"Burn in Hell, Filthy Jew" - Why being an Israeli online SUCKS
I am taking a break from publishing chapters from my book to write about something that has been bugging me ever since I connected to the Internet, back in 1996 (yes, I am old, deal with it). Anti-Israelis online.
Today was a sad day for the Israeli nation. Today we buried one of the best people to live and work in this country - Israel's 9th president, Shimon Peres. He died at the age of 93, and worked for peace and prosperity of all people living on this land for as long as he physically could. And then some.
But I am not here to write a eulogy. President Obama said it better than I ever could, having known Shimon personally. I am here to talk about hate.
(Illustration via Pixabay)
Rest in Peace / Burn in Hell
I didn't plan to watch the funeral procession or listen to the eulogies from world leaders and family members. It's depressing not only because Israel lost a great man, but also because there are the comments, filled to the brink with all-caps hate and verbal poison. But as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, I noticed many of my friends tuned into the Washington Post video stream from the event. So I looked.
Here are just some of the comments in the thread beside the video feed, to give you a general idea:
There are plenty more, I just got nauseous from going over them. But here's what I find interesting - people have lost not only their humanity, but their shame.
Not Just YouTube
One of the reasons YouTube comments have such a reputation for being mean, racist, sexist and generally awful is that they can be made anonymously. So many people assumed that it's WHY people allow themselves to display so much hatred - it's venting. No one knows it's you, so it's easier. This is also true for twitter, when one can create an anonymous handle quite easily.
What worries me most, is that in the comments above, the people didn't even try to conceal their identity. Bomb threats and hatred were spewed in such quantities, some American commenters noted the CIA would have a field day collecting the profiles of Muslim extremists on Facebook. And this stumps me.
How can people have so little shame, not to mention common sense?
Unlike others, I don't expect Facebook or Twitter to police this hate. I expect people to police themselves and be human beings, like I try to. But too often people fail me.
Israeli Pride / Shame
Introducing myself as Israeli, in most places on the web, is an invitation for hate. Online games, forum discussions and even random chat rooms are filled with people just waiting to tell me how much of a child murderer I am and how I need to be raped and killed because I am a filthy Jew. And it doesn't matter if I agree or disagree with the policies of the Israeli government regarding Palestinians or any other topic. I am automatically a target for endless hate speech simply for being a Jew living in Israel.
I found myself avoiding telling people where I am from. Not because I am ashamed of it, but because I simply rather avoid the experience and rain of verbal manure that gets thrown at me many a time. And this just makes me feel weird. I might not be all nationalistic by nature, but do I need to go around feeling shame on behalf of the government of my country? Should anyone?
Trolls and Hate and Steemit
One of the things I love about Steemit is how kind, polite and friendly the community is compared to other social media sites and just generally the Internet in 2016. It reminds me of online communities in the 90s, but in a good way. I hope it doesn't change as the community grows.
I came online at a young age, just 13 when I first met people on the other side of the world in chats and newsgroups. Perhaps too young to deal with the issues I was faced with (among others - child pornography - which was much too prevalent back then). Now I have to deal with different issues, and filter out hate rather than offensive content I came across in my many days on the web.
I could just be nostalgic (and old), but I think the Internet has turned into a much more hostile place in the past 2 decades. Probably because it's no longer reserved to tech-savvy nerds. Maybe that is what makes Steemit special?
None of This is My Fault!
It is truly beyond me why people decide to attack individuals based on race or religion. I am weird that way. But why accuse me of the Occupation of Palestine when I don't even own a home in this country, just rent one? Where is the logic there? How is any of is *MY* fault? And how does attacking every Jew you meet online going to get you anything in life?
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If you've read this far - thank you! Your comments are welcome, as long as they are civil and don't just make me sink further into despair with the human race.
People are generally nicer here because there is a financial incentive to be nicer (which is a good thing!) Rude people tend to get flagged to oblivion or at least not do very well.
Good point. Didn't think about the monetary aspect of it. Hmm...
