“Antisemitism from the left is hard for young people to see, because young people a lot of time align with the left,” a Jewish woman who recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania told me. - Being progressive is cool until you find yourself at the sharp end of the knife of intersectionality. I recognize there are bigots on both ends of the right and left. I grew up in a Christian home where Israel and the Jewish faith were respected and admired for their devotion and authenticity.
I don’t understand how this happened. I went to college 20 years ago at the university of Texas at Austin. I had quite a number of Jewish classmates, my suite mates in my dorm were Jewish and everyone loved them. They were really fun. My minor was history and I focused on WWII and the Holocaust so I wasn’t ignorant to antisemitism but I never saw anything on this level. I’ve read so many news stories over the past couple of years describing these moments and I can’t wrap my head around how college campuses became so hateful. It breaks my heart that in 2022 Jews don’t feel safe in America. This is also not the country I grew up in.
This is incredibly frightening. I had no idea the level of hate that was being tolerated. Combine this with the Shrier article "I don't want American Kids".
Think about this...
If the mob can come for anyone - the mob will come for everyone.
This article, so beautifully written, makes me inexpressibly sad. As a British Jew, perhaps the saddest thing of all is that nothing he has written is particularly shocking or surprising to me. Reading his words I ask myself how is it possible that this can be allowed to happen in the 21st century, after everything that has happened and everything we know? I wish Blake Flayton all the luck and all the joy in his new life in Israel, and I wish so much that he didn’t feel that he has to make the journey. But I understand completely why he does.
When Christianity was replaced by Wokism (Marxist postmodernism) on college campuses, America lost its way. In this amoral climate, the politicians were allowed to abandon the people, especially the youth. They now tolerate an avalanche of immigration, mostly from collectivist countries, to shore up their power. In the process, they ignore the declining prospects for America's own. The anti-Semitism that Blake experienced is just one aspect of a wholesale cultural revolution that the country is experiencing. Christians are facing hatred too, so America has a choice to make. Will we fight to become a Judeo-Christian nation again or we will devolve into a Marxist nation. There is no middle ground. Every civilization needs a guiding mythology to provide its moral foundation. The colleges are trying to replace Christianity with Marxism (Critical Theory) and it is hurting all of us.
I must say I was set back by this article; like the parents of the Jewish kids who "don't have the words" I have a hard time imagining this world. I went to a college that had a near 50% of the enrollment being Jewish kids. There was never any animosity over religious or cultural differences and certainly none of the name calling or vandalism Mr. Flayton mentions. To see this now, to see the result of years of neglected history and literature to appease an ignorant and loathsome mob, to see our country sinking into the very place we were taught to eschew, is saddening indeed. It is all to apparent that the few sane people left are going to have to take the reins because the abyss is dead ahead and closer with each moment.
I have sympathy for the young people described in the essay, but it's limited. If you define yourself as a progressive American college student then odds are you agree with sorting the world into oppressed and oppressors; you've just been surprised to find yourselves on the wrong side.
If you've stood up for fellow students who expressed conservative opinions, or who've deadnamed someone or used the wrong pronoun (or just refused to care) or questioned BLM or the 1619 project or... anybody who's a member here can add to the list... then I take my original statement back.
In any case, welcome to Israel. If I can be of any help, let me know.
One of my relatives recently graduated from law school in NYC. The anti-semitism was so virulent and so relentless, the entire family eventually got up and walked out, led by my mild-mannered British son-in-law who avoids conflict like the plague. He said he couldn't sit there another minute.
OK I get it. Israel is a beautiful land and the ancestral home of the Jewish people. But you're an American. How about staying here? And while you're at it, cast off the reflexive leftism that has characterized so much of Jewish American life. That leftism that now - predictably - knifes you in the back. And despises you. Many American Jews, including the most religious among them, are embracing the new conservative movement that embraces them - and Israel - in return. (and additionally embraces all freedom-loving people regardless of sexual orientation). The love of liberty and free speech - which has always animated American Jews - is no longer found on the left. Or in the Democrat Party. The party your grandparents worshipped has morphed into something ugly and despotic. The ACLU - once a bright symbol of Jewish pride - no longer stands for civil liberties. The entire American left is devolving into a bunch of brownshirted goons. Only conservatives stand against them. So cast off that tired garment. Stay, embrace conservative and breath the sweet air of liberty.
I fear we (American Jews) are at a similar place German Jews were in the early 1930’s. Anti-Semitism was on the rise, starting with the Hitler youth and other groups and Jews said “not here, no way.” “Germany is an enlightened society; my grandparents and parents were all born in Germany. I’m German. This is a free society. So there is anti-semitism but it is from fringe groups. This is different than the Pale of Settlement. I’m free here and I can’t imagine leaving.”
Can this words be said by American Jews today? I think so. And this time, unlike German Jews, we know what can and has happened. The Shoah. So this time we are being warned and we know if we don’t listen, we might pay the ultimate price.
I’m not saying all Jews should move to Israel. I’m in my early 60’s, great career, make good money and I’d love to make Aliya but my wife is against it. So my goal now is to convince her to buy an apartment in Tel Aviv so we have a place to go when . . . .
The G.W. cafeteria strike thing is just stunning. The rise of campus antisemitism is incredibly frightening and yet it’s barely noticed in the mainstream media, which is very worrying.
What a great shame for America to lose so many of our future leaders to such unreasoned hate. We seem to be on the verge of a "Kristallnacht." What is really disturbing is the animus of the Progressive left which seems to be parroting Nazi propagandists of the extreme right-wing crazies. Where will it end?
Blake- your leaving America isn’t your betrayal of America...it’s America’s betrayal of you.
