I cannot help but notice this.
If you go to Google Images, at least on my system, and type-in "Palestinian" this is the kind of thing that you get:
Or this:
However, if you go to Google Images and type-in "Jew" this is the kind of thing that you get:
Or this:
Check it out for yourself.
Just go to Google Images and type-in "Palestinian", check the results and then type-in "Jew" and see what comes up.
There is something very sick going on here my friends and it is embedded, yet again, in both western and Arab-Muslim cultures.
No wonder no one ever knows I'm Jewish.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting about that, isn't it?
DeleteAll four of my grandparents are Jewish and all four came from the Ukraine or Russia.
I think of myself as non-European, because I am a Jew, but I can certainly pass for any type of Euro.
If I were to tell people that I am of Spanish and English descent no one would have any reason to doubt me.
I could claim to be part Italian, part Turkish, part Polish, and part Native-America and no one would take the slightest issue.
But it matters to me.
And the reason that I care - and I suppose the reason that you do, as well - is only because I became aware of the special animosity dished out to the Jews of Israel not only by Arabs but also by Europeans and some Americans.
It made me realize that we are hugely outnumbered by Euros who think that Israeli Jews are immoral monsters and by Arabs and many Muslims who honestly believe that we are despised in the sight of Allah.
Y'know, Dan Bialak used to come on here and continually say that all we need to do is speak the truth.
I recognize that "truth" is not quite so easy as many suppose, but ultimately he is correct.
The truth is 14 centuries of abuse and persecution by a much larger hostile majority that now wants to claim "victim status" to Euros.
The situation is grotesque.
Yes. That's foul. Hadn't seen this.
DeleteMike,
Google is run by progressive Americans, not anyone else.
That means they are comfortable with their search engine working to that algorithm, or whatever it is.
How do you address that?
They're not Arab/Muslim or European. They're American.
Seriously, is it possible to contact Google about this? Or have people tried?
They're based in San Francisco, aren't they?
Question, entirely hypothetical: Do you think this would be any different if Google ( and other Silicon Valley giants) were founded and run by conservative-leaning Americans?
DeleteI don't know enough about how the tech companies actually work - virtually nothing, really - but isn't the main theme that runs through these sorts of things appearing on Google, or Facebook censorship and bias, the fact that they're a monoculture of progressivism?
I'm not sure how you can lay the blame for this on anyone but the people in charge.
You say that animosity is dished out to "Israeli Jews" but it's quite clearly encompassing all Jews. Many of those pictures are straight out of the worst sort of European stereotypes, from way before Israel even existed.
Off topic, but so appalling it should be read:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/02/vassar-faculty-sponsored-anti-israel-event-erupts-in-controversy/
h/t Mick Hartley
As he says, paraphrasing: The Blood Libel meets post-modernism.
It is frightening that such a mixture of utter hatred is woven into the most ludicrous, obscure, meaningless, convoluted jargon.
And, at the end, receives "thunderous applause."
We are all doomed...
For goodness sake search engines work on an Algorithm. Humans have no say. It all depends on the websites SEO
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm
Except Shirl that the algorithm sorts inputs that in the case of images were inputted by humans; thus, the images inputted must reflect whatever bias that exists. Considering the media's love affair with Palestinians and hatred of Israel/Jews no wonder it comes out like this.
Deletehttp://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2016/02/if-you-dont-do-this-you-are.html
Shirl,
DeleteDo you imagine Google would not find a way to remove images that were promoting offensive racial stereotypes if they were of any other group?
Kate and the rest of you guys:
Delete"Do you think this would be any different if Google ( and other Silicon Valley giants) were founded and run by conservative-leaning Americans?"
I do not know that this is actually a reflection of Google's corporate culture, but I bet that I can find out. My guess is that probably not, but the question will be just how are the images ranked? Why are some images on the first page and others on the tenth? That would be the first question to ask, I think.
"You say that animosity is dished out to "Israeli Jews" but it's quite clearly encompassing all Jews."
I think that there is a reluctance within me to embrace victim status. I look at Israeli Jews and see them surrounded by a violently hostile majority, but they are not victims because Israeli Jews simply refuse to be victims. They are traditionally willing to fight back and I very much hope that they maintain that tradition. In fact, I very much hope that the next go-around in Gaza means the obliteration of Hamas... but that's just me.
