The silence has been deafening. And very dangerous.
Admittedly, a part of us does not want to give any more air to avowed anti-Semite Ye (Kanye West) and white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Feuntes, who both appeared on Alex Jones’ TV show last week following their dinner with former President Trump and spouted some of the most vile and dangerous anti-Semitism we may have ever heard. In a different time, perhaps we would have kept quiet in order not to give these attention-seekers the spotlight they thrive on.
But not this time. The horrific comments by Ye and Fuentes, and their supporters on social media, simply cannot go unchallenged. We already have a real anti-Semitism problem in the United States – clearly the most dangerous that we’ve experienced in recent memory – and we have seen all too clearly that it is far too easy for extremists to cross the line between hatred and violence. We refuse to wait until it’s too late to say “I told you so.”
What concerns us just as much as the comments themselves is the lack of outrage. While celebrities, athletes and other influencers regularly trip over themselves to race to Twitter and other social media to offer up opinions and commentary on a whole host of topics way less important than hatred, prejudice and anti-Semitism, it is truly shocking that the Ye and Fuentes comments weren’t immediately challenged. Trying hard not to create a hierarchy of hate, it is curious at least that other recent expressions of hate against the LGBTQ community, the transgender community, the Black community, the Asian-Pacific community and others drew almost immediate and universal condemnation.
But when Ye blames his health issues on Jewish doctors and denies the Holocaust, and when Fuentes spouts his filth, few of the most prominent social media influencers rose up to quiet the hatemongers and urge a return to respect-speech.
So we will express the outrage that others have not had the courage to do: Hate speech in any form is wrong, hurtful and very dangerous, and those who preach hate should be called out, challenged and condemned for making our world a much worse place.