Friday, October 1, 2010

An observation

To say that a Jew sees everything through the lens of Israel is the same as saying a person of color sees everything through race. In both cases, it's a statement of privilege and ignorance proving only that the (gentile) speaker has the luxury to ignore antisemitism/racism.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Context? I certainly feel as though I see a great deal "through the lens of Israel" when it comes to political life in this particular city. Arguably like that Sarte quote that I can't seem to find about Jews existing in such a way because of anti-Semites.

Though for everything else, well, I certainly see the pizza I plan to buy through the lens of Israel mind you...

Matt said...

I was thinking about a particular criticism of Jeffrey Goldberg, who has indeed been accused of viewing pizza through the lens of Israel. And how supposedly Jews are unable to "get past" antisemitism. Well, the problem is the antisemitism, not how Jews respond to it. And even if that does mean an "obsession" with Israel, the problem is still antisemitism and not how Jews react to it. Of course, I was able to get past antisemitism and relatively unconcerned with Israel until I found myself facing antisemitism that called itself anti-Israel.

Matt said...

Which is to say, no particular incident, just something that came into focus.