04-11-2017, 08:34 PM
rjmacs wrote:
Call me when police officers nationwide start shooting unarmed Jews with their hands up, neighbors start dragging Jews behind their trucks until dead, and public intellectuals start pronouncing that, 'until Jews stop building fires on sidewalks, we can't start talking about social justice or discriminatory practices.'
Your argument:
- Decontextualized images of minority groups can theoretically reinforce prejudice, as is empirically known about images of Muslims and Black Americans
- This image is a decontextualized one of a minority group
- Therefore, the harm that theoretically could be caused by this image is equivalent to the documented harm caused by other images
I believe the phrase I'm looking for is "Give me a break." I feel it pairs well with your, "Come off it."
I think antisemitism is REAL, it is SERIOUS, and it must be OPPOSED and DEFEATED. I also think that complaints like this are whiny distractions from the real struggle for justice and equity.
So, it's empirically known that other similar images reinforce prejudice, but this one only rates theoretical. Why?
"I think antisemitism is REAL, it is SERIOUS, and it must be OPPOSED and DEFEATED." But this photo apparently doesn't meet your standard for [photos that latently reinforce prejudice]. IMO, your standard is too low.
I agree that violence against minorities must be stopped. And this photo certainly would not incite overt violence. But it reinforces the us vs them mentality. "The real struggle for justice and equity" starts with acceptance of others who are different than, but equally deserving as, you. To me, this photo is not a "whiny distraction".