No Man Or Woman Is An Island

Thoughts And Observations about Bigotry and Racism:

“Bigotry is one of the oldest and ugliest of trends, so persistent …(and) … the target keeps changing: Huguenots (Protestants in France in the 16th century), Koreans, homosexuals, Muslims, Tutsis, Jews, Quakers, wolves, Serbs, Salem housewives. Nearly every group, so long as it’s small and different, has had a turn, and the pattern never changes—disapproval, isolation, demonization, persecution.”? From the 1996 novel “Bellwether” by Connie Willis – U.S novelist.?

“Hatred can never be good. … Envy, derision, contempt, anger, revenge, and other emotions attributable to hatred, … Whatsoever we desire from motives of hatred is base, and in a State unjust.”? Baruch Spinoza – Portuguese philosopher.

“I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you're desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward - well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.”? Henry Louis Gates - U.S. literary critic, academic, historian, filmmaker.

“The problem of racism, the problem of economic exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.”? Martin Luther King, Jr. – U.S. minister, activist.

“Racism will disappear when it's no longer profitable, and no longer psychologically useful. And when that happens, it'll be gone. But at the moment, people make a lot of money off of it, pro and con.”? Toni Morrison – U.S. novelist, editor.

“Racism today is the ultimate evil in the world.” Pope Francis -Argentinian theologian, head of the Catholic Church.

?“We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say "common struggle" because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination.? … Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group.”? Coretta Scott King – U.S. author, activist.

?“Most Americans have parents or grandparents who immigrated to this country, and we know the hardships they faced, from learning the language to dealing with prejudice.” Henry Johnson Jr – U.S. lawyer, politician.

“Racism oppresses its victims, but also binds the oppressors, who sear their consciences with more and more lies until they become prisoners of those lies. They cannot face the truth of human equality because it reveals the horror of the injustices they commit.”? Alveda King – U.S. activist, politician, author.

“The question of whether one alleges the Superiority or Inferiority of any given race is irrelevant; racism has only one psychological root: the racist's sense of his own Inferiority.”? Ayn Rand – Russian born/U.S. author, philosopher.

“Prejudice is a raft onto which the shipwrecked mind clambers and paddles to safety.” Ben Hecht – U.S. screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, novelist.

“(T)he bigot is even more driven by self-pity and the need for self-exculpation than by hatred or fear. To elude his real condition, to put his prejudices beyond criticism and change, is the purpose behind his presentation of self…. But he is always anxious. The bigot has the nagging intuition that he is not making sense, or, at least, that he cannot convince his critics that he is. And this leaves him prone to violence. … Modernity liberated the powers of humanity; it generated the idea that people could shape their own fates. This is very different from the bigot’s assumption that biology or anatomy is destiny. Modernity relies on the growth of science, technology, and instrumental rationality. What was once taken on faith is now subject to criticism and what was once shrouded in myth and darkness now potentially becomes open to light. ... The bigot is engaged not only in demeaning the target of his prejudice but also in turning himself into a victim. In his eyes, the real victim becomes the imaginary oppressor, and the real oppressor becomes the imaginary victim. The bigot thus feels himself persecuted and his response is often tinged by hysteria. His neurotic style is a form of adaptation. Whether it is fostered by conscious instrumental desires to rationalize behavior, or unconscious desires to deflect guilt, depends on the circumstances. Either way, this style works to confirm the mixture of pessimism and resentment that predominates among those who believe they are losers in the march of progress. … The bigot justifies his entitlement by birth or by inherited privileges sanctified by tradition such as gender, skin color, ethnicity, or lineage. His superiority has nothing to do with work: it has not been earned.” Stephen Eric Bronner? - U.S. academic - political scientist, philosopher, Board of Governors Professor of Political Science at 美国罗格斯新泽西州立大学新布朗斯维克分校 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, Director of Global Relations for the Rutgers Center for the Study of Genocide & Human Rights .

“Myths, stereotypes, and pre-reflective assumptions serve to justify the bigot’s assertions. Gays are sexually rapacious; Latinos are lazy; and women are hysterical – they are just like that and nothing can change them. But the intensity of the bigot’s prejudice can vary – with fanaticism always a real possibility. His fears and hatreds tend to worsen in worsening economic circumstances, his stereotypes can prove contradictory, and his targets are usually chosen depending upon the context. Simmering anti-immigrant sentiments exploded in the United States after the financial collapse of 2007-8; Anti-Semites condemned Jews as both capitalists and revolutionaries, super-intelligent yet culturally inferior; cultish yet cosmopolitan; and now Arabs have supplanted Jews as targets for contemporary neo-fascists in Europe. The point ultimately is that bigotry is about the bigot, not the target of his hatred. … Using the language of liberty to justify policies that disadvantage woman, gays, and people of color cynically enables him to fit into a changed cultural and political climate. It is also not merely a matter of the bigot demeaning the target of his prejudice but in presenting himself as the aggrieved party. That purpose is helped by (often unconscious) psychological projection of the bigot’s desires, hatreds, and activities upon the Other. … In Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, similarly, anti-Semitic fascists accused Jews of engaging in murder and conspiracy even while their own conspiratorial organizations like the Thule Society in Germany and the Cagoulards in France were, in fact, inciting violence and planning assassinations. Such projection alleviates whatever guilt the bigot might feel and justifies him in performing actions that he merely assumes are being performed by his avowed enemy. Perceiving the threat posed by the Other, and acting accordingly, the bigot thereby becomes the hero of his own drama. … No political or economic reform is secure and no cultural advance is safe from the bigot, who is always fighting on many fronts at once: the anthropological, the psychological, the social, and the political.” ?From an article posted July 22, 2014, on Inside Higher Ed by Scott McLemee – U.S. journalist.

