How much dog's in a hot dog?ithinktfiamJuly 4 2005, 10:29:07 UTC
The "anti-semitism" argument is usually made by folks who a) don't understand the history of the word, or b) people who want to downplay anti-semitism. You clearly fall in category A, so I'll help clarify the issue.
The fact is the word was defined specifically to mean hatred against Jews. Just as there's, hopefully, no dog in a hotdog or ham in a hamburger, parsing a word is not always the way to define the meaning of a word.
Re: How much dog's in a hot dog?scottishlanenJanuary 9 2009, 01:08:06 UTC
Thank you for providing that article; I was glad to see some of those references.
However, from an European racial point, antisemitism also meant all Semitics in a way, sort of. All Semitics were considered inferior to the Nordic race. Jews were Semitics, and therefore inferior, but many Europeans especially disliked Jews and so the word is just in reference to Jews, the "invading" Semitics of Europe. Being a foreign, inferior race and converting "Nordic" peoples was seen as a perversion and a gain for power.
Re: How much dog's in a hot dog?ithinktfiamJanuary 9 2009, 02:15:24 UTC
Interesting. You reply to a post that gives clear linguistic history and points to the very well documented origin of the word with the semantic equivalent of "nuh uh!"
There's no "also meant". The phrase did not exist until it was created to describe hatred of Jews. It's why you couldn't provide any evidence to back up your rationalization.
I'm not disagreeing with the article, but I am saying that the author is leaving out the discussion of Western thought in Germany at that time. I'm not questioning the what, but thinking critically on the how and why. And there may not be an answer. But using 11 definitions of the word isn't answering the question nor does the article prove that it wasn't at one time. Just that it is now
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Here's one link that gives a bit of an explanation: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000691.html
The fact is the word was defined specifically to mean hatred against Jews. Just as there's, hopefully, no dog in a hotdog or ham in a hamburger, parsing a word is not always the way to define the meaning of a word.
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However, from an European racial point, antisemitism also meant all Semitics in a way, sort of. All Semitics were considered inferior to the Nordic race. Jews were Semitics, and therefore inferior, but many Europeans especially disliked Jews and so the word is just in reference to Jews, the "invading" Semitics of Europe. Being a foreign, inferior race and converting "Nordic" peoples was seen as a perversion and a gain for power.
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There's no "also meant". The phrase did not exist until it was created to describe hatred of Jews. It's why you couldn't provide any evidence to back up your rationalization.
BTW: How much butter is in a butterfly?
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