Is Steve Bannon really anti-semitic?

rfeig613

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 6:27 am

In brief, if the ZOA is maskim somebody, that's enough for me.

The only trustworthy and credible Jewish American political organizations are AIPAC, ZOA, AFSI, RJC, and JINSA.

The ADL is just another ACLU, SPLC, and MoveOn.org-style liberal Democrat organization. They have zero credibility. Abe Foxman, the former leader, walked out of a Modern Orthodox shul in Teaneck because the rabbi, Steven Pruzansky, gave a drasha against the Oslo Accords. What kind of garbage is that? The current leader of the ADL came right out of the Obama Administration and was a Hillary Clinton surrogate. He's leading the ADL towards J Street politics. They do not speak on behalf of the 24% of the American Jewish population that voted for Trump.

The character assassination of the President-Elect and Mr. Bannon is shameful and threatens the well-being of our republic.

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 6:39 am

WhatFor wrote:

I've made no secret of the fact that I was anti Trump on this site, but I'm asking this question to get answers from both sides. I have enough reason to dislike Trump, and I don't need hyperbole regarding his appointments to dislike who he is and maintain my belief that he's woefully unfit for office.
So my question is: is Bannon really anti-semitic?
I haven't read Breitbart, so if anyone can point to specific articles, I'd appreciate it.
I'm not looking for articles that have political viewpoints that oppose yours. I'm interested in articles that are actually anti-semitic.
Also, I know his ex-wife has said during divorce proceedings that he didn't want to send the kids to a certain school because of its Jewish population. I tend to approach statements made during divorce proceedings with at least a minimal level of skepticism because divorce is a situation where people tend to have great motivation to completely trash the other party. That said, it's certainly a weird accusation to fabricate. Like, it's not something that's going to give one party more money or greater parental rights, but maybe I'm just inexperienced in this.
Thoughts?

Oh, and please, please, please- this thread is about Bannon. Please put your thoughts on Trump and Hillary in the billion other threads about them. Thanks!!

Read the article about the renegade Jew and then get back to us. Most people haven't. Breitbart is very pro israel so I was extremely baffled. I sought out articles referenced in the news and realized that the statements are based on sensationalism. At least about anti Semitic.

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 6:40 am

SixOfWands wrote:

Well, Bannon has stated, "We're [Breitbart] the platform for the alt-right." And, of course, may people in the alt-right believe that white folk are genetically superior and deserve their own homeland. Without Jews.

That's a start.

Breitbart also runs headlines proclaiming things like William Kristol is a "renegade Jew." (I knew Kristol very slightly, many years ago, and never even knew he was Jewish!) And statements such as, “Hell hath no fury like a Polish, Jewish, American elitist scorned."

You can read JTA http://www.jta.org/2016/11/14/.....annon Daily Beast http://www.thedailybeast.com/a......html and ADL http://www.thewrap.com/steve-b.....ague/ (sorry, couldn't find a direct link, but this quotes the ADL)

You obviously didn't read the actual article.

DrMom

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:24 am

Here is an article about Steven Bannan written by his partner at \Breitbart, Joe Pollak:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-g.....rael/
Excerpt:

Quote:

Stephen K. Bannon: Friend of the Jewish People, Defender of Israel
by JOEL B. POLLAK14 Nov 20161,749

I have worked with Stephen K. Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s new chief strategist and senior counselor, for nearly six years at Breitbart News. I can say, without hesitation, that Steve is a friend of the Jewish people and a defender of Israel, as well as being a passionate American patriot and a great leader.

A word or two about my credentials: I am an Orthodox Jew, and I hold a Master of Arts degree in Jewish Studies. My thesis at the Isaac and Jesse Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town dealt with the troubled status of Jews in an increasingly anti-Israel, and antisemitic, post-apartheid South Africa. I believe myself to be a qualified judge of what is, and is not, antisemitic.

I would also note that the leader of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, is a former Obama staffer. I think we've all been trolled.

tryinghard

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 8:44 am

SixOfWands wrote:

Yes, I did. But thanks for the baseless attack.

