333 Comments

Honestly, I look forward to the day when we no longer pay attention to stuff like this. Someone tweeted something… who cares?!

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I happen to think that the comment by David Rothschild was repulsive , ugly , elitist and simply dumb - it is also very much not in the spirit of being Jewish to use social media to label a group - in this case “Republican Intellectuals”- as anti-American (constitution ) simply because he has a difference of opinion. David Rothschild might be Jewish but he certainly does not represent “my” people .

With that said, as a Jew who strongly disagrees with Rothschild (and Soros) , I will stand with the author for calling out Pedro Gonzales response as antisemitic and dangerous.

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It's a bit much to infer that stupid comments by a single conservative can be indicative of "the Right."

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This Pedro L. Gonzalez guy doesn't seem like a conservative at all. He bashes the Republican Party, he has attacked Ivanka Trump and Kristi Noem and Donald Trump, and frankly he is not worth the time of day. A low-I.Q. jerk.

That said, it's difficult to discern a strongly anti-Semitic vibe from the few postings I've seen. Maybe he is. But he's being very oblique.

As far as the love-hate relationship between the Right and the Jews, I do agree there is a strain of "practical anti-Semitism" that infects the far Right. Mark Dice, an otherwise excellent conservative commentator and humorist, has let slip the J-word more than once, and his followers on his Youtube channel make no bones about their distaste for "the Tribe".

Why are so many conservatives down on the Chosen People? Perhaps it's because some of the most egregious liberals are Jews.

As a Jewish conservative, I detest the far-left ideologies that dominate the Jewish community. I have no synagogue where I can attend services without listening to social justice topics in every sermon. Most Jews I know are either Israel-neutral or anti-Israel; a few are hypocritically pro-Israel, claiming to love the idea of a Jewish homeland yet hating the realities of self-defense and military preparedness, and willfully ignoring the fervent wish of all of its neighbors that the Jews of Israel be utterly eradicated and the place turned into some kind of Muslim-only property.

The Right is relatively pro-Israel, so I'll go with them. The fact that American Jews are confused and traitorously opposed to the most pro-Israel President we have ever had, renders them in my mind a kind of irrelevant and obsolete ideology that will die out with them. The Orthodox Jews, with large families and robust support for traditional Jewish values, social and political conservatism, and unwavering support for a strong Israel, will persist long after the Reform movement has intermarried and non-binaried itself into oblivion.

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Excellent point! Dear Mr. Murray, many thanks for reminding all of us, regardless of political views, to remain civil, objective, stick to the arguments without resorting to personal attacks, especially as hideous as references to physiognomies and like.

In order to be relevant and earn respect we need to uphold certain set of values, unlike the mob that has spent last 14 years calling opponents names, destroying symbols, attacking families, burning effigies, etc.

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I don't understand the people commenting that we should not call this out because someone said something on Twitter. This is a scholar at the Claremont Institute and it's a straightforward case of antisemitism. This kind of thing needs to be nipped in the bud.

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I love Doug Murray and he could be right. But he could also not be right. Does this hint of anti-Semitism? Maybe. Could it be innocent? Maybe. I didn't think the photo of Rothschild was particularly venomous; actually he seemed like a nice looking guy, albeit a bit French. In any event, this is nothing like the clear anti-Semitism of Omar and Tlaib, who actually sit in our legislature. When someone says or does something that's equivocally anti-Semitic, maybe the best thing is to confront him or her and ask what they meant. If that's what Doug is doing, good for him.

As far as "helicoptering," I'm not sure if tossing a lefty our of a window (some of us do recall the Defenestration of Prague, Doug) is any better than dropping them from a helicopter - but there are certainly days when either seems tempting.

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I denounce antisemitism in the strongest way possible no matter the source because my loyalty is to principle not to a particular political ideology.

I'm pretty sure most of the readers of Common Sense feel the same way.

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Insulting people for their appearance, instead of arguing ideas, is a very low tactic. Anti Semitic? I don’t see the connection between insulting someone as ugly and specific hatred such as anti-Semite. Adding a swastica to the start of the article was uncalled for. Due to lack of any example of his target being anti-Semite, Douglas Murray now has 0 credibility to me. His target might even legitimately sue him for libel and defamation. Mr. Murray would then be hard pressed to explain his justification for the accusation. A justification entirely absent in his article. His target acted like a rude jerk. As some who has been personally insulted for my large nose, I would never have considered that to be anti-Semite. (I’m not Jewish)

Take out the false claims of anti-semitism, this could almost be a good article.

The error is so glaring, it indicates a Mrs. Weis has a big blind spot.

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Not worthy of space on Honestly, Bari…

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I had to look up the meaning of the word physiognomy. I had never heard it before. It seems to me you can point out a person’s ideology as repugnant regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Why resort to using someone’s religion as a causation of their ideology? It’s lazy and pointless to say the least. After all, we all know Christians, Jews, and Muslims who reside on the left and right of the political spectrum.

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Much like every transgression against a black person is not necessarily rooted in racism, not every transgression against a Jewish person is rooted in anti-Semitism. More often than not, boorish behavior is just boorish behavior, with no larger social agenda attached. Mr. Murray is projecting his own bias in assuming knowledge of Mr. Gonzalez's motivation and intent and attributing it to anti-Semitism with no supporting evidence.

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Jan 5, 2022·edited Jan 5, 2022

Yup. It’s guys like Gonzalez doing things like this that give credence to the narrative that people on the right are nativist bigots. The number of actual bigots isn’t great, but every incident like this fuels the narrative and smears the principled Conservatives who find the bigots odious - Murray’s accurate word.

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The level of writing here is starting to slip.

Calling someone you disagree with ugly, or a goblin isn't anti-Semitism.

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I respect Douglas Murray for his insight…

But I had no idea he could actually read peoples’ minds.

How amazing….

This simplistic analysis is the same type of garbage that Jon Stewart is trying to spin with JK Rowling's depiction of goblins in Harry Potter….

We need to stop this vilification of individuals no matter what “side” they’re on! People are going to insult each other. We will never be able to stop it.

But what we must guard against is allowing those who have the power to exercise violence (the government) from getting into the act. But some clown on Twitter? That’s now our concern??

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My initial reaction to this was Gonzalez was simply using a picture of Rothschild - a guy who personifies the “loony left” - to highlight his point. But then the “cursed goblin physiognomy” reference to the picture of Ari Cohn reveals the nefarious intent behind his “playful” writing. It’s disturbing that this kind of thinking can flourish in the modern era, and yet here it is. Sartre, as always, puts this into its proper perspective - it is as insidious as the actual violence that it eventually leads to.

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