alias_sqbr: the symbol pi on a pretty background (Default)
alias_sqbr ([personal profile] alias_sqbr) wrote in [personal profile] sqbr 2009-01-24 12:14 pm (UTC)

Considered reply

First, I think you've missed the significant thing emily_shore was apologising for: it wasn't just that she didn't call out the anti-semitism, it's that she let it slide and then when it got heated, she complained about the use of a sexist insult used in a relatively genderless way (by a woman towards another in an argument about something unrelated to gender/sex. Still bad, but not super sexist). If she'd just not moderated at all that would be different (still kind of bad, but more morally neutral), but that was a double standard which sent a very bad message.

Also, it was clear that someone was offended by the anti-semitism, and the person who said it had the chance to say "oops, I didn't mean it that way, sorry" etc and they didn't.

Now we don't KNOW that shayheyred would have apologised if a Palestinian had complained but we don't know they wouldn't either. There's still space for a Palestinian POV to be heard, and no strong sign it wouldn't be.

Jewish voices, on the other hand, were actively silenced in the act of defending themselves against anti-semitism.

So it's not symmetrical. And I definitely think you can create a space which is unsafe for both blatant anti-semitism and anti-palestinian sentiments. It might not be the most comfortable space for palestinians or jews since chances are members of both groups would occasionally have to be pulled back into line (as would everyone else), but "safe" is not the same as "comfortable".

I agree that there's always going to be ambiguity, things which one group considers a reasonable opinion and another bigotry and vice versa. But that doesn't mean there's no benefit in drawing a line against the unambiguous stuff and trying to deal with everything else consistently and as fairly as possible on a case by case basis.

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