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Seth Frantzman

21 Dec, 13 tweets, 3 min read

Thread: People's responses to antisemitism are sometimes guided by their politics...to the point they treat antisemitism on their side of the political spectrum like it was just a bad joke at a cocktail party but "we're all in the in-crowd so it's ok, please don't say it so loud"

Basically it amounts to "please don't hate us all as a group, we're on the same political team so if you can just tone down the antisemitism next time, let me educate you about how to say it slightly differently, or just don't say it out loud next time"...

It's so predictable. Like you have openly vile antisemitism...and folk from that side will basically react: "well next time just say 'Zionists'" or "next time just don't tweet it"...like the problem is the person said it out loud...not how they think.

There was a city elected official who accused the "Rothschilds" of controlling weather...and the response was, let's invite him to dinner and show him a museum...not asking where he got this vile idea from...not really demanding any explanation...just oh whoops, silly slip-up

The problem is that racism, bigotry, discrimination, antisemitism and related hatreds are about HOW people think and perceive the other...it's not just about whether they tweeted it...or said it...as if somehow if they just police their language better, it's kind of ok they hate

The amazing thing is that when some people are revealed to be vile bigots, the folk in their political camp tend to be more annoyed that what they said is now public, or it is being "used" by political opponents...then that the person said it in the first place.

I've seen this so many times. A former US official retweeting vile antisemitism and then excusing it as not reading the headline...no one asks "why are you reading that website in the first place and following known antisemites"...it's just a "bad retweet"...

And the response then was, from the offensive person, to feign some ancestry and claim they were just making a mistake, whoops...not apologize and search inside as to why they agreed with the vile antisemitism.

"I have one great grandparent from the community so it's ok" excuse

And then there is the journalist who tweeted slamming the whole community for Israel's actions...and then just quietly deletes it and says well they meant to write "Zionists"...openly shifting their language, but not their mentality.

I don't understand the tendency to see racism and prefer that the racism just be kind of papered over, or "if only you could say it slightly differently and not blame the whole community next time"...

I don't understand the tendency to beg and not demand more than a retraction....not demand real explanation. Why does the antisemite do this? Why do they read those websites? Why did they blame the whole community.

Encouraging them to "please just blame Israel next time, not the diaspora community in your country"...as I saw was the reaction to a recent case...that's not the answer. Just having them cover up their views better doesn't educate them.

We don't do this with other types of racism...advocating that the racists simply use slightly different language, delete a tweet, and move on. We demand real explanation for why the person is racist, some put in CRT, we talk about privilege...we want them to acknowledge it.

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Seth Frantzman

@sfrantzman

21 Dec

It’s funny to see the Ankara regime accounts on here celebrating Ankara lira “gains” and its “strength”….after weeks in which it was weakening now they post that it got better…economic nationalism is so boring and banal…the whole thing is chicanery anyway

Does anyone believe that the lira really weakened so much so quickly and then magically went from like 18 to 10 to the $1 overnight…the whole thing is some scheme cooked up by Ankara…it’s not based on reality of the economy

When you have uncertainty and fluctuation, volatility and government intervention, it means something else is going on…currencies aren’t supposed to fluctuate wildly.

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Seth Frantzman

@sfrantzman

19 Dec

🧵Please not the “Turkey could help confront Russia in Ukraine”….the same fantasy narrative that claimed Turkey would confront Iran-Russia in Syria so US should give Turkey eastern Syria…and Turkey will confront Russia so its conflict with Armenia should be supported; nonsense

First of all you should never empower one vicious authoritarian regime that crushes media in order to confront some other adversary….second Ankara is buying S-400s, it is a partner of Moscow. It’s not confronting it. It has its own allies like Azerbaijan…but not NATO, US etc

the fantasy of: Ankara will confront Iran-Russia “so let’s support-ignore its crackdown” on minorities….airstrikes on Sinjar, trafficking Syrians to Libya….same old story, it always ends with having to back Ankara extremism…so “hopefully” in the future Ankara will fight 🇮🇷 🇷🇺

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Seth Frantzman

@sfrantzman

19 Dec

The propaganda about Ankara’s drones, much of which cannot be verified at all, is amazing because as far as I know, no other armed drone programs or loitering munitions out out all these supposed videos and lists of supposed success. The only way to measure is that way

For instance, ok I’m interested in any confirmed successes Ankara’s drones had, whether it is supposedly striking hundreds of armed vehicles in Syria or Armenian vehicles…but how can any of it be confirmed. It’s usually just reports of Blitzkrieg like success at face value

Other drones, like loitering munitions also used against Armenian forces are relegated to non-existent because no one bothers to quantify their use or success…it’s like a footnote (“and there were other drones”)…

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Seth Frantzman

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18 Dec

Our version of Murgh Makhani at #chezfrantzman, with cashews and hot green pepper sprinkled on at end.

Process:

Sauce: Cut up 15 medium tomatoes and fry them with butter, 2 cracked cinnamon sticks, three bay leafs, 5 cardamon cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, dash of paprika

or Kashmiri chili powder. One sliced green chili without seeds. 12 cashews. Sliced ginger and chopped garlic. Cook down for 15 minutes covered. Then blend this and strain and return the liquid to the fire. Add Sliced up 10 garlic cloves and 2 inches of ginger crushed into a paste

Add this to the tomato sauce.

For the chicken marinade: Chicken breasts or chicken with bones, a whole lemon squeezed over the chicken, then salt dash, paprika or Kashmiri chili powder, place in fridge. 200-300 grams of yogurt, garlic/ginger paste, garam masala powder, salt

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Seth Frantzman

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17 Dec

Although some people who oppose Ankara’s current ruling regime think that collapse of the lira is a development that shows how bad the regime is…I wonder if this has actually become regime policy now. Erode the lira, create a crises, concentrate power, get opposition to migrate

Other regimes destroyed their currency and country and cling to power, Venezuela is one example; Iran is another, and there are more. A currency crises will erode the middle class and moderates stoke extremism, accelerate concentration of economic power around regime cronies

Fascism rose from economic crisis. Ankara is one of the most far-right xenophobic, authoritarian regimes in the world so it’s path is not without consequences. Migration crisis, war and other things can occur next.

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