The Anti-Defamation league says Donald Trump can't use the phrase "America first" because Charles Lindbergh(a Nazi sympathizer) used it to discourage U.S. entry into WWII on the European front. To me this sounds more like an Anti-Trump thing. They never tried to make America first banks changes their names.
"http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/anti-semitism-usa/adl-urges-donald-trump-to-reconsider-america-first.html#.VyWCl6hOmf0": http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/anti-semitism-usa/adl-urges-donald-trump-to-reconsider-america-first.html#.VyWCl6hOmf0
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Trump's "America first" slogan is Anti-Semitic according to ADL
Last posted
May 08, 2016 at 10:10AM EDT.
Added
May 01, 2016 at 12:30AM EDT
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Wisehowl
Deactivated
"Some guy said the same thing 75 years ago therefore you are a racist."
Puh-leeeeeeeze. I know it has been said here on this site before (in fact I think we have a thread on it) but every time these people belittle and nitpick Trump's comments rather than confront him on his policies they only help him.
Hitler breathed oxygen. Trump also breathes oxygen. Trump needs to disavow the anti-Semitic O2 molecule immediately.
And the Glacier National Park
And a Utah credit union.
Iamslow
Deactivated
All this sounds like to me is just another case of:
It's like nationalism has become taboo to people now or something.
Not trying to get all /pol/ here but: America first potentially means less support for Israel and the ADL, being a Jewish organization, probably wants to put a stop to that idea. In other words…
It’s like nationalism has become taboo to people now or something.
Well yeah kind of. Leftists have had problems with nationalism for a long time now, and even right wingers prefer the term patriotism because of certain negative implications of nationalism.
this just screams the "Hitler Ate Sugar" trope, you know what else hitler did, protect animals and refuse to eat meat, guess that means PeTA and being a vegitarian is also anti-semetic to these people
rikameme
Deactivated
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"X first" is nationalistic, the ADL has every reason to be concerned about nationalistic rhetoric.
Wisehowl
Deactivated
rikameme wrote:
"X first" is nationalistic, the ADL has every reason to be concerned about nationalistic rhetoric.
The ADL isn't calling the slogan nationalistic, they're calling it anti-Semitic, which is hogwash. Nationalism is not anti-Semitic in and of itself, nor is the phrase "America First" anti-Semitic at ALL when looking at the context of how Trump said it.
Direct link to article. Sorry it was about midnight when I posted it so I couldn't textile right.
lisalombs
Banned
{ “X first” is nationalistic, the ADL has every reason to be concerned about nationalistic rhetoric. }
Please define nationalism for us all, and then explain why it would be considered concerning.
Black Graphic T
Deactivated
This is so unbelievably dumb. What the hell were they thinking with thie garbage?
Isn't Charles Lindbergh regarded as a national hero? He was the first man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in one day. Plus, he was only accused of being a Nazi sympathizer due to his isolationist views, which was a common viewpoint during the era. I hate to take Trump's side, but the grounds of those accusations are ridiculous. Nowadays, I seriously doubt that the average American knows who Charles Lindbergh was, let alone the fact that he was a supposed Nazi sympathizer.
Mecha Harambe wrote:
Isn't Charles Lindbergh regarded as a national hero? He was the first man to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in one day. Plus, he was only accused of being a Nazi sympathizer due to his isolationist views, which was a common viewpoint during the era. I hate to take Trump's side, but the grounds of those accusations are ridiculous. Nowadays, I seriously doubt that the average American knows who Charles Lindbergh was, let alone the fact that he was a supposed Nazi sympathizer.
Lindbergh on race and racism
Since his heroism was based completely on mechanical and physical skill and not character trait it's been easier to bury that stuff.
Black Graphic T
Deactivated
A lot of people were nazi sympathizers back in the olden days. That's just one of the many facts of history. You could make the argument, following this train of thought though, that anyone who does anything to harken back to those days in any way is anti-semetic.
Driving a ford could make you anti-semetic in the argument that it supports a company whose founder hated the Jewish people and pretty much every minority there was. Arguing against warfare could make you anti-semetic, because Neville Chamberlain once said "We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analyzing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.", but also shook hands with Adolf Hitler. You could even go so far as to make the argument that supporting the Kennedy family is to be anti-semetic, because Joseph Kennedy was an awful person who supported the Nazi's.
This is what happens when you're so desperate to try and paint a person as awful, that rather then doing it by citing actual current beliefs of theirs, or using appropriate context to point out flaws in their speech, you just throw darts at a wall, just to see what sticks. Donald Trump is an awful person, and you could use modern context to point it out in his speech, as well as factual context, and historical context.
What we have here though, is an argument that because in terms of historical context, this phrase was bad, it can not hold any other context outside of its very one-sided historical context, that actually removes any sentiment a person might have actually held when saying it.
You might as well just jump all the way to the end of this logical gymnastics session and say anyone who becomes president is automatically racist because Woodrow Wilson was a racist in office.
The ADL has in many cases done more harm to us Jews than benefits. By over-reacting to the smallest slights, they have continually separated the Jew from other people and maintained our status as the other. I very much blame the ADL for forcing video game industry, for example, to exclude Jewish characters from video games, as it would potentially be too insulting or controversial in their eyes.
