The Fediverse has an antisemitism problem.
Originally a post on my federated microblog. You can follow me on the Fediverse here: @purplerabbit@goo.dgirl.gay
CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of antisemitism and racism.
You don't have to expose yourself to things that hurt you. Stay safe. ♥
This post is a reaction to a series of post written by by @gavi@bagel.ing. This reaction was written and posted on my profile with his permission.
This is one of these things that no one wants to see, everyone likes to put blinders on that topic and yet it's a real issue. A lot of people will act in this way under the guise of being anti-Israel and pro-Palestine, but the thing is, people, if you can't differentiate between Israel and Jewish people, there is a word for that... it's antisemitism.
You can't go and call yourself a leftist when you're basically repeating Nethanyahu's propaganda of him claiming to speak for the Jewish community when all he represents is himself, his cronies and a hatred that you yourself choose to attribute to Jewish people.
This is a problem. Jewish people in our spaces are telling us that it is a problem. We have a responsibility to listen. The behaviors that Gavi, the original poster, describes in this thread are horrible and I think that it says a lot about our federated spaces that so many people are afraid of speaking up, of reporting people doing bad shit just because they have big followings and know that this will bring harassment towards them.
It's a regular thing that I see on Fedi from the very few Jewish people that I've come across on it. People doing backhanded comments about the Holocaust, implying that it was a lesson that needed to be learned. Being accused of duplicity, of dubious allegiances and all that kind of bullshit. All because antisemtism is something you never gave a shit about and think that another cause, which you rightfully care a lot about, gives you a pass on getting informed on the topic.
Antisemitism is everywhere. We are fucking swimming in it, and clearly, most of us on the Fediverse can't see it. We need to be told, we need to have vulnerable people come to us and say "Hey, I'm being put through this, why is this happening everywhere I go, I thought this was supposed to be a safe space?" for us to even consider that something is happening and even then, it's not enough. Even then, some of us, if not most of us, will not only bury our heads in the sands and scream "lalala" but will even actively get defensive about it, push back, or even double down.
We, collectively, need to do better about antisemitism and call that shit out when we see it. I'm sick of people thinking about leaving the fediverse because they don't feel welcome there. It's true with Jewish people, it's true with black people, it's true with way too many people. Because most of us never have to worry about being sent back to a perceived ethnicity, we never have to think about this. It shouldn't be on them to turn full on whistleblowers in our community for us to give a shit when it's already too late.