This, of course, does not mean that I am not cognizant of the difficult position of European Jewry.
As Arab-Muslims flood into Europe they are going to make life increasingly difficult for Jews throughout your part of the neighborhood. The big secret that nobody seems to ever want to talk about is that Arabs in the Middle East are probably the most violently racist people on the entire planet... and they are not, as you are well aware, a tiny minority.
Mike.
DeleteIt's got nothing to do with embracing "victimhood status". I don't. Neither do most European Jews who are concerned. What it has to do with is recognizing reality. Those are completely different things. As for Israeli Jews not thinking of themselves as "victims", I'm not sure what that means. Of course as a country they can - and wish to - defend themselves. But if an Israeli citizen gets stabbed to death by a terrorist, why is that person any less a victim than if a British person got killed in a terrorist attack?
Realizing -as Israel has done far too late - that an orchestrated campaign to demonize you, and to cause you harm, is going on and needs to be countered, is not embracing victimhood. It's just being aware of every kind of danger there is.
For Jews outside of Israel, including, sadly, in America now, being alive to the multiple ways in which Jewish people everywhere are treated with a ever growing amount of animosity and unpleasantness is just facing reality.
On social media, on television, in the Arts, in politics, in public discourse. And yes, on massively influential things like Google.
I can't stress this to you enough: Jews in Europe and the UK have been concerned for years about the changes in attitudes towards them in their home countries. And that has had far more to do with the anti-Zionism /anti-Semitism that comes from the establishment left. Much more than from immigrant populations. It is important to get the timeline on this right. The left have been obsessively anti-Israel for a very long time. It is their "righteous cause." They needed something to define themselves with after the end of Apartheid. They have aligned themselves with radical Islam since it first reared its head in Iran. It has everything they like. Anti-western hatred, anti-western capitalism, collectivism over the individual, and, visceral hatred of Israel. It's their new alliance to bring down the west. After the collapse of the Soviet Union they turned to the next movement who could offer them that.
Radical Islam would not be such a problem if the left did not consider it a partner for what they wish to achieve.
It is the "alliance" between them that is so staggeringly awful.
Kate,
Deletethere is much in your comment to comment upon, but I want to focus on a few points.
"It's got nothing to do with embracing "victimhood status"... What it has to do with is recognizing reality. Those are completely different things."
The embracing of victim status is actually key to the conflict and a core idea embedded in the western-left.
Palestinian Arabs embrace victim status so that they can complain to the EU and the UN and the US in order that those organizations might then smack around Israeli Jews on behalf of those Arabs. Many within the western-left coalition likewise embrace victim status. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement in the US is entirely grounded in victim status because victim status brings with it some degree of power.
The Civil Rights Movement in the US was before my time, but I always felt an affinity with it. Nonethless, there is no question that it was grounded in victim status... although in that case a very well historically substantiated victim status.
"But if an Israeli citizen gets stabbed to death by a terrorist, why is that person any less a victim than if a British person got killed in a terrorist attack?"
I am very sorry if I have given you the impression that I take attacks upon European Jewry as less worthy of consideration than attacks on Israeli Jews. I don't.
"Jews in Europe and the UK have been concerned for years about the changes in attitudes towards them in their home countries. And that has had far more to do with the anti-Zionism /anti-Semitism that comes from the establishment left."
Is this the core of your argument? Is the suggestion that I focus too much on Arab-Muslim genocidal racism toward Jews and not enough on how the "establishment left" bolsters that racism?
I disagree.
If there has been one central argument that I have tried to make it is that the western-left, and the Democratic Party in the United States, has betrayed their Jewish constituencies through providing a home of themselves for anti-Semitic anti-Zionists.
In fact, I expect for you to see to it that this is engraved on my headstone!
;O)
"They have aligned themselves with radical Islam since it first reared its head in Iran. It has everything they like. Anti-western hatred, anti-western capitalism, collectivism over the individual, and, visceral hatred of Israel. It's their new alliance to bring down the west. After the collapse of the Soviet Union they turned to the next movement who could offer them that.
Radical Islam would not be such a problem if the left did not consider it a partner for what they wish to achieve.
