Last year, prominent celebrities and media figures like Kanye West made headlines after promoting antisemitic tropes and stereotypes. Now, a survey shows that widespread belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes have nearly doubled since 2019.
Vlad Khaykin, the director of antisemitism programs with the Anti-Defamation League, tells KMOX that antisemitic beliefs harm more than just the Jewish community.
“We know, for example, that a number of different cases of mass murder that have been committed in our country by extremists over the last number of years,” Khaykin said. “Those extremists were driven specifically by an antisemitic conspiracy theory known as the Great Replacement Theory. But in a number of those cases, other communities were actually targeted; the Black community, the Latino and Hispanic communities were targeted.”
Additionally, he said, there have been incidents of Muslim people being targeted by white supremacists who are driven by an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
One example of an antisemitic trope, Khaykin explained, is the idea that Jewish people are secretly controlling many parts of society.
“The notion that Jews are this shadowy, powerful group who wield almost supernatural powers; we've heard that Jews control the government, control the global media, control the economy, or the banking system,” he said. “So it's those kinds of classical notions along with sort of ideas that Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars, and that sort of thing.”
One finding of studies regarding antisemitic beliefs shows that the gap between older and younger generations has closed — meaning younger people are nearly as likely as older people to believe antisemitic tropes.
Khaykin said it’s hard to pin down one specific factor that accounts for the spread of these tropes, but he said social media is “one of the most effective delivery methods for antisemitic propaganda that we’ve ever seen in history.”
Hear more from Vlad Khaykin on the spread of antisemitism around the world on Total Information AM:
Copyright 2023 KMOX (Audacy). All Rights Reserved.
Follow KMOX | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Listen on the free Audacy app.
Tell your smart speaker to play K M O X.