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That's not true at all. There's a lot of criticism directed at Jews in general and American Jews in particular. It's just "I am going to go Death Con 3 on Jews" is not something I call "debate and criticism". Neither is "you're not real Jews, your identity is fake and I am a real Jew instead". What exactly is being debated here? What is criticized? It's just repeating known false statements in an attempt to hurt people.
Of course in a free country one should be free to say even obviously false and idiotic things. But whoever is saying it also should be told they are false and idiotic, and "it's debate and criticism!" is no excuse for saying false and idiotic things.
It seems like the mere accusation of antiseminitm can end careers and has the effect of ending debate. Maybe Kanye was out of line but people have faced serious repercussions for far less
"I'm going Death Con 3 on Jews" is "mere accusation" as standing over the body with a smoking gun in one's hand and screaming "yes, I killed the bastard, and I am proud of it!" is a "mere accusation of murder". Since antisemitism is not a crime, there never could be anything more official than "accusation" - nobody gets an official Antisemitism League membership card, and organizations that could issue functional equivalents of this are, thankfully, either extinct or far away. But we have very clear expressions that go way beyond "mere accusation" - it's not like somebody just said out of the blue "Kanye said something antisemitic 20 years ago, I don't remember where or when or what it was, but I remember it being said so vividly it affected my whole life, even though I didn't speak to anybody about it for 20 years, but now I'm literally shaking!". That'd be mere accusation. And of course, nobody would think about taking something like that seriously and demand it had far-reaching consequences. But that's not what happened. We have the actual anti-semitic pronouncements. We all saw them. Maybe Ye wants to tell us we misunderstood him and "Death Con 3" actually means "embrace of friendship and love"? Maybe by saying Jews created cancel culture he meant Jews are great people and cancel culture is bad, and nothing more? He certainly didn't tell us any of that.
And as for ending debate - what debate? I don't see him debating anyone. I see him repeating moronic falsities about Jews and promising to do the same in the future. That's not a debate. At least it's not any debate that anybody would value. It's still his free speech, but there's no "ending debate" because there was never beginning the debate.
People have faced serious repercussions for very small things, like walking around White House in a bad time. What's your point here? Do I think Chase should have closed his account? No, I don't think so. I think Chase is bad for doing this, and creates a terrible precedent. But do I think Ye should get his ass kicked, in strictly metaphorical and rhetorical sense of course, for doing something this monumentally stupid? Yes, I think so.
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