It is the "alliance" between them that is so staggeringly awful."
I think that this is where my perception of the American-Left differs from your perception of the British-Left.
In fact, maybe this is really our true disagreement.
The American-Left that I know, and that I was raised within, and that I supported for many years, is not generally anti-Semitic nor do they generally hold a visceral hatred of Israel. Many of them may be morons, but they are generally not hostile to Jewish people, nor do they generally tend to repeat anti-Semitic themes.
However, they fancy themselves the champions of the underdog and they see the Palestinian-Arabs as the underdog in the conflict.
Mike,
DeleteI have no doubt that the European left has been different than the American-left. But the American-left you were raised in is not the same animal these days. Nor will it ever go back to being.
You are looking at an American-left that would not put up JFK, or Bill Clinton - as he was - as a candidate for the presidency.
If you want to see the future of Democratic party activists and candidates, look at your universities. Look at what is normalized in the academy.
Of course victimhood is key to the conflict.
I was referring to you when you said that you, personally, did not wish to embrace victimhood. I was quite clear in saying that one does not need to embrace victimhood, as a Jewish person, in Europe or America to understand that something very difficult is going on in the climate. That may be much more obvious in Europe than in America, I'm sure it is. But things are getting worse in America. And are likely to get more so.
I asked you a question on another thread. About your leftwing friends in the States. How many of them speak out against anti-Semitism in the universities etc.? Or worry about the anti-Israel bias in the progressive media? Or are disturbed by the casual anti-Semitism that comes out of the Obama administration?
I expect your friends are very concerned about racism. As all liberals claim to be. Are they concerned about all types of racism, or only racism against people who are perceived to be underdogs? I am not expecting- nor would I want- for you to discuss your friends on this blog. What I would want, is for you to consider these sorts of points.
Also, you got it the wrong way round re victims of terror. I was saying that we should think of Israelis who are attacked or killed in the same way we would European or American victims.
Just because Israelis don't embrace victimhood doesn't mean they can't, as individuals, be actual victims.
Google's news feed increasingly uses Mondoweiss, Forward, Haaretz and other antisemitic sources for its news on Israel. To say nothing of the NYT, BBC and Guardian.
ReplyDeleteThat's because their SEO is good.
DeleteI have contacted Google many times about it. At least now thanks to my constant nagging they don't post from Blogs
Bernie Sanders meets Al Sharpton for breakfast after winning New Hampshire primary.
ReplyDeleteThat bodes well...
Bernie is toast; Hillary has way more actual delegates
Deletehttp://dailycaller.com/2016/02/10/hillary-earns-more-new-hampshire-delegates-than-sanders-after-loss/
I read that.
DeleteThe whole thing about super-delegates is extraordinary.
I hadn't realized exactly how that works.
However, there's no question that this is an extraordinary time for the Democratic party.
A really deep split.
I still think there's a lot that can happen in this race.
It's nothing if not fascinating.
And the Republican race, too.
Yep
ReplyDeleteNearly all the images of "Palestinians" are sympathetic while most images of Jews are you antisemitic including vicious cartoons.
I've worked in places for years without anyone realizing I'm Jewish. Even other Jews.
But it sure gets around when someone finds out
Not to mention Howard Wolowitz's mother on The Big Bang Theory.
DeleteAnd, don't get me wrong, I love that show. Sheldon Cooper is my hero and I would kill for Penny.
BUT among the steriotypes of Jewish mothers this is one is among the very worst. I find it offensive because it is offensive.
I much prefer Nancy Walker as Rhoda's mom.
What can I tell you?
I love popular culture!
The most stunning example was the episode of the hugely successful BBC show "Spooks" where the Islamic extremists turned out - in a last-minute twist - to be undercover Israelis.
DeleteAlmost unbelievable.
Douglas Murray is very funny on the subject.
Yep. First episode had a plot concerning a Muslim suicide bomber, and they got deluged with criticism. They turned to easier plotlines.
DeleteWell, you can't offend Muslims. China is a huge market, so that's out. North Korea is still available as villains, Russia too, but it's so artificial there is no real emotional reaction to these. What's left except "right wing militia" and the Israelis(Jews).
