
In art Anti-Semitism has always been a prevalent issue since the beginning of time. (Now before we start off I should condemn racists because thats a topical thing to do so nothing gets misconstrued. Okay is everyone putting away their tissues because they are crying like children?) Okay. Everyone you ever knew has been blamed for being an anti-Semite just because of a differing opinion. Art has always been a place to question what racism means and how we can approach it with deference and humility but sometimes its not the same thing. Racism is a boring topic to talk about but much of what comes from Anti-Semitism is much allowed by the same patterns of thought continued to conjure itself in the guise of context." Is it different when Philip Roth whose first story is about a Jewish boy who realizes what happened to Jesus and goes to the top of a synagogue after he questions the nature of his faith and whether Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus?
While an entertaining and hilarious story Philip Roth makes the reader question it as though we are the character himself. A stately pleasure of art is to make one confront heavy issues and laugh at the way things are done in the world. In the story Conversion of the Jews" the young Jewish boy as he sits on the top of the church asks all the Jewish people below to ask Jesus for forgiveness. While this did create some laughs on the editorial board controversy followed Philip Roth until the late 90s when his books were later winning awards. This type of humor was always accepted for a long time but liberals mostly today would admit that Philip Roth doesnt exist as the normal SJW writer. Oh my God a Jew who makes fun of his own race we cant have that! Call the police!
No children art doesnt listen to the censor police or the people who try to create safe spaces from authors who want to push boundaries and take art into the universe where it belongs. Its strange to think that today people are triggered by Bret Easton Ellis but even when Philip Roth is put under the microscope his humor of Jew-bashing" which some would argue that he has right to do it but what if someone else wants to do it? Freedom of speech means all things can be talked about. But dont conversate with an SJW about Philip Roth because it would be hilarious if they ever decided to read at all. SJWs only care about being perfect and never doing something that might generate an actual response. Art creates a response never acceptance. Because putting yourself out of the conversation is the best thing.
If I were a robot with no personality then that would be an option. For someone who couldnt talk until he was 4 and remaining quiet until my late twenties the silence that often runs deep within most artists is a profound statement in art. Being cut off from speech is horrible. Go ask Alex Jones how that feels. But how does this relate to Anti-Semitism? Being told not to say something just because it might be funny or that it might actually hurt someones feelings is the new thing. You cant say this because its Anti-Semitic whatever the claim may be or Islamophobic. OMG!
Philip Roth who was no stranger to controversy had often remained as close to hatred as his character Portnoy who would span through most of his books and the arc of his character would be a legend among such classics of his oeuvre from Portnoys Complaint to American Pastoral for which he won the National Book Award. But should he have been censored for writing badly about Jewish people? Should anyone really? Its not a crime to write a joke or an anti-Semitic joke if it is indeed from the get-go aims to be funny witty and hurtful a la the same time. For even thinking it would create a new hegemony in the way art is mostly dealt with. Someone like Philip Roth or Salman Rushdie would not be published today. But Anti-Semitism while done artfully by a writer can be funny to an extent. Philip Roth proved that the more anti-Semitic paragraphs he wrote might only create more debate about the subject but also contend with creating his own version of what Anti-Semitism is to a Jewish person.
Most Jewish people would agree that Philip Roth was a satirist but a racist is unlikely? Masturbation and how Jewish men deal with it is the compromise that most men have to deal with in order to laugh at their suffering. But the SJWs believe Anti-Semitism is not funny and we are racist." Racist" has no more meaning in a culture that wishes to silence people who have opinions.
And those opinions while harsh have some meaning. If publishing a work of fiction is an act of defiance in an age where people have lost the right to speak up then write more. Philip Roth if alive would not have been for censorship because authors like myself do not think this way. Its poison to debate and freedom of speech across all platforms. Philip Roth who made fun of his ex-wife in one of his novels knew that freedom of speech would have to hurt people in order to make people think.
Now this is just an opinion of the situation not a fact but sometimes an opinion must be said to make sure all can understand the context. A real author would spit in the eye of nay-sayers who would take his rights away. But Anti-Semitism is a touchy subject. Go ask Ilhan Omar who constantly praises terrorist organizations when she makes flippant remarks on September 11
th. The words she used were Allah Akbar" and that can never end well. What the politicians like Tlaib who makes comments that regard Palestinians who were in love with Hitlers ideals contains only those contexts. But the oppressors always talk about context and then never the real argument to back them up.
