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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026

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Ethnostate for me, infinity zogs for thee. If it was ethnostate for all, they'd be fine and I find Israel far less objectionable than their enemies.

To any lurkers who are reading this, it serves as an example of how anti-Semitism is a result of conflict theory, not mistake theory. Note that the response was NOT along the lines of "Oh, wait a second, I can't think of any specific examples of what I am talking about, perhaps I am mistaken."

Note also how for the anti-Semite, each and every Jew is responsible for whatever is said by every other Jew. If one Jew believes X and another Jew believes NOT X, then all Jews are hypocrites.

Note also that this collective responsibility applies only to Jews. Rules for thee and not for me, indeed.

Note also how for the anti-Semite, each and every Jew is responsible for whatever is said by every other Jew.

A general statement about a group does not imply even it's dissenting members are held accountable for the majority opinion.

A general statement about a group does not imply even it's dissenting members are held accountable for the majority opinion.

Agreed. However if the dissenting members (or some other subgroup) are accused of hypocrisy based on the stated views of some other subgroup, that's the sort of group responsibility I am talking about.

In this case, the Jew hater identified (1) "Jewish thinkers" who are allegedly responsible for pushing various norms of conduct on the world; and (2) "Zionists" who allegedly carve out an exception to violate these norms.

Of course there are a number of problems with this claim.

For starters, Israel actually is NOT violating any modern norms of war. For example, it's perfectly legitimate to blow up a hospital which is being used as a terrorist base of operations.

Second, modern norms of war are not the result of Jewish thinkers any more than any other aspect of modern thought. To be sure, since the 19th century, Jewish people have a tendency to contribute more to any kind of modern thought. But for the Jew-hater, the Jewish contribution depends on whether the end result is, in his view, positive or negative. If it's something he thinks is negative, and only then, then Jewish over-representation means Jews are responsible. (Will the Jew-hater give Jews credit for modern physics in the same way? Doubtful.)

Third, even if there were a contradiction between these "Jewish thinkers" and "Zionists," it's only hypocrisy if either (1) there is significant overlap between these groups; or (2) Jews are collectively responsible for the positions of all other Jews.

Anyway, that's about as much I can do with Gish Gallop which has been presented by @Bingbong

Agreed. However if the dissenting members (or some other subgroup) are accused of hypocrisy based on the stated views of some other subgroup, that's the sort of group responsibility I am talking about.

But has he done that here? I thought the accusation was that he isn't being specific, which would preclude from attributing views to people who dissent from them.

In this case, the Jew hater identified (1) "Jewish thinkers" who are allegedly responsible for pushing various norms of conduct on the world; and (2) "Zionists" who allegedly carve out an exception to violate these norms.

Sorry, the last comment I saw was about "Ethnostate for me, infinity zogs for thee". It's a reductive and snarky way to phrase it, but I think this view is actually shared by a majority of Jewish people.

But has he done that here?

Here's what he said up-thread:

Part of the ridiculousness here is that Israelis act in ways that any sensible Western regime should be acting, but get absolutely pilloried for it due to norms of conduct that Jewish thinkers have done their best to encourage off the back of the Holocaust and their outsized influence. If the average Zionist didn't have a sole carveout in their politics for Israel to act belligerently I'd be a lot more supportive of their views.

the last comment I saw was about "Ethnostate for me, infinity zogs for thee". It's a reductive and snarky way to phrase it, but I think this view is actually shared by a majority of Jewish people.

Well can you spell out the view (which you believe is shared by a majority of Jewish people) in a way that's more comprehensive and less snarky?