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“Intersectionality” and anti-Semitism

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We’ve noted here the growing cave-in of hard science to post-modernism. One of the signs is talk of intersectionality among people supposedly committed to science. We knew it was bad news but we didn’t realize that it was enmeshed with fashionable anti-Semitism. Maybe we should have realized that.

From Alan Dershowitz at the Washington Examiner:

Students at the University of Illinois recently took to social media to express their distress after flyers were plastered around campus calling for the “end of Jewish privilege.” The flyer stated in bold letters that: “ending white privilege starts with ending Jewish privilege.” The posters had outlines of silhouettes with Stars of David printed out, and an arrow pointing to them with the accompanying caption “the 1%.” Although some of the posters identified Black Lives Matter as sponsors, it is not clear whether they were distributed by extreme right-wing groups using hard-left anti-Semitic tropes or by hard-left anti-Semites. In some respects, it does not really matter because many on the hard-right and hard-left share a disdain for Jews, their nation state and so called “Jewish privilege.”

This practice resembles the vile, anti-Semitic propaganda of the 1930s, when splashed across Der Spiegel was blaming Jews – and so called disproportionate Jewish wealth – for Germany’s losing WWI and the country’s subsequent economic downturn. Canards about Jews controlling world finances – first promulgated by the Tsarist forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” – was anti-Semitic back then and it is anti-Semitic today, whether espoused by the extreme left or right. More.

Right. But one thing Dershowitz and everyone else can take home: Big Science today is cowardly and is simply letting the war on evidence and reality run the show, as long as boffins keep their jobs.

Regular news coverage to resume shortly.

See also: The war on freedom is rotting our intellectual life: Intersectionality

and

Nature: Stuck with a battle it dare not fight, even for the soul of science.

