tamaranth | 2022/57: Jews Don't Count -- David Baddiel

2022/57: Jews Don't Count -- David Baddiel

This – a handful of the total incidents – is why Jews don’t feel white, if by white you mean safe. [loc. 1231]

Baddiel's short book about a particular type of racism -- antisemitism -- is surprisingly cheerful for such a grim topic. As well as being funny, it's angry. Baddiel explores the intrinsic contradictions of antisemitism: Jews are 'somehow both sub-human and humanity's secret masters'. On 'yid' and 'nigger': 'the Y-word isn’t as bad as the N-word... because Jews are rich'.

This was an engaging read, because Baddiel is an accomplished and witty writer who writes from his own lived experience as well as giving an objective overview of how Jews are treated in contemporary Western culture. I learnt a lot, because (like many) while noticing specific instances of antisemitism, I hadn't been aware of the depth, the breadth and the strength of it. One key statistic that surprised and horrified me: 'in 2018, 60 per cent of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States were perpetrated against Jews (by contrast 18.6 per cent targeted Muslims).' [loc. 1218]

Read for the 'Short | 150 pages or less' rubric of the Annual NonFiction Reading Challenge: 111 pages in the print edition.