Sam Hawken, writer-guy

Don't fall for the antisemitic line.

Here’s a style note for you. There’s anti-Semitism, and there is antisemitism. Semitic is a description used primarily for languages spoken in the Middle East, like Arabic and Hebrew. Still, it used to mean various ethnic groups in the region, including Arabs and Jewish people.

Anti-Semitism always meant hatred of Jewish people, but over time, the Muslim/Arab community tried to warp this by claiming they couldn’t possibly be anti-Semitic because they were Semites and, therefore, were excluded from this kind of bigotry. I’d say good luck with that argument, but it worked.

Deborah Lipstadt and others then suggested a new term: antisemitism. It is a subtle difference, but one specifically meant to refer to hatred of Jewish people and not “Semites” in general. But the Middle Eastern antisemitic crowd is at it again, co-opting a term specifically coined to indicate hatred of Jewish people and claiming it applies to them, too.

It does not.

Antisemitism is antisemitism, and that means hatred of Jewish people, pure and simple. It doesn’t apply to any other group, and any person trying to blur the lines is doing so with an agenda. Please do not fall for it.

It’s sad that I even have to write this. Antisemitism in its purest form is immediately recognizable. And yet, here we are, having to debunk this stuff at the base level of language itself.

Maybe you don’t care because you’re apathetic or antisemitic yourself. Then this message is not for you. It’s for those who do.