“We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.”? Charles Caleb Colton – U.K. cleric, writer.

“When we begin to build walls of prejudice, hatred, pride, and self-indulgence around ourselves, we are more surely imprisoned than any prisoner behind concrete walls and iron bars.” Mother Mary Angelica – U.S. nun.

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” Audre Lorde – U.S. writer, academic, philosopher, intersectional feminist, poet, activist.

“People who insist on dividing the world into 'Us' and 'Them' never contemplate that they may be someone else's 'Them'.” Ray A. Davis – U.S. author.

“The bigot appears in one arena only to disappear and then reappear in another.? He remains steadfast in defending the good old days that never were quite so good – especially for the victims of his prejudice. Old wounds continue to fester, old memories continue to haunt the present, and old rumors will be carried into the future. New forms of bigotry will also become evident as new victims currently without a voice make their presence felt. Prejudice can be tempered (or intensified) through education coupled with policies that further public participation and socioeconomic equality. But it can’t be “cured.” The struggle against bigotry, no less than the struggle for freedom, has no fixed end; it is not identifiable with any institution, movement, or program. ?Resistance is an ongoing process built upon the guiding vision of a society in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” From an article posted July 22, 2014, on Inside Higher Ed by Scott McLemee – U.S. journalist.

“No one is born with greed, prejudice, bigotry, patriotism and hatred; these are all learned behavior patterns. … Human behavior is subject to the same laws as any other natural phenomenon. Our customs, behaviors, and values are byproducts of our culture. … ?If the environment is unaltered, similar behavior will reoccur.”? Jacque Fresco – U.S. structural designer, architectural designer, concept artist, educator, futurist.

“When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.”?? Robert F. Kennedy – U.S. lawyer, politician, former U.S. Attorney General.

“There comes a time in everyone's life where if you have intellectual curiosity and an inquisitive mind, you assess the prejudices learned from family and the environment in which you've grown up in — and make a decision to either reject it or take comfort in remaining ignorant.”? Bill Madden – U.S. sportswriter.

“We know that silence equals consent when atrocities are committed against innocent men, women and children. We know that indifference equals complicity when bigotry, hatred and intolerance are allowed to take root. And we know that education and hope are the most effective ways to combat ignorance and despair.”? Gabrielle Giffords – U.S. politician, activist.

“Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.”? Roger Ebert – U.S. film critic.

“My parents taught me never to judge others based on whom they love, what color their skin is, or their religion. Why make life miserable for someone when you could be using your energy for good? We don’t need to share the same opinions as others, but we need to be respectful. When you hear people making hateful comments, stand up to them. Point out what a waste it is to hate, and you could open their eyes.”? Taylor Swift – U.S. singer, songwriter.

“There is nothing more complex than the idea of prejudice for it defies educational merit, economic background and it does not adhere to a specific age-group or even ethnicity, it is a multi-layered issue that is passed down through generations most of which has been normalized through stories and anecdotes told and retold. … The journey into a color-blind heart is a long one but it is one we must endure so as not to allow injustice to continue through our children and into the future.”?Aysha Taryam - United Arab Emirates writer, editor of The Gulf Today.

“The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different – to realize whatever unique potential of body, mid and spirit he possesses.” John Fischer – U.S. academic, Dean, Teachers College, Columbia University.

“Only when we learn to value the differences among us can we achieve the true spirit of humanity.”? Charles S. Weinblatt – U.S. academic, author, counselor.

“If you can not call out bigotry, corruption, racism, sexism, xenophobia, islamophobia, ageism, agnosticism, imperialism, antiblackism, antisemitism, authoritarianism, terrorism, egoism, and totalitarianism; then you are encouraging it to grow. There is no retreat from all the "isms" conflicts with which we must cope. The most fecund killer of innocent in all of human history is not a disease or natural catastrophe. It is rooted in a sick way of thinking in which we have been programmed. Avoiding the quandary isn't helpful. A public discussion of these challenges could open up a new dialogue of approach. Without, this is the reality that the next generation would have to live with.”? Henry Johnson Jr – U.S. lawyer, politician.