But if you read the article, you cannot possibly use that as evidence that Steve Bannon is anti-Semitic, when

A)The article was not written by him and had nothing to do with him

and more importantly,

B)IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JEW, who was saying that Kristol was going off the typical Jewish opinion, which he pegged based on general historical voting records of the Jewish community as a whole, and the public political acts of a vast majority of Jews in political life today.

Miri7

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:13 am

So Bannon is clearly aligned with the alt-right. I found an article on what the alt-right is and am posting a link below. I wanted to find a description of this movement written by one of its own. The linked article is written by a member of the alt right.

WARNING!!!! This is a link to a virulently anti Semitic website. So don't click if you will be upset. When I explored the site I found it shocking and upsetting. But I think it's important to hear what these folks are saying in their own words;

http://www.dailystormer.com/a-.....ight/

Fox

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:36 am

tryinghard wrote:

If you read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift back in high school, you'll remember that one pompous, opinionated girl -- there's one in every class. She probably came flouncing into class after reading the essay the night before, ready to do battle and express her utter disgust at the thought of eating Irish children. She probably started by saying, "This is the most offensive thing I've ever read," or something like that.

Then the teacher moved the conversation along, with the more savvy students picking up the nuances of irony and satire.

The pompous, opinionated girl, embarrassed not to have understood the meaning, was likely still fuming under her breath when class ended. "Well, I still think it was awful!"

The left has become that pompous, opinionated girl. The social and political movements that spawned so much progress and so much great art have devolved into that HS girl who not only doesn't recognize satire and irony, but refuses to do so.

Breitbart headlines are all about satire and irony, and like the girl in sophomore English class, the left never seems to get it. When Hillary Clinton read Breitbart headlines as a way of condemning the alt-Right, you could hear half the country groan.

Satire and irony work best when there are multiple layers and meanings to them. That's a tall order on a daily basis, but writers like Raheem Kassam and Allum Bokhari are products of Cambridge, et. al., and rise to the occasion with shocking frequency.

Eventually, back in sophomore English, you realize that the pompous, opinionated girl doesn't want to get it. For whatever reason, she wants to remain on the outside of the joke, perpetually offended and insistent in her focus on the lowest common denominator.

I don't know what happens to that pompous, opinionated girl. I didn't stay friends with her.

Fox

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 9:45 am

Miri7 wrote:

Let me get this straight: you're willing to take the word of neo-Nazi white supremacist 1488ers at face value when they try to align themselves with another group in order to publicize themselves and make their message more appealing?

This is what I explained: as soon as these guys tried to jump on the bandwagon, everyone else jumped off.

Equating Steve Bannon with this -- and believing the Stormfront folks over all the respected people who have vouched for him -- is ludicrous.

SixOfWands

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:18 am

tryinghard wrote:

Thank you again for telling me what I cannot possibly believe. Its so wonderful to have people like you telling me what I must and must not believe. I don't have two brain cells to rub together, and people like you are oh so helpful.

I'm glad to know that Jews cannot possibly write anything that could be construed as anti-semitic. I used to think that Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports BDS, is anti-semitic. But I'm glad you've set me straight that if a Jew says it, its fine.

Noam Chomsky? Not an antisemite!

Bernie Sanders? Same.

So let us all sing Kumbaya with our Jewish brothers in Jews for Justice for Palestinians. For we have just been told that they aren't anti-semites.

Oh, you say. THOSE people can be anti-semites. But Jews writing for Breitbart. Well, that's different.

Let me make my point clear. Once you publish a headline referring to someone as a Jew, or tweet that someone's birth name is really Leibowitz, you're climbing on the anti-semite train. Because you're characterizing them as something that really has nothing to do with anything relevant. Kristol's positions, whether or not you agree with them (and I don't agree with them) have nothing to do with his religion. Its the functional equivalent of being called a g-d-d@mnded Jew because you got the last roll of TP at the store before a blizzard. Yeah, you're Jewish, but only an anti-semite thinks it has anything to do with the situation.

Fox

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:56 am

SixOfWands wrote:

Once you publish a headline referring to someone as a Jew, or tweet that someone's birth name is really Leibowitz, you're climbing on the anti-semite train.

