I think the tendency to ignore anti-Semitism from groups considered marginalized is an example of a more general tendency to sweep hatred by groups higher on the intersectional totem pole under the rug. Consider the case of the lesbian couple and their son (who happened to be black) who were brutally murdered in California by a trans activist: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/03/07/transgender-activist-trial-oakland-triple-murder/. There's been very little press coverage of this case, but I'm confident that if they were killed by a Westboro Baptist Church type, it'd be all over the news.
Similarly, the recent crimes against Asians have been too well-documented to ignore, but they've been construed as white supremacy even when the perpetrator isn't white. Acknowledging that people from marginalized groups have agency and can do terrible things is difficult for woke culture, I suppose.
Thank you Bari for writing this. I knew nothing of this crime until you brought it to my attention.
And as you pointed out, the lack of attention is intentional. Narrative harmonics determine the song of the media.
A comment on this thread challenged the accuracy of your reporting. But a quick search found other stories verifying the horrible truth that this horrific act is somehow excused with marijuana. If this is in fact the result of marijuana then we should see these crimes running across the US as states are in the process of legalizing it. I found no similar crimes in WA or CO.......but perhaps soon.
Thank you for drawing attention to this abhorrent miscarriage of justice. The media's silence is deafening, and it's infuriating to think about what we would be (rightly!) hearing if this hate crime had been committed against any other minority group. May Sarah's memory be a blessing.
Remember the “student riots” in the suburbs of Paris years ago that put the spotlight on Sarkozy? Those were poor Muslim neighborhoods but it wasn’t PC to report it as much.
Love or hate George Soros, he funds a number of controversial initiatives and causes. I see no reason why he shouldn’t deserve the same amount of scrutiny that the Koch brothers and Richard Scaife endured from the left.
I just reread Bari Weiss's resignation letter from the NY Times again to refresh my memory of it. And if this latest column is a typical example of her writing, I would not hire her at the NY Times. Not because her opinions "go against the narrative", but because it is deeply dishonest and misleading. She is making the dishonest claim that the attacker is "going free" when in fact he was sentenced to a 20 year term in a psychiatric hospital. That's not the kind of fact claim that a NY Times editor would let slide.
And on top of that dishonest claim she claims he is "going free" BECAUSE of French anti-Semitism. It seems clear to me that this is not a story about French anti-Semitism. It's a story about ambiguity and possible short-comings in French law regarding criminal punishment and mental health. Maybe the criticisms coming from her colleagues at the Times were accurate and well-founded, and Bari Weiss simply can't handle constructive criticism. The flaws I see in this piece seem to be of the same kind that her colleagues at the Times accused her of--seeing anti-Semitism where there is none, and making false claims.
And I am not being a troll. I am honestly trying to hold Ms Weiss to account, which she should welcome, if she is the person of integrity she claims to be.
After the Holocaust, many Jews renounced their faith because how could there be a Judge or Justice of the world after the atrocities they endured - and I'm not judging them at all G-d forbid, but all I am saying is that there is a responsibility of man on earth to be a faithful judge and faithful justice, and if we don't carry that out, then atrocities continue. We can fight with G-d but we can't renounce our own responsibilities. Willfully turning a blind eye to evil is an injustice. I do not blame G-d for this, rather man, and we are not perfect, nor will we ever be, but this scenario is terrible, and French Jews continue to face antisemitism: I was visiting France for only one week, and had mostly no incidents, except where I saw a swastika spray painted in an obviously Jewish neighborhood, and another instance, where me and my friends, who are Orthodox Jews, were on the train, and my friend was slapped across the face by a man in front of the whole train (was he an antisemite or was he psychotic? It's hard to know because I didn't understand what he was saying, and thankfully another tourist fought him and kicked him off the train). In the Jewish quarter, a Jewish man was calmly scrubbing off the swastika like it was no big deal and it happened every day.
The world we live in can be cruel, but there is justice for you, Sarah, in the eternal world to come.
I have always been flabbergasted at how hate crimes against Jews can be tolerated and ignored. This is particularly true when committed by a protected minority. It is as if white people are the only ones who can be motivated by racially, ethnically or religious prejudice. What a bunch of bunk that is historical nonsense
Boy. Two thoughts. It confirms the decay deep within Europe and France in particular and second I sure do not want to visit a country where smoking pot is an excuse not to be prosecuted for murder. This is really hard to believe
I apologize as this comment is not directly related to the story, which I find very important, but it pertains to this community.
