Mindful
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #221
Corbyn said:
‘[In the early 20th century], the progressive leadership in London of the trade unions and the Labour Party… was actually Jewish trade unionists and Jewish people in the East End of London. It was Zionism that rose up and drove them into the sort of ludicrous positions they have at the present time.’
Here, Corbyn is expressing an anti-Semitic idea: that there are good Jews and bad Jews. Or rather, there were good Jews, a hundred years ago, but no longer. ‘Them’, as he says; they have gone bad. His argument is clear: many Jews were soured by Zionism, turned from progressive people into those dreadful creatures we have today. Jews have been driven into a ‘ludicrous’ worldview. This section of his speech undercuts his claim that he was using the word Zionist in its narrow political sense. Instead it points to what Zionist really means in the mouths of many modern leftists: bad Jew. That Corbyn looks upon Britain’s Jews as having been ruined by Zionism suggests he does in fact hold to a prejudiced view of the Jewish community. He sees them as a community soiled.
The tragedy of left-wing anti-Semitism
Ludicrous? What does he mean by 'ludicrous'?
‘[In the early 20th century], the progressive leadership in London of the trade unions and the Labour Party… was actually Jewish trade unionists and Jewish people in the East End of London. It was Zionism that rose up and drove them into the sort of ludicrous positions they have at the present time.’
Here, Corbyn is expressing an anti-Semitic idea: that there are good Jews and bad Jews. Or rather, there were good Jews, a hundred years ago, but no longer. ‘Them’, as he says; they have gone bad. His argument is clear: many Jews were soured by Zionism, turned from progressive people into those dreadful creatures we have today. Jews have been driven into a ‘ludicrous’ worldview. This section of his speech undercuts his claim that he was using the word Zionist in its narrow political sense. Instead it points to what Zionist really means in the mouths of many modern leftists: bad Jew. That Corbyn looks upon Britain’s Jews as having been ruined by Zionism suggests he does in fact hold to a prejudiced view of the Jewish community. He sees them as a community soiled.
The tragedy of left-wing anti-Semitism
Ludicrous? What does he mean by 'ludicrous'?