Some people seem to go out of their way to be offended. In recent letters to the editor, a number of readers express offense over a photograph from a rally supporting the Palestinian people. The reason: a lady in the scene holding a sign stating that “Zionism is racism.” A blurb below the picture explains setting and context of the photograph.
Let us be clear; this picture is a representation of something that did actually happen. A discussion about the nature of Zionism is beside the point. This lady held that sign on that day. Yet, judging by the reactions, one would think that Temple News had published a story titled This Just in: Jews Are Terrible! I read comments implying that Temple News is anti-Israel and careless for not allowing the Zionist folks to respond in defense. However, these readers miss the point. That picture does not represent a written opinion submitted to the paper. It is simply a picture of an event.
This whole micro-brouhaha reminds me of a story from my childhood. The best school near our neighborhood was Episcopalian. There were two Jewish families in our neighborhood; my family and our next door neighbors. At school, everyone had to go to chapel on Friday, but nobody was compelled to actually worship in any way. One day my father was chatting with the other Jewish father. The other father complained about talk of Jesus at the school and that making everybody go to chapel was anti-semitic. My father reminded the man that they had both chosen to send their kids to an Episcopalian school, and that he could always send his kids to the Jewish day school or to public school.
My point in telling this story is that our neighbor was actively seeking out imaginary slights against his Jewish identity, and that led him to make a ridiculous assertion. Stating that Temple News’ photographic documentation of this event is somehow an endorsement of an anti-Israel position is absurd. Furthermore, expending energy in a search for imaginary discrimination of any group distracts from recognizing those individuals who actually pose some real threat. The people who mean to do harm rarely advertise that fact or twiddle their villainous mustaches in public. Case in point: would anyone have expected to read allegations that Temple students committed an anti-semitic hate crime last week?
