Are you anti-semitic?

Anti-Semitism remains prevalent around the world, reports one of our national newspapers.  It appears that they are reporting - uncritically at the time of my writing this - a survey by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Anti-Defamantion League, or ADL, is an organisation based in the USA which aims to promote certain points of view, usually concerning Jews.

It appears that the ADL survey classified people as anti-semitic if they accepted certain stereotypical views of Jews.  This is misleading.  Ask yourself what anti-semitism actually is.  Wikipedia currently classifies it as prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews, adding that antisemitism is generally considered a form of racism.

Now ask yourself how anti-semitism should be identified.  The ADL survey uses stereotypes.  If I hold to a stereotypical view of the Welsh as people who eat toasted cheese and enjoy close harmony singing, then am I guilty of an irrational dislike of Welsh people?  If I hold to a stereotypical view of Greek people as being cruel to animals, then am I guilty of an irrational dislike of Greek people?

As I look at the list of stereotypes used by the ADL, I cannot help but wonder if some of them at least might not be well founded.  I have previously quoted the 2008 newspaper comment by Joel Stein in which he argues:

Only 22% of Americans now believe "the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews," ... The Anti-Defamation League ... sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping. Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood.

He concludes: But I don't care if Americans think we're running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the government. I just care that we get to keep running them.

And the ADL apparently considers it a sign of anti-semitism if you agree with this point of view.

What is a Jew?  Anyone can claim to be Jewish by religion, and anyone can claim to Jewish ancestry.  Therefore it is very hard to prove that anyone is not Jewish, whether by religion or by ethnicity.  Therefore it appears that we can all render ourselves effectively above criticism by pretending to be Jewish.

If you dare to criticize Jews, then you risk being classified as anti-semitic, unless of course you are a Jew.  But then, is Joel Stein being critical of Jews when he merely states facts?  Is anyone else?

The ADL and The Daily Mail both need to try harder if they want to persuade me of the prevalence of anti-semitism.  Perhaps they should start by analyzing those stereotypes to see to what extent they are reasonable points of view.

Related previous posts include:
Communists hate Christianity
The Red Shield versus Syria
Jews matter.  Does anyone else?
Cameron visits Israel