Bob reviewed Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel
A needed provocative book on antisemitism
4 stars
I really enjoyed reading "Jews don't count", David Baddiel is a British and Jewish writer and comedian who has always been open about being Jewish and confronting progressive people and collective with their knowledge and position on antisemitism. And it is exactly what this book is doing: it is providing many examples where antisemitism is not considered in the same way we consider other forms of racism in progressive circles. One example given in the book is the musical The Color Purple from Alice Walker where the actress Seyi Omooba was removed from her role for homophobia but no one raised the antisemitic statements made by Alice Walker. With all these examples Baddiel asks: why are we considering antisemitism as a second-class racism? Why aren't we applying the same concepts to antisemitism than for other forms of racism? And what I really appreciated, is that the book aims at asking …
I really enjoyed reading "Jews don't count", David Baddiel is a British and Jewish writer and comedian who has always been open about being Jewish and confronting progressive people and collective with their knowledge and position on antisemitism. And it is exactly what this book is doing: it is providing many examples where antisemitism is not considered in the same way we consider other forms of racism in progressive circles. One example given in the book is the musical The Color Purple from Alice Walker where the actress Seyi Omooba was removed from her role for homophobia but no one raised the antisemitic statements made by Alice Walker. With all these examples Baddiel asks: why are we considering antisemitism as a second-class racism? Why aren't we applying the same concepts to antisemitism than for other forms of racism? And what I really appreciated, is that the book aims at asking the questions more than providing answers. For instance, he raised the fact that while cis people playing trans gender role is seen as an issue, non Jewish people playing Jewish people is not, even when there is not a single Jewish actor in a Jewish play. And he isn't saying that we should apply all the concepts in the exact same way, but more that in doesn't occur to progressive people that we are not applying them. Having a short (100 pages) and provocative book raising these issues on the left is a really good thing to start conversations that should happen.
