Back in July, the Anti-Defamation League, the nation’s firewall against anti-Semitism and racism, got very upset when Twitter users said anti-Semitic things about Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, the former MVP who had broken baseball’s drug policy and been suspended. In a posting on its blog, “Foul Ball: Hate Speech, Twitter, and Baseball,” the ADL wrote:
…some Twitter users responded by posting distinctly anti-Semitic messages…
ADL ardently supports the right to free speech, but believes that social media and other Internet sites also have an obligation to police their communities and confront those who promote anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of hate speech.
Well, the worm has turned. As the JTA reports:
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun during his appeal of a drug suspension in 2012 told players on opposing teams that the collector of his urine sample was an anti-Semite.
Braun, the son of an Israeli-born Jewish father, was suspended in July for the remainder of this season for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement…
Deadspin fills us in a little more:
According to both ESPN and Yahoo (curiously, both cite “three sources”), Braun intimated to players that [sample taker Dino] Laurenzi might have had it out for him because he was anti-Semitic, and Braun is Jewish. Or perhaps, Braun implied, it was because Braun is a Brewer and Laurenzi roots for the Cubs. (Love this bit from Yahoo: “A source close to Laurenzi…said the anti-Semitism allegation is untrue; his fan allegiance is unclear.”)
To its credit, Deadspin calls this “a private smear campaign” and says that Braun has made himself more disreputable than Alex Rodriguez for conducting it. But will the ADL have anything to say against this? Its anti-Semitism blog is silent. The charge of anti-Semitism is extremely damaging– it can be a libel– and has become “the last refuge of a scoundrel,” to borrow Samuel Johnson’s definition of patriotism. Thanks to Daniel Crowther and Max Blumenthal.
i had no idea that braun was jewish. he sounds like an entitled, immature dink, just like rodriguez, although I am ambivalent about the alleged campaign to ‘clean up’ the sport.
Marc, you must not watch much baseball. His nickname was the “Hebrew Hammer” :) He’s been a bright spot for us long suffering Brewers’ fans. Too bad it turns out he was involved with illegal doping and that he played the AS card when caught.
The ADL makes reckless anti-semitic charges, why in the world would anyone think they would criticize someone else for doing it? That’s just their game.
I laugh now when I read anything that uses the words anti-semite or anti-semitism. It truly has become very amusing.
i noticed the reactions to Braun’s allegations on his hashtag the other day in an odd round about way. one of our readers contacted us by email over a week ago, to complain, or suggest, we cover the many news sources covering the original braun anti semitic tweets. the reader alleging this was “shocking” news. so i opened the link http://www.jewishjournal.com/sports/article/10_anti_semitic_twitter_reactions_to_ryan_brauns_suspension
and noticed the opening:
then it showed some tweets. so i wrote back and mentioned there was no evidence presented in the article the anti semitic comments were trending nor was there a hashtag accompanying this allegation, and that trending topics generally were accompanied by hashtags. also, we already know anti semites exist, but there are millions on twitter so ten evidence tweets, or even 50 did not constitute a ‘trend’. but if he could present evidence to the contrary, that AS tweets were trending on twitter (literally thousands of offending tweets) this was indeed a story worth covering and i would absolutely take the allegations more seriously. otherwise, it was more trumped up overblown jewish victimization stuff.
to which our reader wrote back and said he never claimed it was a trending topic but could i empathize with the concept of (justifiable) jewish paranoia about being “demonized” in america. which resulted in more emails and me explaining jewish american were, for the most part, liked and supported here actually. anyway, i went to #RyanBraun and linked to it for him, and said go look over there, where’s the evidence of these comments being prolific?
and that’s when i noticed the tweets about braun’s recent allegations. misplaced accusations of anti semitism, whether towards one person or a society/community (twitter) at large, and pleas for victimization status as a “demonized minority” just do not really float in today’s america, imho. it just serves to make a mockery out of the accusers.
Emily Hauser seems to think the Braun story brought some antisemites out of the woodwork.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/20/ryan-braun-and-anti-semites.html