{"id":7916,"date":"2025-06-18T07:22:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7916"},"modified":"2025-06-18T07:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:22:06","slug":"not-his-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/06\/18\/not-his-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Not His Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cultural Appropriation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is a \u201cmodern\u201d phrase in use today: \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d.   The definition is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society<\/em>\u201d (Oxford Languages<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s actually pretty simple.  The idea is that different groups have the right to control how the symbols, practices and customs of their people are used.  Here in the United States, the most obvious example is the recent controversy over the names of sports teams.  The Cleveland Indians<\/em> are now the Guardians<\/em>, and the Washington Redskins<\/em> are the Commanders<\/em>.  Both teams stepped away from \u201cappropriating\u201d Native American symbols and cultures.  (By the way, the Kansas City Chiefs<\/em> remain firm in their stance, as do the Atlanta Braves<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even at the High School level, my former employer went to great lengths to distance the Watkins Warriors<\/em> from Native Americans.  The school \u201cteepee<\/em>\u201d hides in storage, and \u201cWilly the Warrior<\/em>\u201d disappeared from the scene.  School symbology is \u201cscrubbed\u201d for cultural appropriateness.  The old Warrior head symbol is now crossed out (literally), replaced by a \u201cgeometric figure\u201d.  There\u2019s even a whole School District \u201cbranding policy<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woke<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One portion of our polarized Nation derides all of this as \u201cwoke\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the same portion that believes that statues to those that rebelled against the United States in the Civil War should be \u201cprotected history\u201d. They name Army bases for defeated Confederate Generals:\u00a0\u00a0Lee, Bragg, Pickett, Hood, and AP Hill.\u00a0\u00a0Those same folks are \u201cscrubbing\u201d the government for \u201cwoke\u201d references.\u00a0\u00a0The USNS (US Naval Ship)\u00a0Harvey Milk<\/em>, named after the gay San Francisco city councilman assassinated in office, will soon be renamed.\u00a0\u00a0Even the USNS\u00a0John L Lewis\u00a0<\/em>is under scrutiny, as if he wasn\u2019t a \u201ctrue hero\u201d of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I have a \u201cbeef\u201d about another item in cultural appropriation.  My issue is with the term:  anti-Semitic.  Anti-Semitism is to be against Jewish people, and it\u2019s been around for thousands of years.  Certainly the history of Europe is full of anti-Jewishness, from the ghettoes of the Middle Ages, to the Russian \u201cPale\u201d,  and through the 20th<\/sup> Century.  There was nothing more anti-Semitic than the attempt by Hitler to erase Jews from the earth during World War II.  The extermination camps managed to kill off 6 million.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But anti-Semitism wasn\u2019t \u201cjust\u201d a Nazi thing.\u00a0\u00a0Pretty much every European nation has had its share of anti-Jewish laws, regulations, and social division.\u00a0\u00a0And the United States played its part as well.\u00a0\u00a0Henry Ford, of Ford Motor Company fame, spread anti-Semitic literature throughout the Nation, and even the world.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, his campaign against Jews was quoted by the Nazis in the 1920\u2019s and 30\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0Even the now \u201cwoke\u201d Ivy League universities once had strict limits on the number of Jews admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian Right<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And there was nothing more anti-Semitic than the Ku Klux Klan.\u00a0\u00a0They used Christian symbology as part of their ongoing campaign against many minorities, Jews included.\u00a0\u00a0That continues through the KKK\u2019s successors, like the Proud Boys, the III Percenters and other current Nationalist militant groups.\u00a0\u00a0And non-KKK Christians in the United States have a long history of anti-Semitism as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it is with deep surprise that I find those supported by QAnon followers and Christian Nationalists are now calling statements against the Trump policy of absolute loyalty to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Israeli war actions as \u201canti-Semitic\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0As my Mother would say; \u201cThat\u2019s the pot calling the kettle black\u201d. (And that too might be culturally inappropriate in this day and age).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-Netanyahu<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anti-Semitism and being against the Netanyahu wars are not the same.  If they were, than almost half of the Jewish population of Israel would be \u201canti-Semitic\u201d.   It\u2019s more than possible to be a Proud American and opposed to the current Administration.  And it\u2019s just as possible to be Jewish and against Israel\u2019s current policy in Gaza and against \u201ctickling the dragon\u2019s tail\u201d of regional nuclear conflict against Iran; without being anti-Semitic.  In fact many Jews, in Israel, in the United States, and in the world, are appalled with the actions of the Israeli Armed Forces .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, that\u2019s what the Trump Administration is \u201cappropriating\u201d.  They are making the decision about who is anti-Semitic and who is not; based on support for Trump\u2019s actions.   It\u2019s not that \u201call Jews\u201d are against Trump, or against Netanyahu.  Many Jews are conflicted about both leaders. And traditional Jewish organizations like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, usually considered \u201cwoke\u201d, are standing  firmly with current Israeli actions.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But surely it\u2019s up to Jewish people themselves to determine who is anti-Semitic, and who is not. Donald Trump shouldn\u2019t get to \u201cculturally appropriate\u201d that decision.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not his choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cultural Appropriation There is a \u201cmodern\u201d phrase in use today: \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d.   The definition is: \u201cThe unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society\u201d (Oxford Languages). It\u2019s actually pretty simple.  The idea is that different groups have the right to control … Continue reading “Not His Choice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNot His Choice : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2025\/06\/18\/not-his-choice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not His Choice : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cultural Appropriation There is a \u201cmodern\u201d phrase in use today: \u201ccultural appropriation\u201d.   The definition is: \u201cThe unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society\u201d (Oxford Languages). 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