TIL that his museum says that "Roald Dahl’s racism is undeniable and indelible"
TIL that his museum says that "Roald Dahl’s racism is undeniable and indelible"
This is the first I've heard of it, but here's one of his infamous quotes:
"There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews.
I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”
His other quotes tend to be condemnation about specifically Israeli zionism and barbaric murder, but i don't have context as to whether he's referring to palestine or not. Some people might have more sympathy for these statements these days, but a lot of his other quotes have to do with Jews controlling money and media, less defensible prejudice.
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Honestly, I don't think our viewpoints differ enough to waste our time on a discussion. The usefulness of debating nuances is a bit too academic in nature and better done over a beer or so. I like to make a distinction between anti-<insert religious group here> and racism in order to deface the blatant racism disguised as anti-<whatever religion>-ism.
E.g. 95% of the European citizens claiming they're "not racist, but" (we call them but-Nazis) they have an issue with islamic traditions, are just stupid racists against brown people but don't have the spine to admit that.
I can't imagine how anti-(fill in the ethnicity) cannot be perceived as racism, so I assumed our perspectives on racism were diametrically opposed.
Thank you for "but-Nazis", haha, I haven't heard that term before and I'm definitely going to be propagating it in the wild.
I can’t imagine how anti-(fill in the ethnicity) cannot be perceived as racism
Notice I wrote anti-<whatever religion>, and religion is not an ethnicity per se.
Enjoy the "Aber-Nazis" (I'm German, we have too many of those (again?), unfortunately)
So are you separating semitism with ethnicity? I think I understand what you're saying then, although especially with the Jewish religion, ethnicity is almost intrinsic.
So I'm talking specifically about Dahl's ethnic racism, and you're just remarking that prejudice or racism does not have to be based on race?
Is your brain hardwired to interchangeably read / see the word "religion" as "ethnicity"? How else could you possibly invent a quote that "racism does not have to be based on race"?
Furthermore, I do not use the word "race" because that's not a thing - what is a thing is "ethnicity" - and in a broader biological sense, "species". We're all the same species, but ethnicities differ and only racists take perceived ethnicity and proceed to use "race" as a talking point.
I make a point to differentiate between the kind of anti-semitism that is directed at "everything jewish" and racism, because it helps dismantle people's talking points, especially to out racists.
If someone says they're Jewish, it means their mom is Jewish, and unlike many other religions, that's handed directly down through bloodline, enforcing a shared ethnicity between members of the Jewish community silver you don't join by choice but automatically through genetic inheritance.
I didn't invent the quote ""racism does not have to be based on race".
I don't see how you can understand prejudice against an ethnicity as anything other than racism and am asking you to clarify that position.
If someone says they’re Jewish, it means their mom is Jewish, and unlike many other religions, that’s handed directly down through bloodline.
I am very much aware. However, what you appear not to be aware of is that there is plenty of biodiversity among jewish people, to the point that there is no such thing as a "jewish ethnicity". The last person that claimed that built concentration camps based on that bullshit.
I thought Jewish people were famously anemic and immunocompromised because of a lack of genetic diversity.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-genetic-diseases/
Specifically because they're culturally encouraged to marry with in the religious bloodline, they're less ethnically diverse than other groups.
I could have made that more clear, that's what I mean by having particular prejudice against Jewish people clearly being racism because it's directed toward a specially, culturally and traditionally uniform ethnic group.
There can be such an issue among a subset of a population without applying to all of them. Now, I am not a evolutionary biologist nor doctor, so instead of weighing in on a subject that I do not know about, let me reiterate: A distinction should always be made between racism and anti<whatever religion>ism, regardless of the overlap of ethnicity and any religious affiliation. Especially because religious traditions/prejudices are often used by racists to poorly mask their racism, and making this distinction is the easiest way to unmask racists.
"Now, I am not a evolutionary biologist nor doctor, so instead of weighing in on a subject that I do not know about..."
You specifically brought up Jewish genetic diversity in your previous comment:
"...you appear not to be aware of is that there is plenty of biodiversity among jewish people..."
which is famously medically inaccurate as referenced above.
As for "A distinction should always be made between racism and anti<whatever religion>ism..."
Academically, sure, if you're debating prejudice as a theory or defining terms, but this is a specific example and nobody is arguing racism and anti-Semitism are precisely identical concepts.
Here, there's no point in drawing a distinction between Dahl's anti-Semitism and racism because Roald Dahl is explicitly promoting both, and more.
The Israelis, Jews and Zionists are his salient topics, buttressed by his rationalization of the ethnic genocide of jews by that "stinker" Hitler, demonstrating both anti-semitism and racism quite clearly and specifically.
Your desire to protect antisemites is certainly an interesting choice of things to devote energy to but I don't think they'll care about your careful semantics when they're choosing who to hate - you really think they only hate practicing jews? They hate anyone with Jewish ancestry, Roald was talking about a born predisposition not about some aspect of the Jewish religion.
In don't know if you're bending over backwards because to protect a childhood icon of yours or because you've got so wrapped up in the Palestine situation you've been befriending antisemites and telling yourself it's OK but you really are making shitty arguments that have been made by a million racists already
If you are unable to comprehend basic sentences, that's a you problem, not a me problem.
I understand what you said, I also understand it's stupid.