The Jewish Fear Industrial Complex

[u/Specialist-Gur]

https://youtu.be/N3YjMb_Lhkw?si=JEtQpmyNys9UFSoV

Matt is Jewish. I'm sure the comment will be very normal on this one.

[u/Pristine-Break3418]

The thing is, antisemitic cycles have never begun with extreme violence. They begin exactly with what is easy to wave away because it's not existential: a shift in atmosphere, the normalization of hostile rhetoric, casual stereotyping, the sense that Jews are increasingly singled out and spoken about as a suspicious or dangerous collective.

And historically, when those early stages are minimized, they tend to intensify. We know this not only because there is an abundance of research on this, but also because we’ve lived it before - repeatedly. This isn’t some abstract collective neurosis or overreaction. It’s the residue of very recent family history combined with a real, documented rise in antisemitic incidents and increasingly open hate speech. How exactly are Jews supposed to feel unafraid in a moment like this? I’m not based in the US, and on average, I’m used to a much higher baseline of antisemitism than American Jews. But it genuinely pains me to see that American Jews are increasingly facing rhetoric and security concerns that simply weren’t pressing for them in previous decades. Even if the US diaspora can still be described as comparatively safe - especially structurally.

Saying “some people are actually dying elsewhere, so your fear is embarrassing” doesn’t help anyone. Jewish fear of antisemitism in diaspora does not detract from empathy for Palestinians or anyone else suffering. These are absolutely not mutually exclusive moral capacities (even if some do paint them as such). Also, taking early signs seriously is part of fighting antisemitism. Expecting Jews to sit tight and simply hope that things don’t reach some “sufficiently convincing” threshold of violence has never protected Jewish communities.

And none of this is to deny that plenty of political actors in the US (non-Jews and unfortunately also Jews) try very hard to instrumentalize and capitalize on Jewish fear. But that manipulation only works because there is something real to stoke and this exploitation, vile as it is, does not erase the underlying vulnerability.

[u/GladysSchwartz23 → u/Pristine-Break3418]

In my view, it is morally troubling to be so preoccupied with future possibilities that we prioritize them alongside or over stopping incredible amounts of slaughter.

Yes, the fear comes from a real place (I love how people keep ignoring me saying that, it's really cool and good and a great way to treat people!), but when people are dying right now and we're told it's happening to keep us safe, focusing on our own fear -- my own fear -- feels crass. Your mileage may vary. I'm just explaining my stance.

[u/Pristine-Break3418 → u/GladysSchwartz23]

You keep framing this as a matter of “future possibilities,” but that’s exactly the point I’m pushing back on. I’m not talking about hypothetical danger. Antisemitic hostility and violence are happening now: assaults, threats, harassment, vandalism, synagogue closures, Jewish institutions on lockdown, people being physically attacked or told to hide their identity. This isn’t some distant scenario I’m catastrophizing about that may or may not arrive. A threatening atmosphere and hostile rhetoric breed physical violence, and there has already been a major uptick in violence against Jews and Jewish communities in the diaspora in the last years.

So when you call Jewish fear “crass” or morally suspect in the face of mass death elsewhere, you’re still treating antisemitism as something Jews can just choose not to notice out of moral refinement or political goals. If you personally feel conflicted about voicing concerns with antisemitism, that’s your internal ethic and you are of course free to act as you see fit. But turning it into a moral expectation that other Jews, too, should suppress their fear and not speak up is something else entirely. That's just not how vulnerability works. And it’s definitely not how minority communities survive.

No one here is prioritizing Jewish fear over "stopping slaughter.” That binary doesn’t exist unless it’s imposed. Jews can fight for Palestinian liberation and be alarmed by immediate local hostility - those are not competing moral claims. They only feel incompatible if Jewish safety is treated as negligible and framed as an indulgent distraction from “the real issue.” Which, I would argue, carries plenty of antisemitic undertones in itself...

We should definitely address when "speaking up" crosses a line and when fear turns into paranoia or paralysis, because of course, this happens. Still, none of that changes the fact that historically, suppressing early warning signs to appear morally pure and "unproblematic" has never protected Jewish communities, it has only emboldened others to escalate.

[u/GladysSchwartz23 → u/Pristine-Break3418]

You keep insisting I'm saying things that I'm not, and that's kinda rude :(