Jews are freaking awesome. (seriously: The culture of learning, education, respect and mutual support that I've seen religious and ethnic Jews foster in their communities is unmatched anywhere)
Ariel Sharon, and the Israeli Government, yeah, not so much.
#notalljews
But seriously? Yeah. Sharon and the nationalists scare me.
Well, not all of any group, eh?
But if I'm gonna generalize I'll stand by my generalization.
All humans are mammals!
Yeah, I am fun at parties. :P
To all that I say this:
LOL <3
@techslut I consider you a friend but the second paragraph of this post definitely rubbed more than a few nerves in me.
I remember when he was President of Israel and every time I turned on the news I saw something about him invading Palestinian areas, bombing them, cutting off food and medical supplies to them and much much more.
Now I will be the first to admit I don't have all the facts and American media is renowned for skewing the truth so I don't put a lot of stock in what I see on the news. It does make me seriously question a person when I see so many bad things attributed to them. Just like I feel about Obama now. Our President is a sorry excuse for a human being that has broken virtually every promise he made to the American People and has done more to stir hatred and racism in this country than any President we have ever had.
I personally believe that Shimon Peres wanted to do the right thing and Unite the Israeli and Palestinian nations, but he failed miserably at that and will forever be blamed for the deaths that occurred during his Presidency.
Having said all that, I want to thank you. You see the first day you and I met here on Steemit you told me who you where, were you lived and much much more. I feel as if we made a connection and developed a mutual trust early on and I hope that never changes. But if you can speak your mind, then so can I so please take no offense when I say:
If you remove Religion from the equation and look at just the history and archaeological record of the area currently occupied by Israel the question of "Who is the rightful owner of that land" comes into question.
Now I don't know who was there first, but from reading History of the area and researching Archaeological Findings from the area it would seem that the Palestinians were there first.
Truthfully, who was there first is irrelevant in this, the 21st Century. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for Judaism, Christianity, Muslim and/or any other religious belief to be at odds with any other religious belief.
It is time for the leaders, both government and religious, to GROW THE FUCK UP and start living what their religion teaches. Peace, Harmony and Good Will to everyone.....then let God, Allah, Buddha or who ever do the judging in the afterlife.
"I remember when he was President of Israel and every time I turned on the news I saw something about him invading Palestinian areas, bombing them, cutting off food and medical supplies to them and much much more."
Such decisions in Israel are made by the Prime Minister. The president's role is mostly ceremonial. In any case, I strongly recommend you check what Shimon Peres has been doing for the past 20 years. I am the last person to support war or violence. Or those who promote it. But that's hardly the issue here.
Religion is... bad. I have respect for faith, but once you organize it and "aim" it at things, it gets ugly. Nationalism is similar. Now, when you mix the two? Shit proceeds to hit the fan. Personally? I don't care who "owns" this land according to what religion or archeology. It's had so many owners over the centuries, it matters little. I just wish people would stop giving so much power to lines on maps and imaginary friends in the sky when it ends up costing in people's lives and suffering.
Just to compare - I've had friends die in terrorist bombings. It tore my soul to bury a peace-loving hippy musician who was at the wrong time and wrong place and died because he's a Jew living in Israel. And I refuse to let that turn me into a war monger or hater. It hurts, but the pain makes me desire peace more, rather than retaliation.
I used to watch a show called Babylon 5, and an alien named Delenn once said something very wise: "In an eye-for-an-eye and tooth-for-tooth world, everyone will remain blind and toothless."
This reply came out waaaay longer than I intended.
I love Babylon 5!
I have Ivanova's Playboy autographed. I spent some time with her when she visited Israel. #showoff
Yes I know, but go ahead and rub it in some more!
I have pictures.
This is so well written. I love this article as my daughter here in Australia has met many young teens that have similar issues from around the world. We are lucky that she has taken our values is an open minded girl that does not judge anyone in any way unless she personally has been affected. Thank you for the introduction piece.
Hate is a poison.
