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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

NPR's Peniel Joseph: Farrakhan’s Antisemitism is “Just a Blip” (Judean Rose)




Peniel Joseph, Wikipedia will have you know, is as a “leading voice on race issues.” The professor of history and public affairs at the University of Texas, weighing in on Farrakhan’s influence in an NPR podcast, described Farrakhan’s antisemitic remarks as “a blip,” as though such remarks are of no significance. 
The purpose of the NPR interview, we are meant to understand, is a thorough exploration and reassessment of Farrakhan’s influence in light of recent horrific antisemitic remarks emanating from such celebrity Farrakhan followers as DeSean Jackson and Nick Cannon. Going forward, should celebrities like Chelsea Handler and Madonna continue to share Farrakhan’s videos on race? Is it okay for people like Jennifer Anniston and Jessica Chastain to like those posts? And are we allowed to have an affinity for some of Farrakhan’s views while overlooking the rest—the horrid antisemitism and the crazy conspiracy theories?

Framed more boldly, if Farrakhan’s message about race is right on, may we, as a society, ignore the man’s antisemitism? Can we gloss over his epithets, the things he has said, calling Jews termites and sexual deviants?

Peniel Joseph was brought onboard by the liberal folk at NPR for the express purpose of answering these questions with a resounding yes. Yes we can ignore the antisemitism. Yes we can embrace Farrakhan in spite of the fact that the Nation of Islam leader is neither reticent nor shy about his insane hatred for the Jewish people. Because Farrakhan, says Joseph, comes in two different flavors. 
That means we get to choose which Farrakhan to embrace. We don’t have to choose the “bad” Farrakhan who blames all the world’s ills on the “satanic Jews.” There’s also the “good” Farrakhan—the one who is fighting for “Black political self-determination.”

The NPR interview is of note because it employs a race expert to put its liberal imprimatur on an ugly antisemite. And this is done in a twisted and perverted manner. We are told to think a certain way: that Farrakhan’s antisemitism is okay because it is offset by other factors, as if such a thing were possible: as if antisemitism could be offset or trumped by other matters.

Joseph paints two distinct versions of Farrakhan to make him “kosher.” The NPR interview is the liberal stamp of approval on Farrakhan, an “out” for society at large to overlook Farrakhan’s monstrous antisemitism, because it’s black lives that matter—black lives that are liberal flavor of the month.

It is sad and tragic to see the way people fall in. The way they accept, without questioning, what they are told to think. And it is also frightening to see how easy it is to get people to turn a blind eye to the kind of antisemitism that gets Jews killed in the millions.

Antisemitism is a hatred based on the idea that Jews are subhuman. If Jews are vermin, why then, it is okay to murder them or sacrifice them on the altar of BLM. But first you have to get people to see them as nothing, as unimportant as stepping on a cockroach. Something to get out of the way, to get to what’s really important. The MAIN message.

Black lives matter. And Jewish ones do not.

Which is how we come to have Peniel Joseph, really NPR, telling liberals that they don’t have to be concerned about Farrakhan’s despicable Jew-hatred. That it’s just not important. And because the people want to believe Joseph, they will. Just as the Germans wanted to believe Hitler. And the liberal left will look the other way as antisemitism grows, just as the Germans looked away from the atrocities and continued to believe that it was all for a good cause. And the cancel culture that applies elsewhere, to other forms of xenophobia, won’t apply when it comes to hating Jews. Nick Cannon may be delayed in getting his show on Fox, but after a proper amount of reflection, he’s still going to get that show.

Because Jew hatred is somehow different. And in fact, it IS different. Because the important thing is Black Lives Matter. And if we step on some Jews to get there, so be it.

Thus we have Farrakhan made kosher for the masses with race expert Peniel as the “hechsher,” the stamp of rabbinic approval. Peniel’s ruling is clear: it’s okay to look the other way on the antisemitism, it’s okay for celebrities to embrace Farrakhan, for society to embrace Farrakhan, and overlook his appalling out-sized hatred for the Jewish people.

NPR, using Peniel as its mouthpiece, would like you to understand that Farrakhan’s main message s what’s important. Because it’s for black people. And when Farrakhan describes the Jewish people as sexual deviants or portrays them as Satan, this is only incidental to the real message of Farrakhan. That those no-good awful things he says about the Jews can be considered and rejected, but the man himself, and the things he says on race, should be embraced. And because Farrakhan’s antisemitism—his outright hatred for the Jewish people—is not Farrakhan’s main message, it should not be our takeaway.

Which does a great job of reinforcing the idea that it’s okay for Chelsea Handler, for instance, to post a Farrakhan video on race, that it’s equally okay for Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Chastain and a whole bunch of other celebrities to follow suit. Which is why we’re going to have to document it all as it happens. To be the voice of logic in a field of hate, and to say, “This is wrong.”

It’s the one thing we can do. The one thing we have to do. And we have to do it often and at length.

It’s just the way it is. The way it always has been when it comes to hating the Jews. 
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