If Philip Roth were alive today he would allow such things to be said but when it comes to Anti-Semitism his voice would be an earnest opinion. What makes something offensive as well? Is it right to laugh when Cartman made fun of Kyle for years because he was Jewish but at the same time does crying when watching Schindlers List and The Pianist a healthy response in the face of agony release some pain but help us conquer our goals in the end then thats Art. One can laugh and cry right? Or is that too much for people? People have read Elie Wiesels shocking account of his time leading into World War 2 and during his time in Auschwitz in his best-selling novel
Night even compare with the hatred leftists feel. No one is saying libertarian or Republican misery is equally relatable to Jews suffering in the Holocaust. When I was told I would be the first one in the death camp" all I said to the person on Whisper was I love you too" but she had indeed blocked me.
When approached with love in the face of online cruelty (which is ironic because online cruelty is nothing compared to actually getting punched in the face in real life) is only common among conservatives and libertarians. What has come to pass is that libertarians and conservatives are just punching bags for liberals but dont expect sympathy from us when you have to learn to code." However this feels close to inconsiderate Anti-Semitism is an issue that still permeates. The way through Anti-Semitism through fiction and in life all begins through laughter and tears. As John Irving said in his RT interview Youre not only happy when youre laughing." This is right to presume that when approached with sadness a new profound emotion has arrived through tears comes empathy. Experiencing what may come as a shock to most others as alien is empathy. Something leftists could do when they arent screaming about MAGA wearing kids who want to be free from leftist groupthink.
But it comes to pass that while Anti-Semitism is the word leftists use against us does this come as no surprise that people who enjoy calling people out for racism are just as racist as they like to deny. If Philip Roth was alive today he would not be for censorship but proudly commit to the idea that people have their rights to speak and live how they want. As a true classical leftist would. A perception of what makes someone racist is also a chance to get someone fired as well.
As far as racism goes Anti-Semitism as a topic should be addressed with the same permeance as the way through most other forms of racism but it does mean that racism still means the same thing. If Louis Farrakhan is right Hitler was a great man" and the Jews control the world because if the Jews controlled the world maybe they worked hard enough to get to that point. I defend the right for anyone to believe what they want to believe even if it flies in the face of convention.
If you are a Nazi you arent going to like me saying the Jews were the chosen people for a reason. All of the Old Testament and the New Testament are filled with Jewish heroes who face trials and tribulations but also moral lessons who move closer to God and become the new chosen people. If there was a problem with most of Christianity and Judaism why werent the chosen people Africans? No we arent talking about Wakanda either. If you are a racist African American racist you hate white people for YOUR oppression.
If its White Racism its because you think people have too much free shit. Blindly racism is just another reason to stereotype people but also it comes back to the same question what if its meant to be a joke? As a man who has written from the points of view of Black White Asian Women Alien you know that there is much to be learned from the way people interact with each other. Racism isnt inherently born into people. Take American History X for example.
That movie should be shown at schools to portray the real-world racism that exists in the way people should see it. A young man played by Edward Norton who becomes a Nazi in his youth has to go to jail after he kills a black man who tried to steal his car. His brother played by Edward Furlong follows in his footsteps but after Edward Norton he comes out a changed man and after a stunning revelation from befriending a black man in jail taught him not to be racist and accept people for who they are. Only that flies in the face of the narrative as the younger brother is killed by a black man he was starting shit with. It comes full circle knowing that the sins we inflict on others come back on us tenfold.
Why is that movie being brought up? It shows that people who were racist and didnt know better can change in the face of the future thats set before him. But American History X is just a reminder movie of what we could become if not allowed to see racism for what it is. A lie. But what if its all done in a jokey way? Freedom of speech allows all form of speech to exist even dramatic and comedic which is now a dangerous art form in the eyes of the left. As they only think in polemic terms sometimes racism can be used in hilarious ways. As if we all didnt laugh at South Park and Philip Roth who skewered his kind in many of his novels.
