Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction, or at least indicate something odd going on? I mean, Arabs are Semites, just the same as Jews are, right?
What am I missing?
You’re missing the generally accepted meaning of “anti-semitic”.
Lots of Jews living in Europe (esp. Germany) over the centuries… very few Arabs.
Historically, yes, Semite has equated to Arab. But in a contemporary context, isn’t it bleedin’ obvious what’s meant?
When the term “antisemitism” was first used, in the late 19th century, the only big Semitic group in Europe were Jews. So, even though there are other Semites than Jews, by the time speakers of the other Semitic languages entered into the public consciousness, the term had already become common as meaning “hatred of Jews”.
The historical context of the word “anti-semitism”.
Wilhelm Marr coined the term in 1879- he was looking for a more scholarly-sounding word for “Jew-hatred”. Anti-semitism means and always has meant prejudice against Jews, not prejudice against Arabs or other Semites. That’s why you don’t hear anyone call it “anti-semitism” when people who look Arab are discriminated against at airports or harassed- it’s always called racism.
Telemark:
This is what I was wondering. I’m well aware of the commonly accepted modern meaning of the term “anti-semitic.” I was more curious as to how it got that way, or whose idea it was. I should have been more direct in my OP.
Can anyone think of another ethnic group that has a term all their own for racism directed against them? Hate blacks? “Racism.” Asians? “Racism.” Latinos? “Racism.” But if you hate Jews, it’s “anti-semitism,” to the point that it sounds weird to refer to it as simply racism.
In a way, it’s vaguely akin to “homophobia,” which as a number of people, some of them without any intent to troll, have pointed out, literally means fear of males or fear of the same – not the contemporary standard usage of the word. Likewise, it’s developed the special meaning of “against Jews” instead of the etymologically more logical but incorrect meaning of “against all Semites.”
The thing is, Jews are an ethnicity and a religion. There are anti-semites who are against Judaism as a religion, but have no problem with Jews once we convert to some other religion. There are also anti-semites who think Jews are somehow biologically inferior, as the Nazis did- they still persecuted Jews who had converted to other faiths.
We also don’t have a simple, common word for “discrimination based on religion” like we have racism for race discrimination, sexism for sex discrimination, and homophobia for anti-gay discrimination. I wonder why that is- there’s certainly been plenty of prejudice based on religion around that you’d think there would be a word for it.
[Homer Simpson] 'Dirty rotten Assyrians [/Homer Simpson]