“We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. We have no place for haters in America -- none, whatsoever.? … The glory of this land has been its capacity for transcending the moral evils of our past. For example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights, once a source of disunity and civil war, is now a point of pride for all Americans. We must never go back. There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this country.” Ronald Reagan – U.S. actor, politician, U.S. President.

“The ongoing culture war, whose existence if often denied by its chief antagonists, is no longer something that any of us can afford to ignore. Culture warriors have always been small in number, but lately, they have inveigled their way into positions of power and influence. As a result, the sphere of combat has extended into our homes, our schools, our places of work. Families, friendships and other relationships have been ruined. Many of us would prefer not to participate, but weapons have been forced into our hands. Culture warriors threaten to divide us even as they claim to be healing division. They couch their regressive ideas in progressive terminology, and those who attempt to slow their momentum are quickly subdued.”? Andrew Doyle – Irish playwright, journalist.

“It is in connection with the deliberate effort of the skillful demagogue to weld together a closely coherent and homogeneous body of supporters that the third and perhaps most important negative element of selection enters. It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program — on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of those better off — than on any positive task. The contrast between the ‘we’ and the ‘they,’ the common fight against those outside the group, seems to be an essential ingredient in any creed which will solidly knit together a group for common action. It is consequently always employed by those who seek, not merely support of a policy, but the unreserved allegiance of huge masses. From their point of view it has the great advantage of leaving them greater freedom of action than almost any positive program. The enemy, whether he be internal, like the ‘Jew’ or the ‘kulak,’ or external, seems to be an indispensable requisite in the armory of a totalitarian leader. That in Germany it was the Jew who became the enemy until his place was taken by the ‘plutocracies’ was no less a result of the anticapitalist resentment on which the whole movement was based than the selection of the kulak in Russia. In Germany and Austria, the Jew had come to be regarded as the representative of capitalism because a traditional dislike of large classes of the population for commercial pursuits had left these more readily accessible to a group that was practically excluded from the more highly esteemed occupations. It is the old story of the alien race's being admitted only to the less respected trades and then being hated still more for practicing them. The fact that German anti-Semitism and anticapitalism spring from the same root is of great importance for the understanding of what has happened there, but this is rarely grasped by foreign observers.” Friedrich A. Hayek - Austrian-British academic.

“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.” E. B. White – U.S. writer.

“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.”? Emma Goldman -?Lithuanian-born/U.S./Canadian activist.

“The denial of human rights anywhere is a threat to the affirmation of human rights everywhere. … Jewish history and culture are a part of everyone’s heritage, whether he be Jewish, Christian or Muslim.”? Martin Luther King – U.S. minister, activist.

“Anti-Semitism and Fascism have a long, mysterious, bewildering, poisonous and vile history and it's not exclusive to the Germans.” Bill Nighy – U.K. actor.

“Wherever anti-Semitism took hold, social and political decline almost inevitably followed.” Paul Johnson – U.K. journalist, ?historian, speechwriter, author.

“Anti-Semitism is best understood as a virus. It has no logic. Jews were hated because they were rich and because they were poor; because they were capitalists and because they were communists; because they held tenaciously to an ancient faith and because they were rootless cosmopolitans, believing nothing. Hate needs no logic. It is a sickness of the soul.”? Jonathan Sacks – U.K. theologian, English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, author.

"Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is the slope whose end is at Auschwitz." Ken Livingstone – U.K. politician.

“Auschwitz cries out with the pain of immense suffering and pleads for a future of respect, peace and encounter among peoples.”? Pope Francis -Argentinian theologian, head of the Catholic Church.

“The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction.”? Tim Holden – U.S. politician.

“… I fear a return to the international climate that prevailed in the 1920s and '30s, when the United States withdrew from the global stage and countries everywhere pursued what they perceived to be their own interests without regard to larger and more enduring goals. When arguing that every age has its own Fascism, the Italian writer and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi added that the critical point can be reached “not just through the terror of police intimidation, but by denying and distorting information, by undermining systems of justice, by paralyzing the education system, and by spreading in a myriad subtle ways nostalgia for a world where order reigned.” If he is right (and I think he is), we have reason to be concerned by the gathering array of political and social currents buffeting us today—currents propelled by the dark underside of the technological revolution, the corroding effects of power, the American president’s disrespect for truth, and the widening acceptance of dehumanizing insults, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism as being within the bounds of normal public debate. We are not there yet, but these feel like signposts on the road back to an era when Fascism found nourishment and individual tragedies were multiplied millions-fold.”? Madeleine K. Albright – U.S. diplomat, political scientist, former U.S. secretary of state.

“I think the central lesson that we need to understand from the major incidents of antisemitism that have taken place in recent years in the United States is that most of the time antisemitism comes as part of a package of bigotry, a package of hatred, a package of fundamental worldview that denies the basic humanity and equality of different groups. That’s not to say antisemitism doesn’t exist on the Left where people claim to support equality. It does. It always has. The Soviet Union trafficked in antisemitism, of course. But the dominant and most powerful and most dangerous form of antisemitism is an antisemitism that is bundled with a vision that denies the equality and humanity of a whole series of historically discriminated groups. And I think, often times, in telling the story of particular incidents of antisemitism, we forget that.”? Peter Beinart – U.S. journalist, political commentator.

