Anti-Semitism

I've said this before, but there are a lot of issues that surprise me.  And as I age, sometimes something that seems like sort of a no-brainer are met with objection, derision, and antipathy.  One such issue was the Executive Order that President Trump signed this week.  You can read it here.  If you haven't kept up, there has been a significant concern in many quarters that anti-semitism is rearing it's ugly head and sometimes even being encouraged on university campus' across the nation.  It is despicable and there is no excuse for it.  The world went through this bullshit a long time ago and the watchword that emerged was "Never Again".  But like all things, memory fades and new ideas emerge.  But by any measure, anti-semitism is terrible and needs to be squashed whenever it is encountered.

So the EO simply states that the U.S. Government won't stand for the rise of anti-semitism and will fight it.  How you might ask?  Well, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 doesn't include religion as a protected class.  So this EO states that protection of Jews and fights against anti-semitism on the campus will be ramped up and they will be treated as a protected class.  The way they'll do that is what you'd expect.  Money.  If the government finds that a university is allowing anti-semitism to rise, federal funding could be withheld.  Since universities live and die by the pocketbook and federal money is key to survival, this is a pretty smart tactic.  Hopefully, it'll work.  You never know but at least, at the very least, he is trying to do something.  This is very unlike so many who have occupied the oval office before him.

So Trump has a signing ceremony at the White House and a lot of people show up to support this smart move.  Included are a lot of Jews.  His daughter and son-in-law who are Jewish are among them.  Seems like a win.  A no-brainer.  A good deed designed to protect people who have been oppressed for thousands of years.  

But not so fast.  Almost immediately the articles in all the usual fish wraps started about Trump wanting to round up Jews like the Nazis.  There are all kinds of articles out there about Trump's nefarious intent in signing this EO.  Over on FB I've seen some posts that are mind-boggling.  People comparing him to Hitler, claiming that he personally wants to pin yellow stars on all Jews, that the only reason he signed the EO is that so he can categorize Jews as a nationality instead of a religion and that it would be easier to round them up and send them to the gas chambers.  Some claiming that the next step is forcing Jews to claim their religion to get passports.  Or that they'll have to have dual citizenship.  It is surreal.  Seriously surreal.  

Like I said, it's surreal and I don't remotely get it.  I do know that the oppression that Jews have experienced for thousands of years is horrific and shameful.  I also know that the Holocaust was real, more disgusting and despicable than can be described, and that we all should be galvanized to the proposition that it never happens again.  And yet there is murderous oppression around the world today.  There has been unspeakable genocide in many places around the world including the Soviet Union, Cambodia and in many corners of Africa.  We can't save them all, but when we can do something, we should support efforts to protect not only Jews, but all oppressed people.  Clearly, as the leader of the free world, the country with by far the best economy (for now), and as a beacon of freedom around the world, we should do all we can.  That includes admitting more refugees in a responsible manner from places that engage in terrible oppression, helping reputable parties to head off or fight oppression where we can, and doing everything possible in our country to never countenance the rise of something like white-supremacy or antisemitism.  If it's happening somewhere, it can happen anywhere.  Our universities are particularly vulnerable to influence and even brain washing when it comes to these scourges.  I say any action taken to squash them is good.

I'm not sure I've seen any example of the hatred people have for Trump that is more explicit than this.  They are so quick to vocalize examples of Trump's anti-semitism, but the examples are all out of context and mostly convenient soundbite snippets from the compliant media that confirm the worst possible opinion, no matter the context, the event or the entire quote.  Politically, Jews vote mostly Democratic which baffles me, but it is what it is.  That some should go so far as decrying a small move to call out and attempt to get rid of antisemitism as much as possible indicates their unreasonable hatred.  Personally, I believe Jews should be lining up in droves to support Trump.  They have no better friend.