I support freedom of speech as I hope most of the people in this community do, though I do not see this right as absolute (not right is). However, I wonder if trolling should be considered free speech, especially trolling with agenda. This is a relatively new phenomenon that emerged with the rise of "comments sections" that, for many people, have become as important as the stories to which the comments pertain. This lead to a phenomenon of individuals who partake in "comments" discussion not to express genuine opinions not to add to the discussion, but for the purpose of hijacking the discussion or sidelining it. There are many examples of individuals and groups around the world that are paid by political parties to do this kind of work. I am not familiar with the media on the right, but I have seen examples of this kind of activity, particularly in the local media in the area where I live, where activist groups have "bots" that tend to take over comments discussions on stories that were critical of their groups and/or leaders.
The reason that I bring this up is because it is becoming apparent to me that we might have examples of this kind of activity on this forum.
It could be argued that the comments for the last two stories have been "hijacked" by the character named "Matt M.". The question is what if anything should be done about it? I do not have a problem with contrarian thinking as long as it is genuine and focused on helping, not hurting. Of course that it is okay to criticize Bari; of course that she has some kind of agenda; of course there is antisemitism on the right... Yet the fact remains that we are a society in a deep, perhaps existential crisis, with threats coming from all sides of the political spectrum and from all sides of the world, so I would says that this is not time for arguing for arguing sake.
Besides, that kind of behavior can be seen as hurtful and I wish it would stop.
Bari Weiss, thanks for calling attention to Sarah Halimi's horrific torture and murder. But "Her killer will go free because he smoked weed" is inaccurate. She deserves better. Truth and solutions. Marc Weitzmann got it right: "The confusion around these murderous acts seems to come from the need for the families and the authorities alike to qualify the facts according to recognizable categories. A politically motivated terror attack, for instance, is one category of act. But what we’re facing here, it seems, is something much worse—a pure, naked impulse of hate of a psychotic/mystical nature that seems to travel like a virus from one killer to the next." I'm not far from where Sarah Halimi was murdered. I hope someone organizes a (peaceful) protest. I'll be there.
There is no longer equal treatment under the law(if there ever was). We are moving away from that goal. If you are the wrong religion, race, or political affiliation your life is cheap
We live in a world where group victimhood is brainwashed into young minds while at the same time denying the reality of group responsibility. It is a recipe for hate and resentment
I think the tendency to ignore anti-Semitism from groups considered marginalized is an example of a more general tendency to sweep hatred by groups higher on the intersectional totem pole under the rug. Consider the case of the lesbian couple and their son (who happened to be black) who were brutally murdered in California by a trans activist: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/03/07/transgender-activist-trial-oakland-triple-murder/. There's been very little press coverage of this case, but I'm confident that if they were killed by a Westboro Baptist Church type, it'd be all over the news.
Similarly, the recent crimes against Asians have been too well-documented to ignore, but they've been construed as white supremacy even when the perpetrator isn't white. Acknowledging that people from marginalized groups have agency and can do terrible things is difficult for woke culture, I suppose.
Thank you Bari for writing this. I knew nothing of this crime until you brought it to my attention.
And as you pointed out, the lack of attention is intentional. Narrative harmonics determine the song of the media.
A comment on this thread challenged the accuracy of your reporting. But a quick search found other stories verifying the horrible truth that this horrific act is somehow excused with marijuana. If this is in fact the result of marijuana then we should see these crimes running across the US as states are in the process of legalizing it. I found no similar crimes in WA or CO.......but perhaps soon.
Here is another article on this crime. https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/1618408991-french-court-upholds-ruling-that-accused-killer-of-sarah-halimi-will-not-stand-trial
I’m very happy to support you on Substack. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you for drawing attention to this abhorrent miscarriage of justice. The media's silence is deafening, and it's infuriating to think about what we would be (rightly!) hearing if this hate crime had been committed against any other minority group. May Sarah's memory be a blessing.
Remember the “student riots” in the suburbs of Paris years ago that put the spotlight on Sarkozy? Those were poor Muslim neighborhoods but it wasn’t PC to report it as much.
Love or hate George Soros, he funds a number of controversial initiatives and causes. I see no reason why he shouldn’t deserve the same amount of scrutiny that the Koch brothers and Richard Scaife endured from the left.
"If the story suits the narrative, it counts. If it undermines it, it doesn’t."
This applies to everything. It's a great relief to finally hear left-leaning media people admitting it. Thank you for writing what you write.
I just reread Bari Weiss's resignation letter from the NY Times again to refresh my memory of it. And if this latest column is a typical example of her writing, I would not hire her at the NY Times. Not because her opinions "go against the narrative", but because it is deeply dishonest and misleading. She is making the dishonest claim that the attacker is "going free" when in fact he was sentenced to a 20 year term in a psychiatric hospital. That's not the kind of fact claim that a NY Times editor would let slide.
