DaveTLV @Surasanji@social.cleverlibre.org

Evil exists. I have seen it.

@fribbledom That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me. <3

@peterdrake With new AnkleSeek<tm> tracking technology!

@Ophillous Is it organic?

@socialskeleton Can I also have a hug, Mr. Skeleman?

@rnitsch Not at all. Antisemitism is absolutely cultural and a part- a part many would rather forget- of European and American culture. It has never gone away, and has always been there.

You just need to look at the statistics to see the truth- Numbers don't lie. For the number of Jewish people in the world and in the US in particular they have a disproportionate amount of hate crimes committed against them.

Let's look at the FBI's numbers. Hate crimes against Jews are classified as 'religious' by them.

These are the numbers reported on their website for incidents and offences reported by law enforcement agencies.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2016/topic-pages/incidentsandoffenses

2016: Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,538 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed 54.2% were anti-Jewish.

The next closest was anti-Islam/Muslim hate crimes with 24.8%

https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2015/topic-pages/incidentsandoffenses_final

2015: Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,354 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed 51.3 percent were anti-Jewish.

The next closest was, unsurprisingly, Anti-Islamic hate crimes at 22.2%

https://ucr.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2014/topic-pages/incidentsandoffenses_final

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,092 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed 58.2 percent were anti-Jewish

The next closest, again, is Anti-Islamic hate crimes @ 16.3%.

These are only the REPORTED CRIMES in that realm.

Now, as it stands, there are approximately twice as many Jews in the US as there are Muslims, according to the Pew Center: http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

These numbers aren't new. WikiPedia's entry on Hate Crimes has a handy per 100k victim table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime#Victims_in_the_United_States

The dates are different here, but pretty much come close to the numbers above for a per capita.

This is a *Serious* issue in the American Landscape. Casual hate is part of the culture. Against LGBT, against POC, against Jews, and against Muslims.

Also worrying is within those groups the hatred being flung back at the people who, traditionally, have been the ones in power.

Maybe it is a bit of paranoia on my part- I'm willing to admit that my statements are based on personal experience growing up and how they made me feel, but when you've got people like Jeremy Corbin and Trump out there saying truly insane things... you get a little antsy. At least if you've ever been attacked for just being what you are.

So. Real talk time

Antisemitism isn't a new thing in the USA. It isn't a new thing in Europe. It's part of the European culture, and to a degree the American culture.

I grew up in the 90s, primarily, and it wasn't uncommon for people to make jokes at the expense of my ethnicity. Even now people will say 'don't Jew me' when talking finances.

People gladly say things to Jewish people and would never say the equivalent to black people, Muslim people, gay people- the list goes on. And when we point it out we're told we're being oversensitive.

Well, here it is. People got murdered and if you don't think this casual racism isn't part of that, I'm afraid we must strongly disagree with one another.

Already, I'm watching people make this a gun-control issue, or an issue of left versus right.

It's not. It's an Antisemitism issue. One that has been there for a very, very long time and isn't going away any time soon.

This will happen again. It isn't a question of if, just when.

Gooood day #QOTO and #Mastodon ! How is everyone doing today?

Just a little interesting news on alternative energy front: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-breakthrough-hydrogen-fuel.html

Neat stuff.

@iankenway Welcome to #QOTO ! We're glad to have you!

Some Friday night memes for you