The Cycle of Antisemitism
I recently read an interview with Steven Spielberg about his newest film the Fabelmans, in which he is questioned about his take on the resurgence of antisemitism today. He responds:
“Antisemitism is only coming back because it’s being encouraged to come back. It’s not coming back because it ebbs and flows over the decades, but there has been an invitation to a toxic dance based on antisemitism being part of an ideology of separation and racism and Islamophobia and xenophobia, and it’s come barreling back. A lot of people who probably never had much of an antisemitic thought but did feel toward people of color — they felt differently, let’s say, than my sisters and I were ever raised to believe or feel, and suddenly antisemitism becomes part of the package. It’s been weaponized and it’s been encouraged more and more since 2015 or ’16.”
The Bones of the World is, in some ways, a refutation of this, as it explores historic antisemitisms and sees the resurgence now, and implicitly, in the future, as inevitable. But is it inevitable, or simply convenient? And are the two that different?
The separation of people in general has been hard, with the pandemic, people who have no empathy for others and those who are down right haters what’s to be done. There needs to be more talk, yes you are different from me, and I can still embrace the differences. People hate from fear. Love ya Betsy Arlene
Indeed, Arlene! Difference has always existed…and would we really want it otherwise? So how, then, do we move from the fear to the embrace? Is that the role of stories, in whatever form (oral, film, literature, visual art)? How do you approach “otherness” in your art?