“Rising anti-Semitism is rarely the lone or the last manifestation of intolerance. When the human rights of Jews are repressed, the rights of other religious and ethnic groups are often not far behind.”? Samantha Power – U.K/U.S. ?journalist, diplomat, government official, currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, ?previously was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations .

“Equating a pro-Palestinian stance to an anti-Semitic one is rendering the cause undignified by smearing it with an unjustifiable hatred for another. It is a cowardly way out of a real debate and a productive dialogue.” Aysha Taryam - United Arab Emirates writer, editor at The Gulf Today.

“The forces fomenting antisemitism are the forces arrayed against oppressed people around the world, including Palestinians; the struggle against antisemitism is also the struggle for Palestinian freedom. I stand in solidarity with my friends in Israel, in Palestine, and around the world who are trying to resolve conflict, diminish hatred, and promote dialogue, cooperation, and understanding.”? Bernie Sanders – U.S. politician, activist.

“(The village of) Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom—which means Oasis of Peace, in Arabic and Hebrew—was founded (in Israel) by Bruno Hussar, an Egyptian-born Jew who fled the Nazi invasion of France and later became a Dominican priest (intentionally built as a community of Jewish Israeli and Palestinian families). ?Around 1970, he secured a large parcel of land, on loan from a Trappist monastery, to attempt an experiment in nonmilitarism and religious pluralism in the middle of Israel, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. ... (José Brunner, a philosopher and a historian of science, who retired from Tel Aviv University in 2018, has written on the emergence of ‘national trauma’ as a key concept in Israeli mental-health discourse said) … “‘For Jewish Israelis, being in Israel has a meaning, but Palestinians, who can also be hit by a rocket flying from Gaza, experience such an event as senseless victimization. They are not fighting the Palestinians—they are the Palestinians, but they are also the victims of Palestinians who come here to attack.’? … Dyanna Rizek, (an art gallery owner in Wahat-al-Salam/Neve Shalom (and) ?Rayek Rizek (her husband – both are Palestinian, moved to the village almost forty years ago). In the late nineties and early two-thousands Rayek Rizek served two terms as mayor. … Dyanna Rizek had tried to assemble a show that would address the war, but, although she had been curating joint Palestinian-Jewish shows for nearly a decade, she couldn’t find enough artists willing to share wall space ‘ with the other side.’ ?So she decided to ask residents of Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom to express their feelings through art. She still working on gathering pieces for the show. In the meantime, she has changed its name five times, from ‘My Existence’ to ‘Receiving Our Humanity’ ?to ‘Our Humanity Demands Action’ to ‘Are We Together or Not’ to ‘Art in a Time of War and Destruction, for the Future’ to, for now, ‘Where To? … Maoz Inon, a social entrepreneur, once proposed to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through tourism. In 2005, he began building a chain of hostels and tour companies throughout Israel and the occupied territories. The concept, not that dissimilar from the original idea of Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom, was that bringing together Jews and Palestinians, fostering trust, and building economic mechanisms for local communities could sow the seeds of peace. On October 7th, Inon’s parents were killed by Hamas fighters, as were several of his childhood friends. Within weeks, Inon was calling for a renewed joint peace movement. ‘All conflicts end one day,’ he told me. ‘It’s up to us to decide when.’ Another Jewish Israeli who has cautioned against revenge is Yonatan Zeigen, the son of Vivian Silver, the murdered Canadian Israeli activist. In November, when it was still believed that Silver was being held hostage in Gaza, Zeigen said to an interviewer, ‘Dead babies in Gaza won’t heal our dead babies. The only way to move forward is with peace.’”? From an article posted June 17, 2024, in The New Yorker by Masha Green – Russian/U.S. journalist, author.

“The protesters, in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, revealed an open and raw wound at the heart of Israeli society, the pain of a community crying out over a sense of discrimination, racism, and of being unanswered.”? Reuven Rivlin - Israeli politician, lawyer, former president of Israel.?

“Part of having power is the ability to take risks to not dominate other people.”? Moshe Halbertal, Israeli philosopher, academic, writer.

“Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and all crimes that are based on religious hate are inextricably linked, they’re inseparable.” Abdallah Al-Moualimi – Saudi Arabian entrepreneur, politician.

“(T)oday, Jewish families worried about being targeted in school, wearing symbols of their faith walking down the street, or going out about their daily lives...We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens. We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia.” Joe Biden ?- U.S. politician, currently U.S. President.

“While Islamophobia like anti-Semitism is centuries old, it too will not be eradicated easily or soon. Therefore we all have a critical role to play: Government policy makers, educational institutions and the media, religious and political leaders, educators, media people, believers and unbelievers, the private and public sectors and international organizations like the UN are charged today to address and promote inter-religious and inter-cultural dialog to build a world based upon a modern notion of tolerance, that is grounded in mutual understanding and respect for others. For the end of the day Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance know no religious, racial, tribal or national boundaries or limits. The message at the end of the day is simple and clear: Islam is not the enemy, religious extremism is.” John Esposito – U.S. academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at 美国乔治敦大学 in Washington, D.C.

