point Exchange: Unpacking Antisemitism

Away from current affairs, said Rosenberg, it's important to consider how the experience of the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazis, is fading from modern memory.

Antisemitism was widespread in the US before World War II, he explained, pointing to polls taken during the 1930s that suggested a common belief that Jews were responsible for their own persecution. As allied troops deployed to Europe saw evidence of the Holocaust firsthand and bought this knowledge home with them, attitudes toward Jewish people changed, said Rosenberg, and antisemitism became unAmerican. "That memory is dying out," he observed, "as is the shock of expressing antisemitic views."

Another trend fueling antisemitism today, said Rosenberg, is the growth of populism, stemming from a belief that the ruling elites are failing at their job when it comes to issues like the economy and foreign policy. While populism can be a "healthy corrective" and play an important role in challenging those in power, it can also lead to conspiracy-related theories that blame a small group of influential people-often Jewish-for everything. This opinion, he added, can be found on both the left and the right.

Rosenberg went on to describe the role that the growth of social media and the decline of traditional media has played in "supercharging" this upsurge in antisemitism. He pointed to surveys showing a vast majority of people preferring to seek their news on social media channels rather than traditional ones. Consequently, he said, they think the information they find on social media is more trustworthy than traditional media, even though social media is much less regulated. "We have migrated public discourse to a method of communication that advantages conspiracy theories." This is the perfect recipe for antisemitism, added Rosenberg, who in his spare time creates bots that troll social media accounts that he believes include antisemitic content.

Rosenberg's talk concluded on an optimistic note, however, as he reminded the audience that "trend lines are not finish lines" and that we do have the tools to fight antisemitism.