Re: Ah, they were shipping slaves because they vere Semitic.
"Anti-Semitism" is a euphemism for "anti-Jew" - I am not and never will be. "Semitic", as has been pointed out before, refers to the entire region in proper usage, and includes all sides of the self-destructive struggle among Arab, Palestinian, and Jew.
I DO have a great mistrust of the ability of the Semitic people - all of them - to govern themselves. This is not based on opinion, but bloody history and violation of fundamental, sound principles of government. No religion can be the basis of government - it just doesn't work. It leads to disaster in every case.
I will not apologize for something I did not say and do not believe. I am no more "anti-Jew" than I am "anti-Martian". I am against the religious state tyranny that is Israel. I maintain that Israel is a disaster and an enantiodromic blot on the history of the Jews.
[link|http://constitution-first.org/semite.htm|http://constitution-first.org/semite.htm]
It seems that whenever Jewish or Israeli interests are openly criticized, the perpetrator is inevitably denounced as being an anti-Semitist. The anti-Semitism flag is of course intended to shield the Zionist/Israeli agenda from accountability by branding anyone who challenges it as racists and Nazis. That is unacceptable; no nation or group of people, nor their religion or politics are beyond accountability. However, if the issue of anti-Semitism is going to get tangled up in the mix, then perhaps it is worth knowing what the term "Semite" really means.
From Webster's dictionary (1957), we find an evolved popular definition of, "1. a Semitic word or idiom, 2. Characteristics of the Semites; especially, the ideas, cultural qualities, etc, originating with the Jews." Undoubtedly, this definition of Semitism fits well into the Judo-Christian scheme of things, which mythologizes the ancient tribes of Israel as the genealogical key-stone of the Middle Eastern world (the Genesis Myth and all that). Chosen people, master god, master doctrine, master race; haven't we heard this sort of thing somewhere before? In any event, the definition of "Semitic" exists in its present state only because of popular convention in Christian dominated English and thus doesn't accurately reflect historical realities (Reference), not even according to Webster. For example, the same dictionary defines a "Semite" as, 'a member of any of the peoples whose language is Semitic, including the Hebrews, Arabs, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, etc; now especially the Jew'." In addition, "Semitic" is defined as, "1. characteristic of, or like a Semite or the Semites, 2.designating or of a major group of languages of south Western Asia and Northern Africa, related to the Hermitic languages and divided into East Semitic (Akkadian), North West (Phoenician, Punic, Aramaic, Hebrew, modern Hebrew, etc) and south West Semitic (Arabic, Ethiopic, Amharic).
Considering the extended scope of these definitions, it would seem that anyone using the term "Semitism" is invoking a definitional root that encompasses a rather huge and diverse amount of genealogical and cultural ground, of which the Jews are only a segment. As such, one might just as well accuse the Israelis and their supporters of being anti-Semitists for aiding and perpetrating Israel's colonialist aggressions against the Palestinians. It is no coincidence that the world community through the auspices of the United Nations has condemned Israel for being the most raciest state on the planet.
