Reply #17: Sometimes it is used anti-semitically, other times not

[oberliner]

Rush Limbaugh and his ilk are wrong when they suggest that anyone who criticizes neocons is using some sort of code to criticize Jews. They make this argument so as to shield neocons from being criticized. It is pathetic.

That being said, it is important to note that there are some people who do actually use neocon as a code word for Jews. Those people are primarily on the right. Paleocons like Pat Buchanan would be prominent examples of people who do it subtly. Other hard right groups will do it more directly.

The way you can tell the difference is if the person says something like, "Why is our foreign policy being controlled by the likes of Perle, Wolfowitz, and Krystol?"

The real anti-semites will only mention the Jewish neocons, or will make a point of highlighting a number of that group who are Jewish and downplaying (if mentioning at all) the ones who are not.

They will generally go on to showcase two points: first, that these people seem to care more about Israel than about America, and second, these people all happen to be Jewish.

The "acceptable" anti-semites (Pat Buchanan) will do this by simply listing the Jewish names and letting people draw their own conclusions. The more obvious anti-semites (David Duke) will explicitly say that these people are Jewish and that Jews are in control of the US foreign policy.

This of course has nothing to do with people on the left who criticize neocons for ideological reasons having nothing to do with their religion.

It is worrisome to some progressives, however, to see some of the unpleasantness normally associated with the right making its way occasionally into the discussion by those on the left. (implications of Jews "controlling" foreign policy, as one example).