Jews have become the perfect scapegoat for extremists on both sides

A few months ago, before it was rebranded to ‘X’ by the richest moron on the planet, I left a comment on a Twitter post. The poster was an Asian woman, who had experienced some racism while living in Sweden.

I’d had some negative encounters there myself, but because they were less about race and more about xenophobia, I made it clear that — aside from being Jewish — I was just a “white dude.”

Shortly thereafter, someone replied: “No, you’re not. Jews aren’t white.” Another commenter agreed, and yet another called me a “parasite.” Interestingly, none of these comments violated Twitter’s new TOS.

My main takeaway — aside from how terrible the site has become — was how some people’s lives are so shitty that the only thing they can cling to is their “whiteness.” As if it’s a flex. Newsflash: it’s not.

But I digress. We’re not here to talk about sad white men. We’re here to talk about anti-semitism, which, unfortunately, has a much broader coalition behind it.

While hating Jews has a long and storied history, it’s the people behind the hate who have changed

However, from the looks of things, it seems as if it was always there, right beneath the surface. Just like how Trump allowed bigots and racists to show their true colors, October 7th did the same thing for antisemites.

That’s why you see all the people tearing down posters of kidnap victims. Chants of “From the river to the sea” at rallies. Jewish college students having to hide from their classmates. There’s even a poll that just came out that said half of Gen Z sides with Hamas. Not the Palestinians, but Hamas itself. What does that tell you?

I can hear the argument now: “But but but…Israel!”

So let’s talk about that.

No one is condoning what Israel and especially what Netanyahu have done. But how are Jews in America and other countries responsible? Why are they being harassed, attacked, killed?

Furthermore, the Israeli people are not the Israeli government.

“But they voted for him!”

Did you vote for Trump? Or Bush? Or Reagan? Was Putin elected, or Xi? Sometimes, we end up with leaders who don’t represent our best interests. Sometimes we’re dealt a crap hand. It doesn’t automatically make every single person in the country culpable.

But that’s not even the real issue here.

The real issue is that the situation is so complicated that it’s above most people’s pay grades

Actual scholars and historians, people who have been studying this their entire lives, have trouble grasping all the details and nuances. What makes you think, in the weeks or months you’ve been following this, that you’re an expert? Furthermore, where did you get your information from? TikTok? YouTube?

Again, it seems very similar to the people on the other side, who learned everything they know from Facebook. Or Newsmax. Or Fox News.

In other words: You don’t know shit. You know what you’ve seen from 15-second video clips that are part of an algorithm specifically designed to trigger you, in order to keep you on the platform.

That’s why both the far left and the far right are so misguided. And, frankly, why they’re so similar. Because in the internet age, nuance doesn’t exist. And it certainly doesn’t go viral.

What does go viral? Extremes.

Anything that makes your blood boil.

Anything that further amplifies the feedback loop you’re stuck in.

Anything that posits the simplest solution to a complex situation and completely eliminates any nuance or shades of grey. If you can throw in a convenient bogeyman for good measure, so much the better.

For the right, it’s usually “wokeness” or other dumb buzzwords like CRT and “defund the police.”

For the left, it’s pretty much anything Trump or one of his surrogates does or says.

In most cases, there is a clear firewall between these messages. But once in a while, they align. In this instance, the Jews are the perfect punching bag for both the social justice warriors on the left and the racist goons on the right.

The only good news — if you can even call it that — is that most people are not like this. While it might look like half of Americans are MAGA and the other half are “progressives,” both, in fact, are minorities. Most people (like myself and you probably) fall somewhere in the middle. We just don’t get as many clicks.

So, where do we go from here?

How do we fix what’s happening in Israel and Gaza? What’s the correct way forward? I have no fucking clue. And neither do you.

And that’s fine. It’s not our job to figure all that out.

Our job is to filter out all the clickbait and noise and to get the most accurate information possible.

Our job is to elect leaders who will steer us through situations like this one with courage and compassion.

Our job is to try and ensure the peace and prosperity of all individuals, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

Lastly, it’s to stop blaming the Jews for everything.

Between trying to pass for white, counting all our money, and controlling Hollywood and the media, we have enough on our plate already.