This was bullshit, you did good calling them out on it.
I wish to apologize on behalf of the non-vocal majority for the opinions expressed by the very vocal minority.
Signed,
All of humanity
But why accuse me of the Occupation of Palestine when I don't even own a home in this country, just rent one? Where is the logic there? How is any of is MY fault? And how does attacking every Jew you meet online going to get you anything in life?
Logic is shunned by far too many people.
More and more, it seems the triune brain is dominated by the first and most primitive layer (reptile, or inner lizard).
Humans have sentience. That third layer of brain.
Trouble is, too many of us quit thinking and just react like the lizard.
Girl, you're awesome, I too was very sad to hear about Peres, I thought he would out-live us all :)
Numerically he just might. 93 years is a lot!
People can be assholes. period. Give an idiot a megaphone and other idiots will agree because they don't have enough confidence to stand on their own two feet. Let mob mentality set in. Follow the crowd. Lemmings. All of them.
Not everyone is like that. Some people choose love. I recommend you sign off FB for a bit. Turn off your TV and newsfeed...and take a moment in la-la land to find your grounding. I think you're a great person...and I couldn't care less if you were polka-dotted with 4 armpits and a testicle. ;)
I don't have a TV, but now I am sitting here imagining myself with polka-dots and too many armpits and what the hell do I do with ONE testicle?! That's just weird! :P
Bwahahahaaa. Embrace the weird. Or squeeze it and call it George. LOL
It is weird how people have certain perceptions of others before they even get to know them just because of where they are from. I'm going to be honest I have been surprised by a couple of people here on Steemit including yourself particularly by how good their English is. It is almost what I would consider to be an American accent which is super interesting consider that English would be a second language. Also in your situation I didn't imagine the Poly life style to be something that would sort of exist in Israel. I just imagined it being very religious and very conservative.
I do admit I need to get out and travel more to really understand cultures better first hand instead of relying on random garbage from American media to sway my perceptions. I try to keep an open mind!
Israel has a very large secular majority. The most religious thing I've ever done was my wedding. I am also a naturist (yeah, I can let the girls swing free at certain beaches and events), bisexual and very open about all the above. There's a poly community here, a naturist community, our own version of the Burning Man Festival (called MidBurn) and scifi conventions (our version of Comicon is called ICon).
People do have a lot of misconceptions, I guess. Well, I am here to break stigmas. And if you decide to visit Israel, drop me a line (I am techslut everywhere, including Twitter). I'll be happy to help and show you around.
note from my below comment: "religious and ethnic Jews" -- I know which group you belong to, and yeah, "your group" (the non-religous ethnic Jews) well, you folks (sorry, generalizing) tend to be some of the most fun, accepting people out there. Oh, and did I mention smart as hell and hot as fuck in bed?
Okay, now you're just flattering me. Do go on!
I sound retarded in the above comment, what with "groupings" of "people"... but hell, We all belong to many groups, so with that said, here's some thoughts on (Semitic?) culture:
Oh, but you get it...
Okay, well actually its not really meant as flattery; it is sincere:
I've dated two non-religious "Jews" (is there another word, I don't know?) in my days, and well, both were extremely smart, assertive, funny... and good lord, the sexsexsexsex)-- and in my mind this is totally related to the kinds of environments they were raised in-- I went to family events with both, and they were-- interesting to say the least. This is where I'm drawing my cultural remarks from-- to say that these folks were tight-knit and all very intelligtent (meaning sharp, witty, etc) and learned (meaning if not schooled, then certainly they were well-read) and relaxed would be the understatement of the century.
So while you may not value your religious background (and you shouldn't-- no one should, really... (imagine: the middle east without religion :D)) I'd say that Jewish folk have some of the world's richest cultural heritage, and in addition to that, many methods of keeping that heritage strong through generations. This is probably why (again, generalizing) relative to other groups of humans, there's a disproportionate representation of Jewish folk among the wealthy: It's the cultural emphasis on knowledge and community, and there's no way to put a price on that.