No. "America First" isn't anti-Semitic. Context matters, ADL, and you're applying a context of a 1930s, 40s, world to one that is in 2016. It isn't the same, and it won't be the same.
When did isolationism become anti-semitic?
This is why Trump's barely spent any money compared to others on his campaign. Social media is doing all the advertisement for them.
ballstothewall
ModeratorDeactivated
I mildly object to the sentiment of the statement as a generally multicultural-favouring person, especially as it reeks of fervour and exceptionalism, but I don't find it racist at all. There are much easier, more rational and sensible ways to criticise Trump than to clutch at straws like this. This just isn't a good argument against him at all.
There are many sensible ways to criticize Trump and the policies he wants to enact
This isn't one of them.
Stating that we should solve our problems first before helping others isn't really that problematic. The fact that it's being claimed as racist is just absurd.
Just because something was said by a supposed nazi sympathizer doesn't suddenly make it racist.
Black Graphic T
Deactivated
"______ First" is a sentiment that's not really racist unless you absolutely want it to be, at least in my opinion.
Especially coming from the former Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, whose mission statement is to fight against defamation of jewish people and antisemitism. That is "Putting ______ First", in a nutshell. Just because it's "Put Jewish People First" and not "Put America First", doesn't mean that the main meaning, that one group be placed at a higher importance then another, is different.
Would you call the anti-defamation league racist because it might have a bias to put antisemitism as one of its top priorities, and place it ahead of, say, governmental violence and political gang violence in jamacia? Perhaps. But it'd probably be a really shitty argument to make, and would just put Jamacian Political Violence First over Antisemitism First.
rikameme
Deactivated
Wisehowl wrote:
The ADL isn't calling the slogan nationalistic, they're calling it anti-Semitic, which is hogwash. Nationalism is not anti-Semitic in and of itself, nor is the phrase "America First" anti-Semitic at ALL when looking at the context of how Trump said it.
It isn't nationalistic inherently, but you have to consider the historical context of nationalism. Nationalism worked by united a nation around a common enemy and, in the cases of Greece, Russia, Germany and many other nations to a lesser extent, this has been the Jews. Modern nationalism draws material from older nationalist thinkers and the same narrative appears, the Jews were historically a very convenient common enemy because they were a mercurial and diffuse people. Ethnic Jews, over time, have developed somewhat of a cosmopolitan outlook of the world and there are a number of reasons for that (historic marginalization, the role it played in drawing many Jews to socialism in the late 19th century, the fact that Jews were a stateless nation until 1948 and so on). You can find Antisemitism is most nationalistic movements now and in the past century, and it's no secret that Trump's particular brand of nationalism both contains those elements and draws in overt Antisemites. "America First" is a slogan built on the notion that America's leadership has put other interests ahead of its own, surely that narrative sounds familiar to many of you.
Yeah, I dislike Trumph as much as the next leftist commie, but this grasping at straws to make him literally Satan is getting out of hand. There are plenty of true things about him to dislike without trying to turn him into a Nazi because of one innocuous statement.
Jolly Jew
Banned
trump can be considered as many bad things, but defiantly NOT anti-semetic. hell he has more jewish grandchildren than the jewish Benny Sandals(lel)
this is just more demonetization and dehumanization of trump. nothing new here from the PC cult
Wisehowl
Deactivated
rikameme wrote:
It isn't nationalistic inherently, but you have to consider the historical context of nationalism. Nationalism worked by united a nation around a common enemy and, in the cases of Greece, Russia, Germany and many other nations to a lesser extent, this has been the Jews. Modern nationalism draws material from older nationalist thinkers and the same narrative appears, the Jews were historically a very convenient common enemy because they were a mercurial and diffuse people. Ethnic Jews, over time, have developed somewhat of a cosmopolitan outlook of the world and there are a number of reasons for that (historic marginalization, the role it played in drawing many Jews to socialism in the late 19th century, the fact that Jews were a stateless nation until 1948 and so on). You can find Antisemitism is most nationalistic movements now and in the past century, and it's no secret that Trump's particular brand of nationalism both contains those elements and draws in overt Antisemites. "America First" is a slogan built on the notion that America's leadership has put other interests ahead of its own, surely that narrative sounds familiar to many of you.
1. If it isn't inherently nationalistic then this argument falls apart entirely. Your argument here is "It's nationalistic, other nationalistic movements have been antisemitic, therefore it is antisemitic". If it isn't "inherently" nationalistic, then it isn't fucking nationalistic. Don't try to downplay your absolute statement you made earlier then try to make another one subtly ("nationalism draws in antisemitic people").
2. You do nothing to actually link nationalism and antisemitism. You state some nationalistic movements had put the Jews as their enemies (and incorrectly do it for Soviet Russia who made the bourgeois/tsars and capitalism as their enemy) while disregarding eastern and Scandinavian nationalistic movements which have nothing to do with antisemitism at all. Worse yet you don't even link Trump's supposed form of nationalism to those three you mentioned. You state it has "those elements" but never go into detail on what "those elements" are. That logical gap destabilizes your entire argument.
surely that narrative sounds familiar to many of you.
3. Please don't insult our intelligence with this fear-mongering statement.