Amy Schumer needs to stop
The recent crisis in Israel and Gaza has divided communities and friendships, but most of us can at least agree that Amy Schumer needs a break from her phone.
In her youngest Instagram postSchumer described herself as “the most successful comedian of all time.” She is clearly out of touch, but that has already been made clear by her numerous pro-Israel posts in which she has rationalized Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, rejected helpful advice and critical opposition, and abused her influence to crush others’ claims raise to victimhood.
I believe we would be better off ignoring the “deep thoughts” of most celebrities in a conflict with decades of layers, context, and pain. We don’t need to hear it Ja Rules opinions on every crisis or read a carefully curated social media post, most likely written by a publicist. (However, if you are a celebrity and need to say something, Follow Angelina Jolie’s example.)
However, Schumer’s posts are important to focus on because they illustrate the obscene double standards, lack of accountability, and asymmetry at play in the dehumanization of Palestinians and Muslims in America. Schumer’s comments help us think about who gets a pass when they express genocidal tendencies. Who is allowed to fail while others are censored and permanently punished?
In a now-deleted Instagram post from October 24, Schumer wrote shared a single panel comic It depicted American pro-Palestinian supporters holding placards and signs reading “Gaza residents only rape Jewish girls in self-defense” and “Proud of our raping martyrs.” In addition to her outrageous and inflammatory claims, Schumer felt perfectly fine publishing a cartoon blaming all residents of Gaza and not Hamas, the militant organization that controls Gaza and for committing war crimes and killing 1,400 Israelis was responsible on October 7th. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslims, Palestinians and Arabs have become interchangeable with Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, chocolate hummus and every other extremist abomination. As such we must Condemn acts of violence by violent people we have never met. Our stories and our humanity are flattened and otherwise decent individuals –and not-so-decent individuals– Get used to unleashing violence and genocidal policies against our “barbaric” communities.
This double standard wasn’t lost on actress Asia Jackson, who tweeted: “It’s so crazy to me how Bella and Gigi (Hadid) had to tiptoe around their statements, then Amy Schumer says ‘Gazans are rapists’ and still gets one have a career.”
When Schumer talked about careers, he also published editors and journalists from renowned media companies should be fired for allegedly “stoking anti-Jewish hatred worldwide” after initially publishing a false story about an Israeli rocket that destroyed a hospital in Gaza. Well, she will be pleased to know that there are many writers now lose their job for the crime of simply standing up for Palestinian rights. This also includes Michael Eisen, who is Jewish and lost his job as editor-in-chief of the science magazine eLife because he simply retweeted a piece of satire Onion Article titled “Dying Gazans Criticized for Not Last Words Condemning Hamas” and David Velasco, the editor-in-chief of Artforum, who was fired for signing an open letter It called for the liberation of the Palestinians and “an end to the killing and harm of all civilians.”
Student groups are also there be targeted And doxxed. Authors their events are canceled, and there is a chilling effect as people fear that anything advocating for the Palestinians could become a career-ending crime. This even affects superstars like the aforementioned Hadid sisters. The models are proud Palestinians whose paternal family became refugees after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. After Gigi’s post was canceled by the State of Israel, the Hadids were subjected to daily death threats and doxxing, which the typically outspoken Bella encouraged. Hadid was forced to remain silent online for two weeks.
Meanwhile, comedian Sarah Silverman felt no such need to remain silent. She shared a post from user @elianaeatz in which she advocated that Israel cut off water and electricity supplies to Gaza until Hamas releases all hostages.
Denial of basic human needs to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, half of whom are children living in a settlement “Open-air prison” According to human rights organizations, this was apparently a perfectly acceptable compromise for Silverman, who is said to be progressive on all issues except Palestine. She took down the post after shocked reactions from her fans attributed the “mistake” to “stoned anger.”.” She will qualify as a guest presenter The Daily Show next week, which makes me wonder if other celebrities can use stoning as an excuse when temporarily advocating for war crimes against innocent Israeli citizens.
Asia Jackson, a young black actress who doesn’t have nearly the platform or star status of Hadid’s, may have to try the “stoned” defense if she faces backlash for denouncing Schumer. After Jackson’s tweet went viral, Schumer messaged her, calling her anti-Semitic and claiming she was uninformed about the history of the Jewish people. “Did anything I posted about the massacre of my people offend you?” Schumer asked in screenshots of their conversations that Jackson shared on Twitter.
“Islamophobia and the generalization of the people of Gaza did it,” replied Jackson, who also mentioned this Schumer’s alleged history of racist content dates back to 2015.
In their exchange, Schumer explained how unsafe she currently feels as a Jewish woman in America. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is very real and skyrocket after this crisis according to recent testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Jewish communities and Students feel threatened and deserve to be safe. Jews and Muslims are not responsible for the violence in Israel and Gaza, but our communities are the most affected. That was clear on Fox News last night when host Jesse Watters comfortably and confidently declared, “I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world…we’re tired of them.”
Instead of building coalitions, it’s crazy that Schumer – a wealthy, privileged multimillionaire – would feel the need to lecture Jackson, a black woman, about how she feels unsafe and threatened in America.
Not to be outdone, Schumer, like so many white women before her, decided to do so use targeted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is trying to advance their political agenda while conveniently ignoring all of his other statements denouncing white supremacy and abuse of power. She posted an MLK video in which he declared that Israel has “the right to exist” and that anti-Semitism is wrong, unjust and evil. Another black woman, this time MLK’s daughter Bernice King, came with the receipts to give Schumer a rundown.
“Amy: Certainly my father was against anti-Semitism, as was I,” King said wrote in a message on her post. “He also believed that militarism (along with racism and poverty) was among the interconnected triple evils. I am sure he would demand that Israeli bombings of Palestinians stop, that hostages be released… and that we work for true peace, which includes justice.”
Given all the helpful feedback and criticism, Schumer published a post On Tuesday evening, that initially seemed to reveal some growth and understanding. She wrote: “We are all in a lot of pain. What hurts the most is that we actually love each other.” Unfortunately, in true Schumer fashion, it quickly became a train wreck. She ended it by saying, “You hate Jews. You don’t know why. I still love you.”
It seems Schumer still hasn’t figured out why her posts are problematic, but unlike so many others who are punished for expressing sympathy and support for Palestinian rights, she will almost certainly be in be able to fight through angry posts knowing that, despite any short-term backlash, there will always be another opportunity on the horizon.
Finally, we have all learned that hatred of Palestinians and Muslims has no real price.