“Islamophobia is often based on stereotypes about the religion (e.g. terrorism and misogyny), which are 'channeled' into attacks on Muslims. Hence, Islamophobia can be defined primarily as a hostility towards Islam, rather than Muslims, though it must manifest itself (secondarily) as hostility towards Muslims.”??? Malcolm Brown – U.K. documentary producer.

Islam’s tenets are frequently distorted and taken out of context, with particular acts or practices being taken to represent or to symbolize a rich and complex faith. Some claim that Islam is incompatible with democracy, or irrevocably hostile to modernity and the rights of women. And in too many circles, disparaging remarks about Muslims are allowed to pass without censure, with the result that prejudice acquires a veneer of acceptability.” Kofi Annan ?- Ghanaian diplomat, was the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.?

“We have to be clear that while antisemitism is a threat to Jews everywhere, it is also a threat to democratic governance itself. The antisemites who marched in Charlottesville don’t just hate Jews. They hate the idea of multiracial democracy. They hate the idea of political equality. They hate immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, women, and anyone else who stands in the way of a whites-only America. They accuse Jews of coordinating a massive attack on white people worldwide, using people of color and other marginalized groups to do their dirty work.” Bernie Sanders – U.S. politician, activist.

“The growing tide of anti-Semitism shocks the conscious of everyone who values freedom, and the ugly, hateful acts particularly stain the character of democracies where liberty and religious freedom are supposed to be respected.”? Mike Ferguson – U.S. politician.

“Fueled by the conflict between Israel and Gaza and stoked by extremists, hate speech has spiked on social media platforms such as X, Facebook and Instagram, researchers said. On Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel, the hashtag HitlerWasRight appeared on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Over the next month, more than 46,000 posts featured the hashtag, often alongside language that called for violence against Jews. At the same time, the hashtag DeathtoMuslims also spiked on X and was shared tens of thousands of times, according to a review by The New York Times. Antisemitic and Islamophobic hate speech has surged across the internet since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out. The increases have been at far greater levels than what academics and researchers who monitor social media say they have seen before, with millions of often explicitly violent posts on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Antisemitic content soared more than 919 percent on X and 28 percent on Facebook in the month since Oct. 7, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group. Anti-Muslim hate speech on X jumped 422 percent on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, and rose 297 percent over the next five days, said the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based political advocacy group.? On fringe platforms like 4chan, Gab and BitChute, antisemitic and Islamophobic content rose nearly 500 percent in the 48 hours after Oct. 7, according to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a nonprofit that tracks hate speech and extremism. And the surge has been global, with antisemitic posts also widely shared on state-backed social platforms in China.? The outpouring has been both driven by deep-seated emotions over the violence and stoked by extremists looking to further their own agendas, said researchers who study social media. On far-right messaging groups online, discussions about the opportunity to indoctrinate far-left activists into antisemitism have been active, according to messages viewed by The Times. Russia, Iraq and Iran have also spread antisemitic messages alongside misinformation about the war. ‘Hate actors have leaped at the chance to hijack social media platforms to broadcast their bigotry and mobilize real-world violence against Jews and Muslims, heaping even more pain into the world,’ said Imran Ahmed, director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which monitors social media for hate speech.” From an article posted November 15, 2023, on 纽约时报 by Sheera Frenkel – U.S. journalist and Steven Lee Myers – U.S. journalist, author.

“Groups investigating antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias cited instances of discrimination against pro-Israel students and “a pervasive climate of intolerance” against pro-Palestinian students. Harvard’s task forces on antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias each found a climate of discrimination and harassment on campus, writing in preliminary reports released on Wednesday that the situation for pro-Israel students was “dire” and that pro-Palestinian students were being suppressed. The antisemitism task force cited reports of teaching fellows discriminating against or harassing students because they were Israeli or pro-Israel. It added that there was an ideological ‘litmus test’ for extracurricular activities that made it impossible for some students to participate. The task force called for a variety of measures, including anti-harassment training for all students, discussions of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, and accommodations for those who observe Jewish holidays, to improve the quality of life for Jewish students on campus. On the other hand, the investigation into anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias on campus found that the freedom of expression of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students had been broadly suppressed, leaving them in ‘a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat and isolation’ and in ‘a pervasive climate of intolerance.’ The report said that many students felt the words ‘Palestine’ and ‘Palestinian’ had become taboo on campus. Among other recommendations, the task force urged the school to appoint a visiting professor in Palestinian studies, and, in the long run, recruit tenure-track faculty members to expand the school’s curriculum related to Palestinian studies. It also recommended that the university clarify policies around bullying and bias. The preliminary reports come after a school year in which concerns have grown about antisemitism and Islamophobia at Harvard and other universities.”? From an article posted June 26, 2024, on 纽约时报 by Anemona Hartocollis – U.S. journalist.

