your point here.

on a side note: I've never felt any feelings of hate or racism against any one group of people with the exception of the hate groups themselves.

The only group when I was a child ,that I had disdain for, was the KKK.

Now ,as I am older ,I feel strongly that the far right extremist groups , particularly the Evangelicals, are wolves in sheeps clothing and contain many covert hate groups, within their ranks.

As for my personal feelings about Jews as a people ..I grew up with a complete and total compassion for what the monster Adolf Hitler had done to Jews during ww2.

It broke my heart when I was a child and first saw the news reels that Eisehower wisely made sure were documented.

It also shocked me that such cruel atrocities could happen to human beings in modern times.

It shocked and deeply saddened me.

We should never forget what happened in Hitler's Third Reich and what he and his thugs , the SS did.

I also had private duty patients who still bore the tatoos on their inner forearms and they have told me their stories in precise detail and had records , showed me death certificates of their loved ones taken to the gas chambers,(those sick Nazis kept pristine records, so committed they were in the murderous sick mission) and/or beaten to death by the butts of SS guns, for no reason at all, except human cruelty and hatred of anyone who was a Jew.

I know about and care deply about these things and pray they are never re-peated.

I also hope people continue to dialogue about all injustices and all wrongdoings of all other races, religions and creed.

Again, Boltlady that was a very wonderful post on many levels, imho!

Nice to open the fray to read something filled with so much insight and excellent perception!

"The only thing that makes it a problem is the fact that the term is used as a tool................

To keep people from being critical in any way of the activities of Israel they face the threat of being called anti-semitic."

....when it's being used BY the Jews when the criticism is against the Jews? But if someone criticizes arabs, blacks or illegal hispanics, etc.....and they are then called racist bigots by others (primarily by Democrats)...

it's NOT being used as a tool?

Hmmm......

if you lived where I did you would know that anti-Semitism is a huge problem.

In my opinion, anti-Semitism, bigotry and racisim are extremely dangerous as we can see by what happened in Germany and in the US to the black and race. It doesn't take very many to cause a ground swell of hate against any one group of people and therein lies the danger

Whenever a person consistently writes anti-semitic opinions it is dangerous and is hardly a personal vendetta for another to call them on it.

Apparently in our small community of the Slate Frays there were quite a few highly placed posters who thought it was enough of a problem that they felt compelled to confront an anti-Semite...of which the Freditor was one.

Why don't you ask a Jewish person if they think it is a RARE problem? The KKK did not just go after blacks, ya know.

Clearly anyone on this board who rah rahs your post is anti-Semitic...they will look for every little excuse to justify their anti-Semitism.

SG

when it comes to dealing with your friends...cough.

SG

Boss Greer:

I was going to compose a scathing reply...

But then I thought 'What's the point?"

BTW, when's the last time you went to an Arab nation (or even spoke at length with anyone who is currently a citizen of one)?

It's your story, tell it like you want.

To write that anyone who liked boltlady's post is anti-semitic ios crazy, in the extreme.

I liked BL's post because it pointed out the dangers of pigeoning holing people, individually, unfairly, when there are genuine issues of serious anti-semitism,as well as the ignoring of racism agaibst other groups, that should be pointed out, not just the smearing of posters that you or Cat dislike, because they have called you both on your terminally, immature and mis-construed ability to use logic in a normal fashion.

If you bothered to read my post you would see how mauch I care about the atrocities that were committed against the Jews and how imporatant it is to remain forever vigilent against all forms of hatred and racsim against all or any groups of people.

That's where you and catnapping completely miss the boat and more specifically the point.

These issues are so important today that to stifle any dialoque about them is a dangerous precedent, indeed.

It is only through understanding and open dialogue where one can come to realize the rationale of others and hopefully, then reach a concesus of reconciliation that we all are equal we all are human, we all, no matter what race, creed or religion, all of us have a right to be treated with respect and dignity.

Boss Greer:

My reply was to Bolt, not you.

My post was to anyone who wants to read it:o) My honest opinion and I stand by it.I just used your name as my post was following.

as a means to 'use it as a tool, to pay back grudges upon people , i.e.,certain posters , like sg and cat who hate because these posters have been called out, by other posters for their lack of cognitive skills and their immature behavior.

Also ,on the broader scale ,in all of society ,where this is used as a tool to stifle dialogue ,it is also detrimental.

Not only to the Palestinians and their plight, for example, but even for The Current Political State of Israel, today.

There are many Jews in Israel and millions more here in America, Jews who absolutely hate what Ariel Sharon did.

These are Jews themselves who want their voices heard. They want people to know they did not approve of what their former leader Sharon did to the Palestinians.

Their voices deserve to be heard.

No doubt John Stewart feels this way, as well.

Anyone with a modicum of human decency would feel this way about some of the atrocities that have been committed.

Just as there are probably millions of Muslims who are appalled at what the Muslim Terrorists are doing.

It is the pigeon-holing of any one person as a bigot or the pigeon holing of any one group against any other group that is what in fact causes things like a Holocaust to occur.

Pigeoning-holing, smearing and libling posters. That's what causes hate.

That's what cat and SG do here on a daily basis.

anti-semitism was a huge problem. Ironically I have never lived where ANY kind of racism was really a problem. I spent my teen years in a small town in Wis. and then married a home town boy who had joined the navy. During many of the race riots, we were out of the country and tv wasn't what it is today.............

My post had much to do with the sheer numbers of the people that bigotry is directed against. Our population is less than 3% Jews. For those who have hatred directed toward them because of their ethnicity/religion, I'm sure that it's a terrible experience. However that would also apply to the much larger numbers of other ethnicities that have to deal with it. Yes the KKK did not just go after blacks, but the KKK was only big in some areas. Very few of those areas were populated by large numbers of Jews. Thus the number of people who have had to deal with true anti-semitism is rather small. It just seems logical to attack the bigger problem that encompasses a whole lot more people.....................

Your last sentence that accuses those of understanding my post of being anti-semitic is one that you might want to rethink. It goes directly to what I was saying about enabling the atrocities that Israel commits rather than identifying true bigotry.

Are you saying that bigotry against Arabs is OK? I don't want to put words in your mouth so I'm just asking.

I'm a bit unsure as to how you got that from my post?