In the fourth episode of the Sixteenth season of South Park Cartman becomes a better person after he faces off against the Jewbacabra a fictional animal that is a part of the Jewish culture and Cartman is told by an expedition team that it is real. Things like this are apart of what makes a culture look at racism and laugh. Lenny Bruce whose rough and tumble style of comedy plays inherent in the history of comedy. What most people have to assume is that jokes are jokes but if people found a deeper meaning behind it maybe that can help them move past their own racism. Lenny Bruce has a whole definition of what is goyish uncivilized" and Jewish. He even proclaims the Navy is Jewish. Marines are Goyim. Its all absurd but what we see here is a case when racism is on display because its all absurd. But who owns words? Nobody. Who can claim a word? All speech is free but see if you can go into a black neighborhood and call a black person the N-word? Its where and when you say words that restrict speech. Some black people like the popular rap group the LOX (not to be confused with lox bagels) Styles P a group member is fine with white friends using the N-word around him because it doesnt bother him. Its also important to know that Styles P avidly admitted that he voted for Obama twice but didnt find him a good president because he taxed his juice business which is located in Yonkers. But thats not racism but it was definitely saying something people didnt want to hear.
But racism is the reason as to why most people never talk about these subjects because it can also implicate the person talking about it when they are just describing different types of racism when they arent being racist at all. But when it comes time for Congressman to accept and own up to their words we would love for Tlaib Cortez (the world is ending is twelve years joke) and Illhan Ohmar who supports CAIR without an apology. I dont expect an apology out of a filmmaker artist or actor who is committed to making art. But when it comes to congressmen sitting in the supreme courts making laws is just the moment we should take a second to breathe. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez who claimed the world was ending in twelve years" tried to pass it off as a joke no one believed her when she was making a joke because a joke has to confirm a tone and a sense of humor.
If there was a set-up of a joke this would show that she was joking and we could laugh it off. When Ms. Cortez wants to go on Instagram where it has been captured all over the world is trying to be an Instagram model instead of a Congressman. Does this mean that we should forget Anthony Weiner Sexting? No but thats another article. What is allowed is the ability to see things as a joke but one has to study how to craft a joke. Comedians write jokes to formulate a story that has a punchline. Ms. Cortez isnt handing out a punchline. Shes a third-rate Instagram model posing as a Congressman. The joke is that she is trying to pretend to be a Congressman. Im a writer and I deal with context plot characters but Ms. Cortez is someone who has never been told a joke tries to tell a joke but falls flat. But Ms. Cortez is the true comedian that is laughing at her own joke that nobody finds funny. Illhan Omar is another jokester who has failed at the ACME style of jokers that nobody finds funny.
Save it with the but you have to understand the context" which I would have admitted if there was context if there was a punchline that didnt sound like a dystopian novel. Yes we need dystopia novels and all the fiction we need but Ms. Cortez thinks she is living in the movie Election trying to win everyones approval by being vicious and mendacious trying to ruin peoples lives. Constantly making cupcakes to try and win everyone over while abusing them at the same time. Oh yes Ms. Cortez we can take a joke but can you tell one? Another branch of Anti-Semitism is found by Ms. Tlaib who talks of Palestinians and how they have suffered under the Israelis.
The only thing she is suffering from is the punch line or her delivery which makes her sound as if she is trying to move toward celebrating Hitler and encouraging Palestinian resentment. If we all were aware of a joke where was it? Has a joke become an outlawed act and how can we suspect that a joke is manifested but Philip Roth and Lenny Bruce and everyone seem to know how to tell a joke in prose format but it never became a celebrated act. The punchline of Anti-Semitism and all racism is that while a joke can be clearly seen or understood through context how can context be achieved if there is no joke or understanding in how they speak. Yes everyone is allowed to tell a joke but if Congressman Cortez Tlaib and Ohmar wanted to be celebrities they are in the wrong profession. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian sound like better Congressmen at this point.
So what is left to say about Philip Roth Lenny Bruce Trey Parker Matt Stone is that they are entertainers that have all found their footing inspecting racism and how it can be used for comedic effect. If one is offended then please leave it somewhere else because all topics are for discussion and America is for the artistically brave.
There is a quote from Thomas Ligotti in The Night School" out of the Grimscribe where the teacher states his reason as to why he is detail oriented: Because" he answered a true instructor must share everything no matter how terrible or hard it may be." This is the same reason as to why all must know the true respect of the artist and his craft and to his country that gave him all that he must do.
Sources:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-and-goyish/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ost0Gyl2V1IJohn Irving Interview RT"
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe" Thomas Ligotti. Penguin Classics. P. 394
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVeVq256sQAStyles P: I dont care if my white friends us the N word around me."
Picture source: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/video/World