(Jewish Group) Of Cartoons and Comments: innocuous opinion piece brings out the antisemitic trolls

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

On Thursday, June 20, the Sydney Morning Herald ran an opinion piece about editorial cartoons by Monica Wilkie. What was most notable was not the article itself, but rather the hateful, conspiratorial and antisemitic comments that it attracted.

Wilkie, a policy analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies, joined the conversation about the recent publication of an antisemitic cartoon in the international edition of the New York Times (NYT), and the paper’s subsequent decision to cease publishing syndicated cartoons. Wilkie’s commentary was relatively innocuous, defending the value of the “deliberately provocative” cartooning craft overall while posing some relevant questions about the red-lines between acceptable and unacceptable portrayals of stereotypes based on race, sex, and religion.

Yet many of the comments left underneath appeared uninterested in Wilkie’s argument, preferring instead to dive into the murky waters of antisemitic tropes such as the power of the Israel/Jewish lobby over foreign governments and the labelling of Israel as an apartheid state.

These commenters wanted only to defend and support the original antisemitic cartoon and/or blame Jews for supposedly exaggerating or fabricating complaints about antisemitism.

more...

That was easy enough to see. Frankly, I am surprised we haven't seen it here (Stateside). Maybe it is just around the corner.