Why’s Kanye hating on the Jews?

It's time up for certain shibboleths in popular discourse. For example, #metoo. That ship has sailed. People are now firmly on the side of beleaguered males who may or may not have behaved badly, but apparently didn't deserve to be cancelled and so they weren't. Hollywood is back on track with Johnny and Brad in pole position — nothing sticks to them, ever. Not even Angie’s declarations about the stuff that goes on in the private jet set. 

Anti-Semitic statements are another area of ongoing recidivism. That sort of “people bashing” hasn't ever truly been effective, even after an entire holocaust demonstrated the effects of hate speech on the people it was directed at. Look at Kanye’s late-night Twitter rant about going “death con 3 on Jewish people”.

Why's he hating on the Jews? Because they're responsible for cancel culture, goes Kanye's reasoning. (I know, “reasoning” is a strong word to use in the same sentence as Kanye, what with everything going on in his head and printed willy-nilly on T-shirts). Reason is a quiet little voice exiled to the dustiest corner of his mind trying hard to get a chance to pipe up among the cacophony of competing impulses, half-baked theories and conspiracies which are all shouting. Shouting — all the shouting!  

More interesting than the anti–Semitism itself though, is how it works. I hate to tell you, it works like most other slurs. You're damned if you respond to the mudslinging and damned if you don’t. This is why that prophet came up with the “turn the other cheek” theory. Take Kanye’s rant.

The Twitter anti hate speech algorithm kicked into action and shut Kanye’s account down. Does this punishment make him think he's maligned an entire population? No. The punishment is understood only in relation to the prejudice that encouraged it. So what Kanye understands — and again I use “understands” in its loosest interpretation — is that the Jewish mafia is hard at work silencing him. His conspiracy theory is reinforced. “You see,” he thinks to himself. “They really do control everything.” This is how this type of thing goes on.

I hate to say it, but this works on the most basic of levels. Someone insults you and if you respond you seem petty. Perhaps you didn’t get the joke. If you don’t respond, the insult sits there growing horns and roots, taking up space in your head. Did this person just tell me I'd slip through my arse if I lifted my arms up over my head? Yes. Yes they did. What can I say to them? Right back at you? You can say nothing — nothing at all. You can’t even get their voice box blocked. You just have to grin and bear it.