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Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden
Psychology, Medicine, Science, Politics, Oppression, Integrity, Philosophy, Jews -- For those who like their news and truths frank and sharp

Defeating Racism and Anti-Semitism

Academics may be satisfied with cataloguing doomsday scripts. But why not try to inspire resistance and activism? Here are some pieces of advice:

No Weapons for Fascists

Everyone in the US who gets caught being a fascist, White-supremacist, Neo-Nazi or Alt-Righter should be barred from holding firearms, just like anyone else on a list of (suspected) terrorists.

No Over-Simplified Trashing of Fascists

When we would trash anyone who could be fascist, many people simply irritated with political correctness would self-identify as Nazis.

We all have anti-Semitic and racist ideas planted in our brains, and that does not make any of us bad people. Fascists need to be denounced for elevating such sentiments to ideals. We oppose people who glorify hatred — not people who are not complete saints — none of us is.

If you’re annoyed that you can speak your mind about Jews and Blacks — that is understandable. We all need ways to deal with how to be honest and supportive allies to Jews and Blacks. That doesn’t make us Nazis.

Nazis are people who simplify the internal struggle of dealing with Blacks and Jews to: just hate them and be proud of it. You deserve to be proud.

The latter is true: everyone deserves to feel proud. But real pride is never at the expense of others, never doing what is shameful!

So, let us fight fascism with nuance; alienate bigoted minds from the core fascists, and not from us. Make clear how fascists are the enemies of everyone. And how they are not the new underdog.

Claiming that President Trump is a bigot is an exaggeration and would backfire. Others with oppressive sentiments and not too much insight in oppression would then start mistakenly labeling themselves as far-Right.

No one should call themselves Nazi and the like, because that would legitimize their hatred.

Learn to Become an Ally

At first, US President Trump showed that he doesn’t understand how to stand up against fascism and especially the Alt-Right. Two days later he read a script pretending to have any clue about this, but that still omitted the Alt-Right from the list of bad people. The next day, he spoke from his heart again, proving that he lied political correctness the day before without believing it. Lying is wrong. Prejudices are always false. If one lies the truth, is that lying or speaking the truth? It’s lying.

Late during his election campaign, Mr. Trump went to a Black Church and read many pro-religious and pro-Black statements from paper. He tried not missing a letter from the script, as if clueless about what he should say. No doubt, he was. My toes cringed in vicarious shame.

But how is this different from a White person being raised in racist culture trying not to say something racist, trying to improve?

  • First of all: all Whites trying not to sound racist and all Gentiles trying not to look anti-Semitic: forget it, relax! The bigoted conditioning is all over you and it’s going to be for decades. Try not to talk or act like a bigot, but don’t claim 100% success.
  • Do it for you: bettering your life, standing for what you believe in, and not to save those “poor” Blacks / Jews. Pity is not the way.
  • Try to become proud enough of the good in your own heritage.
  • Break the isolation: make Black / Jewish friends and stick with them.
  • Shut up, smile, ask and listen. Don’t argue. Don’t teach them.
  • Try to be respectful, considerate.
  • Don’t decide for the other; ask: what would you think/like?
  • Laugh about it. Really, do. (And laugh about anything scary.)
  • Admit your mistakes without drama. Ask what hurt you caused.
  • Join a regular support group for Whites / Gentiles. Cry there. It helps to cry about our failures and to set small positive goals.
  • Notice how racism / anti-Semitism has cut us off from everyone. Connect to fellow Whites / Gentiles. Try to become as close to Whites / Gentiles as Blacks / Jews are typically with Blacks / Jews.
  • Try to get information from other allies who got it, who listened.
  • Try to be a great ally; but don’t claim/pretend to be a great ally.

US racists have now reminded us that Blacks and Jews are in the same boat. That’s good.

About the Author
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
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