“Antisemitism from the left is hard for young people to see, because young people a lot of time align with the left,” a Jewish woman who recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania told me. - Being progressive is cool until you find yourself at the sharp end of the knife of intersectionality. I recognize there are bigots on both ends of the right and left. I grew up in a Christian home where Israel and the Jewish faith were respected and admired for their devotion and authenticity.
I don’t understand how this happened. I went to college 20 years ago at the university of Texas at Austin. I had quite a number of Jewish classmates, my suite mates in my dorm were Jewish and everyone loved them. They were really fun. My minor was history and I focused on WWII and the Holocaust so I wasn’t ignorant to antisemitism but I never saw anything on this level. I’ve read so many news stories over the past couple of years describing these moments and I can’t wrap my head around how college campuses became so hateful. It breaks my heart that in 2022 Jews don’t feel safe in America. This is also not the country I grew up in.
This is incredibly frightening. I had no idea the level of hate that was being tolerated. Combine this with the Shrier article "I don't want American Kids".
Think about this...
If the mob can come for anyone - the mob will come for everyone.
Although it breaks my heart to see a young person basically hounded out of the U.S., I am glad he has a place to go.
Where can the rest of us go?
This article, so beautifully written, makes me inexpressibly sad. As a British Jew, perhaps the saddest thing of all is that nothing he has written is particularly shocking or surprising to me. Reading his words I ask myself how is it possible that this can be allowed to happen in the 21st century, after everything that has happened and everything we know? I wish Blake Flayton all the luck and all the joy in his new life in Israel, and I wish so much that he didn’t feel that he has to make the journey. But I understand completely why he does.
When Christianity was replaced by Wokism (Marxist postmodernism) on college campuses, America lost its way. In this amoral climate, the politicians were allowed to abandon the people, especially the youth. They now tolerate an avalanche of immigration, mostly from collectivist countries, to shore up their power. In the process, they ignore the declining prospects for America's own. The anti-Semitism that Blake experienced is just one aspect of a wholesale cultural revolution that the country is experiencing. Christians are facing hatred too, so America has a choice to make. Will we fight to become a Judeo-Christian nation again or we will devolve into a Marxist nation. There is no middle ground. Every civilization needs a guiding mythology to provide its moral foundation. The colleges are trying to replace Christianity with Marxism (Critical Theory) and it is hurting all of us.
I must say I was set back by this article; like the parents of the Jewish kids who "don't have the words" I have a hard time imagining this world. I went to a college that had a near 50% of the enrollment being Jewish kids. There was never any animosity over religious or cultural differences and certainly none of the name calling or vandalism Mr. Flayton mentions. To see this now, to see the result of years of neglected history and literature to appease an ignorant and loathsome mob, to see our country sinking into the very place we were taught to eschew, is saddening indeed. It is all to apparent that the few sane people left are going to have to take the reins because the abyss is dead ahead and closer with each moment.
"Never Again" did not last very long, did it?
I have sympathy for the young people described in the essay, but it's limited. If you define yourself as a progressive American college student then odds are you agree with sorting the world into oppressed and oppressors; you've just been surprised to find yourselves on the wrong side.
If you've stood up for fellow students who expressed conservative opinions, or who've deadnamed someone or used the wrong pronoun (or just refused to care) or questioned BLM or the 1619 project or... anybody who's a member here can add to the list... then I take my original statement back.
In any case, welcome to Israel. If I can be of any help, let me know.
One of my relatives recently graduated from law school in NYC. The anti-semitism was so virulent and so relentless, the entire family eventually got up and walked out, led by my mild-mannered British son-in-law who avoids conflict like the plague. He said he couldn't sit there another minute.
OK I get it. Israel is a beautiful land and the ancestral home of the Jewish people. But you're an American. How about staying here? And while you're at it, cast off the reflexive leftism that has characterized so much of Jewish American life. That leftism that now - predictably - knifes you in the back. And despises you. Many American Jews, including the most religious among them, are embracing the new conservative movement that embraces them - and Israel - in return. (and additionally embraces all freedom-loving people regardless of sexual orientation). The love of liberty and free speech - which has always animated American Jews - is no longer found on the left. Or in the Democrat Party. The party your grandparents worshipped has morphed into something ugly and despotic. The ACLU - once a bright symbol of Jewish pride - no longer stands for civil liberties. The entire American left is devolving into a bunch of brownshirted goons. Only conservatives stand against them. So cast off that tired garment. Stay, embrace conservative and breath the sweet air of liberty.
I fear we (American Jews) are at a similar place German Jews were in the early 1930’s. Anti-Semitism was on the rise, starting with the Hitler youth and other groups and Jews said “not here, no way.” “Germany is an enlightened society; my grandparents and parents were all born in Germany. I’m German. This is a free society. So there is anti-semitism but it is from fringe groups. This is different than the Pale of Settlement. I’m free here and I can’t imagine leaving.”
Can this words be said by American Jews today? I think so. And this time, unlike German Jews, we know what can and has happened. The Shoah. So this time we are being warned and we know if we don’t listen, we might pay the ultimate price.
I’m not saying all Jews should move to Israel. I’m in my early 60’s, great career, make good money and I’d love to make Aliya but my wife is against it. So my goal now is to convince her to buy an apartment in Tel Aviv so we have a place to go when . . . .
The G.W. cafeteria strike thing is just stunning. The rise of campus antisemitism is incredibly frightening and yet it’s barely noticed in the mainstream media, which is very worrying.
What a great shame for America to lose so many of our future leaders to such unreasoned hate. We seem to be on the verge of a "Kristallnacht." What is really disturbing is the animus of the Progressive left which seems to be parroting Nazi propagandists of the extreme right-wing crazies. Where will it end?
Anti-semitism is an example of left/right not being a continuum so much as a circle, where the far-far left and far-far right tend to find each other.