Why So Much Hate?

Why?

Why is the United States so filled with hate on university campuses? Three Palestinian students were shot recently while walking down the street and wearing traditional scarves. There have been attacks against Muslims, but the vast majority of hatred is being directed toward Jewish students. The hatred and antisemitism have increased dramatically since October 7, the day the Palestinian terror group Hamas slaughtered more than 1,200 innocent Israelis.

But it isn't the Jews who are slaughtering and kidnapping people. It isn't the Jewish people who are advocating genocide of another ethnic or religious group. The Jewish people, once again, are the victims, not the perpetrators. So why the hatred toward the Jews?

Sadly, even the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania -- prestigious universities all -- were unable or unwilling to unequivocally condemn antisemitism on their campuses.

I am not Jewish, so I am not directly impacted by this hatred. But I have Jewish friends. And as a person with compassion, I am disgusted by these attacks on people who have absolutely nothing to do with Israel's battle with Hamas. The Israeli restaurant owner in New York City is not participating in the attacks on Gaza. The three Palestinian students shot in Detroit are not taking part in the war on Israel.

I remember that when I was in elementary school, there were two Jewish kids in my class. Miriam and Harry were like any other kids in that grade, except that they didn't take part in our classroom's annual Christmas party. I took piano lessons from Miriam's mother, Mrs. Bloom, for several years. She was a nice lady. What I remember about Mrs. Bloom was that she was always running late when it was her turn to drive Miriam, me and another girl to high school. That's it.

She was just like any other mother. And this is the point: she was just like any other mother. Miriam and her sister Debbie -- who became a talented professional violinist with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra -- were just like any other kids of our age. Why would I hate them? 

So what happened in the years since I was friends with a couple of Jewish girls, and today? I know the antisemitism was always there, bubbling mostly quietly under the surface. But now it is out in the open.

Some believe that the antisemitism on campuses across this country has arisen from the mistaken belief that freedom of speech -- one of our country's cornerstones -- means that every thought, every belief, must be spread far and wide. This seems to be the position of the three university presidents who recently testified before a congressional committee. To them, freedom of speech appears to mean that the university is forbidden from speaking out against hate speech.

A study by the Anti-Defamation League suggests there are three primary factors contributing to the increase in antisemitic action in recent years: intensified social and cultural tensions, the rise of radicalism on both the left and right (but I see much more radicalism among the far right), and the increase of 'echo chambers' on social media. 

The ADL study also points to the normalization of antisemitic conspiracies as another factor to the rise of antisemitic propaganda by white supremacists, which more than doubled from 2021 to 2022.

I would add that the hate-filled speech by the former US president and his support of white supremacy also have contributed to the increase. These white supremacists and so-called white nationalists and evangelicals believe that if you're not white, Protestant (and male), you are definitely 'less than' those who are.

It isn't just the United States that is being confronted by antisemitism. A far- right politician in Poland recently used a fire extinguisher to put our the flames on Menorah candles at an event attended by members of the Jewish community, claiming that Jews practice a satanic religion.

The similarities in phrasing and actions to pre-World War II Germany are striking. Remember the former president's comment about there being "very fine people on both sides" of violent protests that included antisemitic chants in in Virginia in 2017? 

I'm not a scholar or an academic. I'm simply a retiree who is embarrassed by what I see happening in my country.