This explains everything.

Despite evidence to the contrary, you have concluded that Steve Bannon is an anti-Semite because he didn't pass your litmus test for anti-Semitism.

Whether or not he is actually an anti-Semite, I don't accept your litmus test. I don't happen to think calling someone a "Jew" is an insult, particularly when used to make a positive point through irony, and I think Jews who change their names to pander to anti-Semites should expect a little teasing.

SixOfWands

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 11:08 am

Actually, who cares if I think Bannon's an antisemite. I'm just a dyke from a Seven Sisters school. And I've used birth control which, according to the site he ran, made me unattractive and crazy.

And if he panders to the crazies who write things like, "It is hilarious how butthurt the feral [black person]’s are about a few dead mongrels! It is even more hilarious how butthurt they are all the time, even with affirmative action, all the free shlt, and their own separate everything! LOL! I guess I would be too if my family tree was made up of a bunch of mongrel, spear chucking monkey losers!!!" well, that's just the "1488" (ie, the people who are wearing sheets, instead of the ones who are wearing suits and saying nicer words that mean the same things).

If his former employees say that meetings with Bannon were like white supremacist rallies, where Bannon would frequently rip on minorities, women, and immigrants, or that “under Bannon’s leadership, breitbart openly embraced the white supremacist Alt-Right, ” or “He made more off-color comments about minorities and homosexuals than I can recount” they
must be lying. Or that pompous girl in your high school class. Because, you know, anyone who doesn't fall in line with certain posters here is stupid and pompous.

And I guess I should just log off. Because that's the Breitbart site's answer to online harassment -- women should just log off.

But I did learn one thing from Breitbart. If my kid call your kid "fat," I'm not going to discipline her. Breitbart says that's fine. Fat shaming works. Good to know.

SixOfWands

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 11:11 am

Fox wrote:

There's no evidence to the contrary. You subscribe to the theory of the Big Lie. You keep saying it, people will believe it.

ora_43

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 12:06 pm

I haven't seen anything on Breitbart that I'd call anti-Semitic.

I have, OTOH, seen plenty of stuff that's blatantly sexist or just generally hateful. Largely (but not only) Milo Yiannopoulos talking about how fat people are gross or feminists are ugly.

Is it meant as satire? Not really. It's not serious, but it's also not satire (unless it's deeply terrible satire, so poorly conveyed that the audience isn't in on the joke either). I guess maybe it's ironic, in the sense of hipster irony - like, not ironic in the traditional sense, ironic like "I like this thing but I'm also smarter than the rest of you people who like it because *I* like it *ironically*" irony.

I get the sense Breitbart readers are laughing at the sexism and the cruelty, but also amused by their own laughter and how it makes them part of the smart, edgy, not-afraid-to-be-un-PC crowd. They're mocking women for their appearance in fact, but also ironically.

ANYWAY. Getting way off track here... My point: I don't see proof Bannon is an anti-Semite; I do see plenty of things that make me think that someone with his sense of what's appropriate to say should be kept FAR FAR FAR from diplomacy.

(disclaimer: I'm not a regular Breitbart reader or anything, I just like to check in from time to time with websites that present a radically different view of the news.)

rfeig613

Tue, Nov 15 2016, 12:24 pm

People don't realize that there are some prominent Jewish Alt-Right thinkers.

I think one of the most underrated and brilliant Jewish intellectuals is Rabbi Mayer Schiller. He's a fixture of the allegedly antisemitic American Renaissance organization. Professors Robert Weissbard, Paul Gottfried, Michael Levin, likewise are some of the biggest intellectuals in that movement. Jacob Neusner, a"h, the most prolific humanities scholar in history who translated the entire canon of rabbinic literature, was another intellectual stalwart of the paleoconservative/Alt-Right movement.

I'm not necessarily endorsing the bell curve as tenable social theory, but I think that to automatically equate white nationalism with antisemitism is intellectually sloppy and disingenuous. Honestly, have we benefited from Latinos, African Americans, and Muslims? Heavily entrenched antisemitic views are rare among whites and Asians, and very high among blacks and Latinos.

https://www.washingtonpost.com.....inos/