Beware: Systemic Hatred

 This post isn't about names...but I'm going to start with them. I LOVE mine. First of all, there are a billion nicknames for Emily, and I've used most of them over the years. Secondly, my full name defines my personality. Emily: hardworking/industrious. Alexandra: helper/defender of humanity/mankind. Bengels: rogue/troublemaker.

So in short, I'm a hardworking defender of humanity who likes causing good trouble.

My younger sister's name is Jessica. It's a beautiful and elegant name. Mom is quick to point out that Dad chose it, and that the name was invented by Shakespeare. In The Merchant of Venice, Jessica is the villain's daughter. She claims "our house is hell" and steals off with some of his jewels in the night to elope. Taking his money and converting to Christianity, she triggers a rant from her father: "O, my ducats! O, my daughter!"

Did I mention her father was the villain? He grieves his daughter and his money. The key plot of this play involves his lending money and demanding a "pound of flesh" as collateral for a loan. In other words, this man-- whose Jewishness is key to the story-- this Merchant of Venice values money as much as humanity.

His name is Shylock, and he is a character borne of blatantly antisemitic tropes. His name has become a word with blatantly antisemitic overtones; it now means "loan shark" and it continues to invoke the antisemitic greedy Jew archetype.

In short, the word "Shylock" is cringe to educated Jewish people and anyone who supports them.

Politicians have used the term before. Biden used it in 2014. When he was told about his error, he publicly apologized and acknowledged it was a "poor choice of words." Trump, on the other hand, used it earlier this week. When called out for his gaffe, there was no apology, just the remark that "you view it differently than me."

Ok, so maybe he isn't literate. And yes, he has used other slurs against other people.

But there is a rising tide of antisemitism here in the US and it is both troublesome and scary. And though the Trump administration claims to be fighting it, they are actually stoking the fire.

I would have dropped out of college, I'm sure, had I been at Columbia during the riots. It sounds so scary, and I'd have been so torn. I am very angry at both Hamas and Netanyahu, and don't want any civilian deaths-- I don't want any deaths!-- on either side. But I also don't want to be blamed for Israel's actions, and I don't want to be marginalized because of my heritage. I would have been terrified.

But that doesn't mean to deport the dissenters. It means to find ways to build conversations. Build bridges, not barriers.

Outwardly, the Trump administration has allied itself with Israel. But its actions and words belie his allegiance to the Jewish people. Getting rid of the special envoy for antisemitism position, canceling funding for agencies that combat hate crimes, and hiring blatantly antisemitic people: these are great concerns.

Pete Hegseth: Wants a new Christian Crusade

Robert F Kennedy: Blamed the Jewish people for Covid-19

Elon Musk: Opened the presidency with a "heil" sign.

And then this week, Elon Musk's "Grok" AI bot renamed itself MechHitler, began spewing antisemitic slurs against a "Steinberg" and recommending a new Holocaust.

This is very scary. This is terrifying. This is wrong.

But there has been silence about it from the administration. In fact, Trump is distinctly not going after the neo-Nazis and MAGA folks who are regularly promoting blatant antisemitism. Rather, he is going after the colleges.

I don't know what can be done with AI gone rogue. I don't know where an AI that promotes hatred will lead, but I know it's not good.

I do know that systemic antisemitism-- along with systemic Islamophobia, racism, ableism, homophobia, hispanophobia, sinophobia, etc-- leads to a broken society.

If the people at the helm won't speak up against hatred, who will?

Our words matter. Our actions matter.

Hold our leaders accountable.