And on top of that dishonest claim she claims he is "going free" BECAUSE of French anti-Semitism. It seems clear to me that this is not a story about French anti-Semitism. It's a story about ambiguity and possible short-comings in French law regarding criminal punishment and mental health. Maybe the criticisms coming from her colleagues at the Times were accurate and well-founded, and Bari Weiss simply can't handle constructive criticism. The flaws I see in this piece seem to be of the same kind that her colleagues at the Times accused her of--seeing anti-Semitism where there is none, and making false claims.
And I am not being a troll. I am honestly trying to hold Ms Weiss to account, which she should welcome, if she is the person of integrity she claims to be.
After the Holocaust, many Jews renounced their faith because how could there be a Judge or Justice of the world after the atrocities they endured - and I'm not judging them at all G-d forbid, but all I am saying is that there is a responsibility of man on earth to be a faithful judge and faithful justice, and if we don't carry that out, then atrocities continue. We can fight with G-d but we can't renounce our own responsibilities. Willfully turning a blind eye to evil is an injustice. I do not blame G-d for this, rather man, and we are not perfect, nor will we ever be, but this scenario is terrible, and French Jews continue to face antisemitism: I was visiting France for only one week, and had mostly no incidents, except where I saw a swastika spray painted in an obviously Jewish neighborhood, and another instance, where me and my friends, who are Orthodox Jews, were on the train, and my friend was slapped across the face by a man in front of the whole train (was he an antisemite or was he psychotic? It's hard to know because I didn't understand what he was saying, and thankfully another tourist fought him and kicked him off the train). In the Jewish quarter, a Jewish man was calmly scrubbing off the swastika like it was no big deal and it happened every day.
The world we live in can be cruel, but there is justice for you, Sarah, in the eternal world to come.
I have always been flabbergasted at how hate crimes against Jews can be tolerated and ignored. This is particularly true when committed by a protected minority. It is as if white people are the only ones who can be motivated by racially, ethnically or religious prejudice. What a bunch of bunk that is historical nonsense
Boy. Two thoughts. It confirms the decay deep within Europe and France in particular and second I sure do not want to visit a country where smoking pot is an excuse not to be prosecuted for murder. This is really hard to believe
I apologize as this comment is not directly related to the story, which I find very important, but it pertains to this community.
I support freedom of speech as I hope most of the people in this community do, though I do not see this right as absolute (not right is). However, I wonder if trolling should be considered free speech, especially trolling with agenda. This is a relatively new phenomenon that emerged with the rise of "comments sections" that, for many people, have become as important as the stories to which the comments pertain. This lead to a phenomenon of individuals who partake in "comments" discussion not to express genuine opinions not to add to the discussion, but for the purpose of hijacking the discussion or sidelining it. There are many examples of individuals and groups around the world that are paid by political parties to do this kind of work. I am not familiar with the media on the right, but I have seen examples of this kind of activity, particularly in the local media in the area where I live, where activist groups have "bots" that tend to take over comments discussions on stories that were critical of their groups and/or leaders.
The reason that I bring this up is because it is becoming apparent to me that we might have examples of this kind of activity on this forum.
It could be argued that the comments for the last two stories have been "hijacked" by the character named "Matt M.". The question is what if anything should be done about it? I do not have a problem with contrarian thinking as long as it is genuine and focused on helping, not hurting. Of course that it is okay to criticize Bari; of course that she has some kind of agenda; of course there is antisemitism on the right... Yet the fact remains that we are a society in a deep, perhaps existential crisis, with threats coming from all sides of the political spectrum and from all sides of the world, so I would says that this is not time for arguing for arguing sake.
Besides, that kind of behavior can be seen as hurtful and I wish it would stop.
They won't prosecute him for beating someone to death because he SMOKED POT???? Remind me to never enter France for any reason.
Bari Weiss, thanks for calling attention to Sarah Halimi's horrific torture and murder. But "Her killer will go free because he smoked weed" is inaccurate. She deserves better. Truth and solutions. Marc Weitzmann got it right: "The confusion around these murderous acts seems to come from the need for the families and the authorities alike to qualify the facts according to recognizable categories. A politically motivated terror attack, for instance, is one category of act. But what we’re facing here, it seems, is something much worse—a pure, naked impulse of hate of a psychotic/mystical nature that seems to travel like a virus from one killer to the next." I'm not far from where Sarah Halimi was murdered. I hope someone organizes a (peaceful) protest. I'll be there.
Thank you for writing this and for pointing out the 'silence.' I am glad I subscribe to your substack channel.
There is no longer equal treatment under the law(if there ever was). We are moving away from that goal. If you are the wrong religion, race, or political affiliation your life is cheap
We live in a world where group victimhood is brainwashed into young minds while at the same time denying the reality of group responsibility. It is a recipe for hate and resentment
speechless