Taking a Week Off to Cool Off

When I can’t review a TV show without antisemitic voices invading my brain it’s time for me to take a breather

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

I had a great idea for this week’s stack. It was going to be called “History Lessons” and under that rubric I was going to talk about “The New Look,” “We Were the Lucky Ones,” and “Manhunt”—all great shows that haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. All of them with relevance to our times. I’ll do that stack, but I’m going to abandon my at least once-a-week schedule—which I’ve stuck to pretty rigorously since I started BordoLines—and skip this week.

Before I do a stack on a movie or tv series I watch it again—at least one more time. So I started to re-watch “We Were the Lucky Ones.” And found that the open antisemitism of recent protests made it impossible to watch without an imagined hateful commentary shoving itself into my brain.

You may or may not know how ugly it’s become—because the mainstream media doesn’t show the worst of it. (I don’t know why, as they are delighted to show the worst of the destruction in Gaza.) They also don’t show videos of Hamas leaders “justifying” October 7 and vowing to continue eliminating as many Jews as humanly possible. And the liberal media now also seem interested in submerging the antisemitism exploding on campuses into a “free speech” issue, or yet another version of youth “activism.” It’s gotten my MSNBC watching totally turned around. I used to love Joy Reid; now I find something else to watch in between Ari Melber and Chris Hayes. And the only anchors who I can trust to always “get it” are Joe Scarborough and Mika B., who were prime blood-boilers for me during the 2016 primary.

The msm coverage of the war has been a problem since October 7. I’ve written about it before and often, and I won’t replay my criticisms now. But now, I can’t even do my movie and tv stacks without unwanted thought-invasions and images of those people with bullhorns hate-speechifying—to the applause of many! Or the appalling signs. Or the interviews with students equating Zionism with genocidal ideology. And all so very sure they know what they’re talking about.

I rewatch “We Were the Lucky Ones” after two weeks of escalating anti-semitism and I can’t help imagining how those who are hopped up on their own virtue (and minimal actual knowledge) would react to the series. I know the history is not something they are interested in learning about, as it might interfere with the simplicity of their thinking. Would they able to feel any sympathy or horror over the experiences of those—and they were the lucky ones—who escaped Germany and Poland or after the war became refugees to Israel ? I doubt it. They are “colonizers” to them.

It’s visceral for me—and I’m one of many—in a way that those who “argue” with me on Facebook and “notes” don’t understand. My daughter does. When I talked to her about how I feel, she said “I get it, Mom. I’ve been Black all my life.” Many of the protestors, though, would object to comparisons between being Black and being Jewish. To be Jewish is to be “white.” And to be white, as

Ben Cohen

pointed out recently, is to be immune to racism:

“If Jews are white, they are part of the oppressor class. If they are part of the oppressor class, then according to the tenets of identity politics, it is impossible to be racist against them. Thus you can throw things at Jews, call them names, celebrate terrorist organizations dedicated to wiping them out, and still be regarded as an anti-racist, anti-imperialist hero.”

The Kurc’s have “Jewish” accents. Most, if not all, the actors are Jews. One is Israeli. The family, before the Nazi occupation of Poland, had owned a thriving fabric business. They were wealthy, able initially to buy their way to (temporary) safety. I imagine how the protestors (for “peace”? Really? Why then not enjoin Hamas to release the hostages?) would cringe at the accents, I hear them saying vile things about the Hebrew prayers, muttering about the wealth of the Kurc family, snickering when the mother sews jewels into their clothes, or when the father bargains for an apartments with money. I keep thinking of that student who, when asked “where do you expect Israelis to go if pushed out of Israel?” saying “They need to check their privilege.”

I had to stop watching. I need to go water the flowers my daughter planted around our house. I need to watch a true crime documentary. I need to get on my stationery bike and pedal and pedal and pedal until I’m sweaty.

I’ll be back.

Susan