“Stanford released on Thursday (June 20, 2024) dueling reports — one on antisemitism and the other on anti-Muslim bias — that revealed mirroring images of campus life in recent months that may be impossible to reconcile. One report found that antisemitism has been pervasive at the university in both overt and subtle ways, while the other stated that the school had stifled free speech among pro-Palestinian students and faculty. They were emblematic of the rift between Jewish and Muslim groups on campus, and showed that any kind of accord between the two groups and the university were distant.” From an article posted on June 20, 2024, on 纽约时报 by Anemona Hartocollis – U.S. journalist.

“Americans are much more likely today than two decades ago to describe antisemitism, or prejudice against Jewish people, as a problem in the U.S. Nearly half of Americans now rate it ‘very serious,’ sharply higher than the 9% when Gallup previously measured this in 2003. A combined 81%, up from 57%, now see antisemitism as either a very or somewhat serious problem. This shift has occurred as the percentage of Americans saying antisemitism is ‘not much of a problem’ ?has shrunk from 30% to 10%, while the percentage saying it is ‘not a problem at all’ has been steady at just under 10%. The latest results are based on a May 1-23 Gallup telephone survey with over 1,000 U.S. adults. Gallup last asked about antisemitism in 2003 when former U.S. Senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman ran for president, seeking to become the first Jewish major-party nominee. In recent years, a number of crimes and rhetoric targeting Jewish Americans have sparked public concern and discussion about antisemitism. These include shootings at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and a Poway, California, synagogue in 2019 that killed 12 Jewish worshippers. More recently, the Anti-Defamation League reported a surge in antisemitic incidents on college campuses and elsewhere in the months following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli military action in Gaza. To understand prejudice against Jewish people, it is also helpful to examine antisemitism in the context of prejudice against other faith groups. The May Gallup survey asked Americans, for the first time, how serious of a problem they consider prejudice against Muslim people in the U.S. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported a rise in the number of anti-Muslim incidents in 2023 compared with prior years. Americans are significantly less likely to view prejudice against Muslim people as a very serious problem (33%) than to say prejudice against Jewish people is. However, the combined 74% who consider anti-Muslim prejudice to be either very or somewhat serious is closer to the 81% combined figure for anti-Jewish prejudice. Older Americans Especially Concerned About Prejudice Against Jewish People - There are significant differences in perceptions of prejudice against Jewish people by age and party identification. Older Americans are far more likely than younger Americans to describe antisemitism as a very serious problem. Sixty-six percent of those aged 65 and older and 55% of those aged 50 to 64 say it is very serious, compared with 36% of those younger than 50. Meanwhile, Republicans (63%) are more likely than Democrats (49%) and independents (40%) to describe anti-Jewish prejudice as a very serious problem. In contrast to perceptions about the seriousness of anti-Jewish prejudice, older and younger Americans are about equally likely to believe anti-Muslim prejudice is a very serious problem. Roughly one-third of each age group holds this view. There are bigger political differences in concerns about anti-Muslim bias than anti-Jewish bias, with Democrats expressing much more concern than Republicans about the treatment of Muslim people.? Half of Democrats, compared with 18% of Republicans, say anti-Muslim prejudice is a very serious problem in the U.S., as do 30% of independents. The telephone survey of 1,024 U.S. adults does not have sufficiently large samples of Jewish or Muslim Americans to provide reliable estimates of their views on these survey questions. Jewish Americans Report Higher Levels of Mistreatment Than Others - A separate survey that interviewed more than 46,000 members of Gallup’s probability-based panel sought to measure Americans’ personal experiences of prejudice tied to their religious faith. Overall, 10% of U.S. adults say they have frequently (2%) or occasionally (8%) been treated poorly or harassed because of their religion. Half say they have not received any such treatment. Jewish Americans are far more likely than Americans, generally, to say they were treated poorly or harassed in the past year -- the period including the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and subsequent military action. More than one-third of Jewish Americans say this has happened frequently (11%) or occasionally (25%) to them. Meanwhile, 25% of Jewish Americans say they have rarely been treated poorly this past year, and 33% say this did not happen to them. Americans who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church, also report above-average rates of poor treatment, with about one in five saying this has happened frequently (3%) or occasionally (18%) to them. Jewish Americans from the Reform, Conservative or Orthodox denominations report similar levels of poor treatment. The survey sample, though ample enough to report the results of the nation’s largest faith groups, did not have sufficient numbers of Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu respondents to report reliable estimates for those subgroups. Nearly Half of Jewish Americans Say Mistreatment Has Increased - Jewish Americans are not only more likely than other subgroups to say they have been mistreated in the past year, but also more likely to say they have experienced increased poor treatment in the past year than previously. Forty-six percent of Jewish Americans say they have experienced more poor treatment or harassment in the past year than in prior years, contrasting with just 10% of all U.S. adults saying this about their faith-related experiences. The figures for Americans in other major U.S. religious groups are similar to the national average and much smaller than for Jewish Americans. Sources of Mistreatment - People of all religious faiths who say they have been treated poorly or harassed in the past year mostly attribute that mistreatment to people they don’t know personally. Seventy-seven percent say that people they don’t know but have come into contact with have treated them poorly, and 73% say people online have done so. About half say political or community leaders have said or done things that constituted poor treatment or harassment. Smaller but still substantial minorities say family members (39%), coworkers (39%) or friends (37%) have treated them poorly because of their religious beliefs. Jewish people who have received poor treatment are about as likely as others who have been mistreated because of their religious affiliation to say they have been treated poorly by people online (80%), people they have encountered in their community (82%) or leaders (61%). Compared with Americans who report mistreatment because of their religion, Jewish people are less likely to say they have been mistreated by family (14%), coworkers (21%) or friends (27%). Most Jewish Americans Have Felt Reluctant to Share Their Religious Affiliation - One in four Americans say they have ever felt reluctant to share their religious affiliation with others because they feared being treated poorly or harassed. However, 60% of Jewish Americans -- more than double the national average and the figures for Protestant (24%) and Catholic (26%) Americans -- say this. A substantial minority of U.S. Mormons, 43%, are reluctant to share their religious affiliation. As might be expected, Americans who have experienced poor treatment in the past year are much more likely than those who have not to say they have ever felt reluctant to share their religious affiliation (52% vs. 16%, respectively). That pattern is apparent among members of the major religious faiths. Seventy-two percent of Jewish people who have experienced poor treatment, versus 40% of Jewish people who have not, have felt reluctant to disclose their religious affiliation. Most Americans perceive that prejudice against Jewish people is a problem in the country today, with half considering it very serious. Jewish Americans’ recent experiences lend weight to those concerns, as more than one in three say they have been treated poorly or harassed because of their religious affiliation at least occasionally in the past year, and close to half say that poor treatment has increased compared with prior years. Perhaps as a direct consequence, most Jewish Americans say they have felt reluctant to reveal their religious affiliation to others. Jewish Americans are not alone in experiencing faith-based prejudice in the U.S. However, such treatment is more frequent and more acute for Jewish Americans than for members of the other largest U.S. religious groups.” From a report posted July 1, 2024, for Gallup by Jeffery M. Jones – U.S. researcher, analyst.

