,
12 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Labour antisemitism in the news again. Three main issues as I see it with the reporting on this.
#1 A lack of understand (or perhaps a wilful ignorance) around the difference between statistical & anecdotal evidence.
If you collect data about the attitudes or behaviour of a particular group (in this case Labour party members), you need to compare it with equivalent data on other groups (or maybe the same group at other times).
Without this comparison, you can’t be confident that your findings are telling you anything significant about this group in particular.
A system of racist policing, for example, will produce higher levels of police recorded crime amongst BAME groups. Not because crime is actually higher amongst these groups, but because they are over policed relative to others.
Whilst to my knowledge we don’t have any good data to compare AS attitudes amongst party members, polling on supporters suggests (1) that antisemitism is more prevalent on the right, & (2) amongst Labour supporters it has declined since Corbyn became Labour leader.
#2 An over reliance on newsworthy claims & statements at the expense of good evidence.
A big problem, particularly if combined with #1. These are the stock in trade of political journalists. If authoritative sources are speaking with one voice, this shapes reporting, even if claims are inaccurate or misleading. Good journalists should corroborate statements.
#3 A failure to distinguish between (1) incidences of antisemitic statements/beliefs & (2) evidence of antisemitic politics/political programme.
They’re obviously closely related, but I think there’s an important difference between a party or movement with (some) antisemites in it, & an antisemitic party or movement. If antisemitic beliefs circulate in society, we would expect to find them in political parties.
The significant question for antiracism (imo) is whether racist ideas/attitudes are influencing, or are likely to influence, a party or movement’s political programme.
Even in the current climate, I don’t think a sober & informed analyst would regard there as being any realistic prospect of an antisemitic political programme emerging from the Labour party under Corbyn.