Comments
Perhaps some people struggle to see obvious things because they simply don’t want to see them? Pseudoscience, which crosses the boundaries of the valid scientific territory and makes misleading philosophical affirmations devoid of evidence-based arguments, keeps many students confused about the true meaning of life and dignity associated with being created in Imago Dei.Dionisio
September 5, 2017
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Proverbs 10:12 (ESV)
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Commentary from Reformation Study Bible provided by Ligonier Ministries:
Hatred. The word suggests the rejection of the good order, indeed the dissolution (cf. 1 John 3:15) of human relationships. Such hatred causes the fragmentation of society. love. The word suggests seeking the best for others. Love is the greatest expression of ordered relationships. covers. In order to promote harmony of relationships, love covers over those matters that cause friction. This verse is alluded to in James 5:20 and 1 Pet. 4:8.
Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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Colossians 3:11 (ESV)
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
Commentary from Reformation Study Bible provided by Ligonier Ministries:
This verse was probably written with an eye to the exclusiveness of the Colossian false teachers. However, the cross-cultural unity of all those who belong to Christ is an idea that comes readily enough to Paul’s mind (Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 7:17–24). barbarian. Those who did not speak Greek were considered uncivilized by Greeks. Scythian. By reputation, an uncultured slave class drawn from tribes around the Black Sea. Scythians were lampooned in Greek comedy because of their uncouth ways and speech, and Josephus called them “little better than wild beasts.” slave, free. In the body of Christ, distinctions of social position are irrelevant (1 Cor. 7:17–24). Simultaneously, as Paul’s separate instructions to slaves and slaveholders in 3:22–4:1 make clear, unity in Christ does not imply or mandate a uniformity of function or capacity. What is important is to recognize that “Christ is all, and in all.” In the Pauline churches, diverse social positions continued to exist and were not subject to a uniform leveling process. Rather, they become opportunities for expressing Christ’s love across traditional social boundaries.
Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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Galatians 3:28 (ESV)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Commentary from Reformation Study Bible provided by Ligonier Ministries:
The wall of separation between Jew and Gentile is removed for those united to Christ: all in Christ are Abraham’s seed (Eph. 2:14–16; Col. 3:11). Indeed, no human distinctions avail as advantages in the matter of salvation. Paul does not obliterate these distinctions, such as those between the sexes, but indicates they give no preferential status in terms of our union with Christ. Until Christ returns, the created order remains and order in the church takes account of it (1 Cor. 11:3; 14:34; 1 Tim. 2:11–14). See “The Church” at Eph. 2:19.
Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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1 Corinthians 10:32 (ESV)
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God
MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV)
Those 3 groups cover all humanity. We are to be careful to offend none.
Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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Romans 10:12 (ESV)
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
Commentary from Reformation Study Bible provided by Ligonier Ministries:
there is no distinction. This is confirmed not only by the unity and universal kindness of God (v. 12), but specifically again by the teaching of the Old Testament in Joel 2:32, the statement fulfilled so dramatically at Pentecost (Acts 2:21).
Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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Bob O'H @3: Still struggling to understand the OP? :)Dionisio
September 4, 2017
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Much of the anti-Semitism I see on the left is driven by the Middle East conflict and is directed at Israel and its perceived policies towards the Arab states and the Palestinians. To say it's more widespread on the left than on the right is absurd, though. Broad anti-Semitism is one of the defining features of the far-right and has been endemic in white European culture going back thousands of years.Seversky
September 3, 2017
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Not only are BLM members are routinely anti semitic, so are the vast majority black nationalists and leftist radicals such as Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright. As a matter of fact the entire far left is routinely anti semitic. The truth is, anti semitism is far more widespread on the left than on the rightjstanley01
September 2, 2017
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@5 addendum Reformation Study Bible provided by Ligonier Ministries:
lawyer. An expert in the law of God, and so a religious man. Yet he was not genuinely looking for information but for something that would enable him to accuse Jesus. The lawyer showed insight; Jesus summed up the law in much the same way (Matt. 22:37–40). do this. God’s will is the way of life. The parable answers the question “Who is my neighbor,” not the question concerning what one must do to be saved. The Jews had various ideas about the “neighbor,” but they confined it to Israel.
MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV)
lawyer. I.e., a scribe who was supposedly an expert in the law of God. Aside from one usage of this word in Matt. 22:35 he answered. The lawyer summed up the requirements of the law (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5) exactly as Christ did on another occasion (see notes on Matt. 22:37–40). do this and you will live. Cf. Lev. 18:5; Ezek. 20:11. “Do and live” is the promise of the law. wanting to justify himself. This reveals the man’s self-righteous character. down from Jerusalem to Jericho. A rocky, winding, treacherous descent of about 3,300 feet in 17 miles. Levite. These were from the tribe of Levi, but not descendants of Aaron. They assisted the priests in the work of the temple. Samaritan. For a Samaritan to travel this road was unusual. The Samaritan himself was risking not only the thieves, but also the hostility of other travelers. two denarii. I.e., two days’ wages (see notes on Matt. 20:2; 22:19). Probably more than enough to permit the man to stay until he recovered. neighbor to him. Jesus reversed the lawyer’s original question (v. 29). The lawyer assumed it was up to others to prove themselves neighbor to him (see note on v. 29).
Dionisio
September 2, 2017
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Perhaps some people struggle to see obvious things because they simply don't want to see them?Dionisio
September 2, 2017
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Pseudoscience, which crosses the boundaries of the valid scientific territory and makes misleading philosophical affirmations devoid of evidence-based arguments, keeps many students confused about the true meaning of life and dignity associated with being created in Imago Dei.Dionisio
September 2, 2017
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@4 addendum: The Parable of the Good Samaritan
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him [Jesus] to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii* and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37 (ESV) (*) A denarius was a day's wage for a laborerDionisio
September 2, 2017
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Pseudoscience fills textbooks and research literature with hogwash that negates the dignity of all humans derived from being created in Imago Dei. As the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated, many problems in this world have their root in us having forgotten God. God requires from us to love other humans as we love ourselves. If we all did that, there wouldn't have been any poster against anyone. But if 'science' is falsely presented as 'proof' against God, then let's not be naïve to expect students at the universities to believe that all humans were created by the same Creator who demands from us respect for others. Since God is the unique creator of life, He has the exclusive right to dispose of it according to the purpose of His sovereign will. If we don't love the true God, we won't love our human neighbors either. The vertical spiritual component of the cross is a necessary condition for the horizontal part of it. Unfortunately, many people won't have the humility required to accept the truth.Dionisio
September 2, 2017
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I'm struggling to see where science fits into this story. Some people put up some anti-semitic posters at a university ... and?Bob O'H
September 2, 2017
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We should know from past events that scapegoating a particular group as being responsible for all the ills of society is a warning sign that we ignore at out peril. It was utterly wrong when the Nazis did it and the same holds for BLM. The fact that they have suffered prejudice and discrimination does not give them a free pass to practice it on others.Seversky
September 1, 2017
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