“Polling by the Pew Research Center in 2020 found that only one in three American Jews said they felt that the Israeli government was ‘sincere’ in its pursuit of peace. But whatever criticism American Jews leveled against Israel, the anger was born of love. Eight in 10 described Israel as either ‘essential”’ or ‘important’ ?to their Jewish identity. And they still held out hope for peace. In that same poll, 63 percent of American Jews said they considered a two-state solution plausible. Jews were, in fact, more likely than the overall U.S. population to believe in the possibility of peaceful coexistence with an independent Palestine. …? Over the three-month period following the Hamas attacks, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 56 episodes of physical violence targeting Jews and 1,347 incidents of harassment. That 13-week span contained more anti-Semitic incidents than the entirety of 2021—at the time the worst year since the ADL had begun keeping count, in 1979.” ?From an article posted March, 2024, in The Atlantic by Franklin Foer – U.S. journalist.

“Just because you don’t experience prejudice in your everyday doesn’t stop it from existing for the rest of us.”? From the novel “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by T.J. Klune – U.S. author.

“Do not let your assumptions about a culture block your ability to perceive the individual, or you will fail.”? From the novel “Words of Radiance” by Brandon Sanderson – U.S. author.

“I sometimes think that courage is the thing that you need more than any other thing. It's fear that cripples us. It's fear that accounts for racism, it's fear that accounts for sexism, for xenophobia”.? Anna Quindlen – U.S. author, journalist, opinion columnist.

“If you take racism away from certain people - I mean, vitriolic racism as well as the sort of social racist - if you take that away, they may have to face something really terrible, misery, self-misery, and deep pain about who they are.”? Toni Morrison – U.S. author, editor.

“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”? James A. Baldwin – U.S. author, activist.

“At their core, misogyny and racism are very similar modes of thinking. Both diminish and disrespect a class of people based on a trait that is wholly distinct from their ideas, their carriage and their conduct.”? Margret Wander, better known by her stage name Dessa – U.S. rapper, singer, writer, and former record executive.?

“The female struggle implies the black struggle, it implies the struggle with anti-Semitism, it implies all of the other struggles. That is the only possible way to think about human liberation.”? Sally Potter – U.K. film director, producer.

“Humans who have been subjected to a lifetime of irrational bigotry on the part of a mainstream society can be excused for harboring unreasonable fears.”? Randy Shilts – U.S. journalist, author.

“The worst thing about that kind of prejudice... is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds your self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough. … You feel the shame, humiliation, and anger at being just another victim of prejudice, and at the same time, there's the nagging worry that maybe... you're just no good.” Nina Simone – U.S. singer, songwriter, activist.

