Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
During the Nazi occupation of France, this antisemitic poster was published shortly after the United States entered World War II.
It says, "87% of American Heavy Industry Is In The Hands of Jews!"
This poster can teach us a lot about modern antisemitic propaganda.
First of all, it uses a completely made up number, but it appears legitimate since it sounds so precise. No "three quarters" but 87%! This is like the completely made up accusation that Israel has imprisoned 850,000 Palestinians since 1967. It sounds precise enough to be parroted by mainstream media - but there is no source.
But there is another, far more important point with this poster.
If the audience isn't already antisemitic, it doesn't make any sense.
Who cares if Jews own most of American heavy industry? What difference does it make?
But when the audience of the poster already considers Jews to be vermin, then the poster is giving a warning that something evil is afoot.
The poster doesn't need to say anything disparaging about Jews - years of previous propaganda has already brainwashed large numbers of French people to consider Jews subhuman and anything they do as immoral. The graphic links the undeniably awful Jews with the tanks and airplanes of the Allied forces.
The very word "Jew" is the epithet, one that everyone already agrees is symbolic of the worst kind of person.
The poster shows that the Nazi propaganda campaign against Jews was thoroughly successful, and there is no worse insult than calling something Jewish. In some ways, this poster isn't antisemitic - it is worse. It was written not to convince the world to hate Jews but to use their existing hate for Jews to further demonize others.
And that is precisely the goal of the modern Jew haters, who are attempting to do the exact same thing with the word "Zionist."
Already, in Leftist (and most Arab) circles, the word "Zionist" is as toxic as the word "racist" or "fascist" or "apartheid" is. It is a go-to and reliable insult. And the new antisemites are working overtime to associate the words "Zionist" and "Israel" with racism and colonialism and every other social justice crime.
For example, this poster attempts to link Israel to climate change for its audience.
They are not where the Nazis were in 1942. They are still working on creating a visceral hate of "Zionists" and a negative reaction anytime people see the word. They are still in 1935. But they are working hard to get the West to the point that Nazi Europe was in 1942.
If they succeed in their propaganda battle, it is entirely possible we will soon see posters saying "87% of members of Congress are Zionist" without any further comment necessary.
Today's antisemites have learned well from their antisemitic forebears.
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