Name: Sawyer Gersh
Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Technology: Free Speech v Hate Speech Online
Date of Fieldwork: January 30, 2023
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):ADL(Anti Defamation League
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?:
At 2:15pm we left class and prepared ourselves for the interview. At 2:30pm we joined the zoom though we had a tech issue so really we joined at 2:38pm. Dante formally excused our tardiness and Shaffer asked the first question which was, “Can you tell us why you decided to join the ADL and why you’ve stayed there?” Scott explained that in law school he worked mostly on civil rights issues which lead to organizations like the ADL but he wanted something more hands-on. Before he joined ADL he worked to rebuild and reconnect the Jewish community because the iron curtain was falling. During this he helped holocaust survivors. Also, this showed me a new perspective about the cold war. Though he helps all minorities rather than just Jewish people. He also told us more about how his kids are dealing and learning about things he never had to do such as antisemitism which shows just how big and fast it grew. The main reason antisemitism has risen so fast is mostly because of social media. We see that in 2017 there were only 12 examples of antisemitism in NJ compared to 179 incidents in 2020. Also, New York has the highest number of antisemitic incidents. Though there is a general rise in hate against the minorities all around the US and there are a few reasons for this. One is because of social media which helps unite hate filled people and turn people against their fellow humans. This is in large contrast to the past where if you wanted your message to be out in the world you would have to go to a radio station or a newspaper publisher and ask for them to input your message but that would entail bad publicity so that rarely happening but now you can easily go to a media app and post virtually whatever you want. Another reason is because of polarization which has made the other side unable to listen to us. Also, it gives people a reason to cover up their side’s thoughts in order to spread their ideology. Lastly it shows how only people on the left can control people on the left and vice versa for the right and we have been forcing them in the middle giving no one control over them.
We can see very clearly that ignorance has spread all throughout the US. It shows most commonly in seven widespread misconceptions about Jewish people. These are: Jewish people are in control. They are associated with money. They are only loyal to Israel. They give Jewish people perks and are special compared to non-Jewish people. Jewish people are responsible for the killing of Christ though recently the pope rebuked this conception as not true. That the holocaust wasn’t real! Lastly, there is anti israelism.
I was personally shocked to see how bad things really are in the US for minorities and how it is most likely going to get a lot worse very fast. Unfortunately, this also clearly shows the major flaws with democracy and freedom. What was most surprising to me was that New York has the highest number of antisemitic incidents because I always thought this was one of the safest places for Jewish because there were so many in New York but now I see that that made them a bigger target.