“A great deal of what passes by the name of patriotism in these days consists of the merest bigotry and narrow-mindedness; exhibiting itself in national prejudice, national conceit, and national hatred. It does not show itself in deeds, but in boastings--in howlings, gesticulations, and shrieking helplessly for help--in flying flags and singing songs--and in perpetual grinding at the hurdy-gurdy of long-dead grievances and long-remedied wrongs. To be infested by such a patriotism as this is perhaps among the greatest curses that can befall any country.”? Samuel Smiles – U.K. author, government reformer.

“As a global society, we do not have to agree, endorse or condone the lifestyle choices of others. However, history has taught us that we equally cannot and should not excuse those who would hide behind religion or misuse God's word to justify bigotry and persecution.” Joyce Meyer – U.S. author, minister.

“I don't want to see trickle down racism. I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nature. And trickle down racism, trickle down bigotry, and trickle down misogyny, all these extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.”? Mitt Romney – U.S. politician.

“I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”? Billy Graham – U.S. evangelist.

“Jingoism, racism, fear, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you're trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.”? Noam Chomsky – U.S. academic.

“From the heart, there is no place in America for hatred or acts of prejudice or violence or anti-Semitism.”? Mike Pence -U.S. politician, former U.S. vice-president.

“Man has but little heeded the advice of the wise men. He has been - fatefully, if not willingly - less virtuous, less constant, less rational, less peaceful than he knows how to be, than he is fully capable of being. He has been led astray from the ways of peace and brotherhood by his addiction to concepts and attitudes of narrow nationalism, racial and religious bigotry, greed and lust for power.”? Ralph Bunche – U.S. political scientist, diplomat.

“Prejudice and bigotry are brought down...by the sheer force of determination of individuals to succeed and? the refusal of a human being to let prejudice define the parameters of the possible.”? Condoleezza Rice – U.S. political scientist, diplomat.

“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”? Kofi Annan ?- Ghanaian diplomat, former secretary-general of the United Nations .

“There are no halfway measures against bigotry, hatred and anti-Semitism. It's got to be rejected totally.”? Abraham Foxman – U.S. lawyer, activist, served as national director of the Anti-Defamation League from 1987 to 2015, currently the League's national director emeritus.

“America rejects bigotry. We reject every act of hatred against people of Arab background or Muslim faith America values and welcomes peaceful people of all faiths - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and many others. Every faith is practiced and protected here, because we are one country. Every immigrant can be fully and equally American because we're one country. Race and color should not divide us, because America is one country. … I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, and anti-racism.”? George W. Bush – U.S. politician, former U.S. president.

“Acceptance is right. Kindness is right. Love is right. I pray, right now, that we're moving into a kinder time when prejudice is overcome by understanding; when narrow-mindedness, and narrow-minded bigotry is overwhelmed by open-hearted empathy; when the pain of judgmentalism is replaced by the purity of love.”? Janet Jackson – U.S. singer, songwriter, actress.

“One thing I've learned is this: Never allow yourself to hate a people because of the actions of a few. Hatred and bigotry destroyed my nation, and millions died. I would hope that most people did not hate Germans because of the Nazis, or Americans because of slaves. Never hate, it only eats you alive. Keep an open mind and always look for the good in people. You may be surprised at what you find.”? Erich Hartmann – German fighter pilot.

"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." Indira Gandhi - Indian politician, stateswoman, former prime minister of India.

“One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.”? Franklin Thomas – U.S.businessman, philanthropist.

“I am convinced that when the intellectual history of our time comes to be written, the idea of race, both the popular and the taxonomic, will be viewed for what it is: a confused and dangerous idea which happened to fit the social requirements of a thoroughly exploitative period in the development of Western man.”? Ashley Montagu – U.K./U.S. anthropologist.

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.”? Maya Angelou – U.S. memoirist, poet, activist.?

“As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greater instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.”? Desmond Tutu - South African Anglican bishop and theologian.

‘No man is an island, No man stands alone; Each man’s joy is joy to me, Each man’s grief is my own. We need one another, So I will defend; Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend. I saw the people gather, I heard the music start; The song that they were singing, Is ringing in my heart. No man is an island, No man stands alone; Each man’s joy is joy to me, Each man’s grief is my own. We need one another, So I will defend; Each man as my brother, Each man as my friend.” The song “No Man Stands Alone” inspired by lines from “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions”, a 1624 prose work by John Donne - UK poet, priest, lawyer. Song sung at assemblies and other events by many community groups, schools, religious organizations and summer camps. I first heard and sang the song in the 1950’s at Harand Camp of the Theatre Arts . See the Victoria Chorale sing “No Man Is An Island” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycbrO9XSDwY

Nora Gaffin Shore recommended putting together this installment of Thoughts And Observations which covers all forms of Bigotry and Racism including Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Antiblackism, Sexism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Ageism and others means of segregating individuals from mainstream society and limiting their options and opportunities.