DeleteJacob,
ReplyDeleteWell, apart from the above, in BBC land, they tend to like neo-Nazi types from Germany or Eastern Europe. And animal rights groups are popular, too.
We don't really have homegrown militias, but any group who can be depicted as "rightwing extremists" are definitely OK.
Hollywood tends to like real baddies to be English; usually quite well-spoken ones. That's fine, we don't take offence. Although, it's actually quite silly.
And in Hollywood, terrorists have to be portrayed as white neo-Nazi European types, also.
It's all a bit daft!
Off topic, but our understanding of the universe is about to change.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine something called "gravitational wave astronomy"?
G-d knows I can't, but apparently here it comes.
So, they've basically proven Einstein's gravitational wave theory around a century after he proposed it as part of the theory of general relativity - whatever the hell that is, exactly - and they did it with the world's most sensitive astronomical detection device - something called LIGO - that perceived gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes, 1.3 billion years ago.
Apparently as the two black holes were coming together - probably as the result of the collapsing of binary stars - they were spinning at a velocity half the speed of light.
Now, what this means to me is that I simply will not be able to sleep tonight, because this is far more than I am capable of processing.
Arab kids with knives in Israel? I get it. It is hate combined with utmost stupidity... but this?
You guys have to check this out.
It's big news.
The teachable moment as it applies to this blog is:
DeleteIt happened 1.3 billion years ago...
See that, if you wait long enough the "News" finally gets reported!
~Alexi
I can't say that I understand it much, but this is BIG.
DeleteThe only thing harder to find than gravitational waves are Palestinian peace groups.
DeleteMelbourne Age
ReplyDelete"Dead Israelis don't sell newspapers "
Jewishnews.net.au
It's not what our readers are interested in
We're on our own, Geoff.
DeleteSo, what else is new?
Mike,
ReplyDeleteWhat strikes me in those two separate and oh so distinct picture galleries, aside from a lot of anti-Semitic images - actually as part of the over-arching anti-Semitic theme, is that in the Jewish one there are no depictions of Israel, the land that Jews came from, or its centrality to Jewish history or longing, whereas the "Palestinian" one is one big advertisement for Palestine. Everyone is apparently supposed to know where "Palestine" is, what it looks like, and what its brave and gallant natives look like. The now infamous map of lies makes at least 3 appearances. The Jews on the other hand are portrayed as rootless, and for the most part, male, ugly, perverse, parasitic, and unrepentantly evil - meant to give you nightmares.
It is truly grotesque.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI think that slowly and incrementally people like you and me and the Elder and Shirlee at JDU and the men and women who participate here and people like Dovid Efune, of The Algemeiner, and Horovitz at the TOI, are beginning to create an influence.
The Jewish conversation at this moment is dynamic because, as you know, it is vital.
Israel Thrives obviously does not have the influence of the Times of Israel or The Algemeiner, but we are definitely part of the conversation.
And, y'know, people are going to participate as they will.
You asked about JayinPhiladelphia awhile ago and, in truth, I have no real idea why he disappeared. The last that I heard was that he was heading into university, but I have not heard from him since. My suspicion is that he considers IT a bit too far to the right for his taste and he is on campus and busy with his studies.
Ultimately, tho, in the long term I believe that we are winning this fight.
We are outnumbered and we are outgunned, but yet decade upon decade, century upon century, millennia upon millennia, the Jewish people continue to stand up.
I am an optimist... maybe because I am an American.
;O)
How are we winning this fight?
DeleteSeriously.
Kate,
ReplyDeletethe western left is entirely hypocritical when it comes to issues of ethnicity and that certainly includes many people who I consider to be friends.
Here are my answers to your questions.
"I asked you a question on another thread. About your leftwing friends in the States. How many of them speak out against anti-Semitism in the universities etc.?"
None.
"Or worry about the anti-Israel bias in the progressive media?"
None.
"Or are disturbed by the casual anti-Semitism that comes out of the Obama administration?"
None.
"I expect your friends are very concerned about racism. As all liberals claim to be. Are they concerned about all types of racism, or only racism against people who are perceived to be underdogs?"
Perceived underdogs need only apply.
What I fail to understand is how they do not see the Jewish people as an underdog.