Kanye's Antisemitism, Tucker Carlson, and Journalistic Ethics

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There has been much news coverage regarding Kanye (who now prefers to be called "Ye") West's mounting antisemitic tirades.

"I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE," the rapper tweeted last month, before claiming that he couldn't be antisemitic because "black people are actually Jew[s]." He leaned into the old antisemitic trope that Jews are in a conspiracy to undermine all who oppose their financial and social control of others, concluding "You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball [sic] anyone whoever opposes your agenda."

But before his horrendous post that got him banned from Twitter and Instagram, West put his antisemitism on full display in an interview with Fox's Tucker Carlson. Did Tucker Carlson Tonight perform a service in exposing West's bigotry? I acknowledge that Carlson has uncovered horrors in American culture, morality, academics, and politics, though I do disagree at times with his method. But did this episode stoke hate-baiting that led to West's spiraling into self-destructive and baneful rhetoric? Carlson could have discouraged West's conspiracy theories but instead, he enabled West's deranged antisemitic tirades.

One vicious line of attack came at Jared Kushner and his brother Josh, after Carlson asked about negative social media posts that West had written about the Kushner brothers.

West relished the opportunity to complain that Josh held a 10% to West's 5% interest in a clothing line started by West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian. He immediately associated the brothers with "openly sexualized" imagery in commercial promotion of the product, with "things" that he would not want his children and wife doing to sell a product. To him, all of this was evidence that the Kushners are motivated only "to make money," even in the treaties that Jared "made" – that is, helped to broker, between Israel and Arab nations.

West made it clear that, in speaking about the Kushners, he was characterizing Jews in general. He stated that he would prefer that his children learn about Chanukah rather than Kwanzaa because a Jewish holiday would instruct in "some financial engineering."

As he spoke, everything I had learned about antisemitism and Jew-baiting (both attacks on Jews and Judaism and efforts to stir up such attacks) told me that, whether knowingly or unknowingly, Carlson was enabling West to give forum to medieval and Nazi-era concepts that Jews have an in-their-blood money-grubbing nature that pollutes pure entrepreneurs, sexually, economically, and culturally.

After reiterating that anything the Kushners do is for money, West made a point of asking Carlson, "Is that too heavy-handed to put into this forum?" Carlson responded, "No, that's your opinion. We're not in the censorship business."

West then felt emboldened to suggest the Kushners, that Jews, are parasites, another antisemitic trope. "I think that's what they're about is making money," he said. "I don't think that they have the ability to make anything on their own." These users therefore exploit all races and skills, especially people like Kanye and the Trump family. West had said that the Kushners were "holding Trump back" with "disdain." This notion that Jews hold contempt for others is yet another trope of antisemitism despite biblical and Rabbinic teachings essential to Judaism about kevod ha-beriot, the honor due to all people, all created in God's image.

Additionally, in an off-hand comment, West praised the thinking of Claud Anderson, who has railed on social media against Jews. In a video posted on Instagram, Anderson relayed old, antisemitic tropes, claiming that Jews, who comprise less than one half of one percent of the population, control the diamond, gold, banking, film, and legal industries because they "stick together." He added that they have taken anything that has potential for profit, well-being, and quality of life and built it around the Jewish religion.

Anderson also claimed that "Jews are whites," Khazarians, a mixture of Mongoloids, Russians, and Poles, who took over the religion in the eighth century after talking to six black rabbis, and then "pushed the black folk out" and "left them hanging." But the "Jews as Khazarian" theories were debunked long ago, even before DNA research has confirmed the continuity of the priestly families (kohanim) within current Jewish life – a heritage that goes back to biblical times! That West would look to Anderson as a source of wisdom – and that no one at Fox thought to research and raise an alarm over West's mention of him – is alarming.

And West's controversial claims didn't end there. After the interview, antisemitic segments surfaced that were left out of the televised interview. Perhaps the intention in withholding such material was to make a shallow gesture at claiming due diligence. But I saw no due diligence followed on that episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight.

What should Carlson have done? Like anyone who has followed West's career, Carlson knew that the rapper/entrepreneur is prone to outlandish statements, but throughout the interview, Carlson continued to egg him on. This "journalistic method" reminded me of Leviticus 19:14: "Do not place a stumbling block before the blind." The Talmudic Sages interpreted this verse not only literally, but as a prohibition against exploiting another's prejudices or weaknesses to usher them into a course of action that is destructive and not in that person's best interests. 

Any interviewee is "blind" to the extent that he or she must depend on where the interviewer is leading. Therefore, the interviewer bears a great ethical responsibility. This is, of course, at the heart of journalistic ethics. The ethical and spiritual responsibility of the interviewer was foreseen by the ancient Talmudic Sages (and by subsequent Jewish tradition) in laws and guidelines for everyday speech. The biblical mandates (both "you shall" and "you shall not") are regarded in Judaism as mitzvot, commandments, which provide the halachah, the way of holy living mandated by God.

The biblical basis for the obligation to use speech constructively instead of destructively comes from Leviticus 19:16: "You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people." The Talmudic and later traditions of Judaism interpret this, among other ways, to mean that one must not slander others or manipulate others so that they will vilify a third party. The tradition is clear that even saying something good about a third party is wickedly provocative when the speaker knows that his interlocutor will likely be incited to disagree by making disparaging remarks. Clearly, "black balling" and disdain and manipulation are condemned by the teachings and values and practices of Judaism, just as Jewish business ethics and sexual morality have deep roots in the Bible.

Carlson did not do a good job of protecting West or anyone else when the episode was edited. He let stand the invasion of privacy of individuals named by West who had expressed private political opinions to him and let West share sensitive family information. And Carlson did nothing to challenge West's antisemitic tropes. Hopefully, West will find and accept the guidance to understand the dangers carried in the tropes he expressed.

Most Jews and most other Americans did unite to denounce and to distance themselves from West's comments, especially after he declared himself unrepentant and even divinely mandated to say what he did. But no soul-searching has yet come from Fox News or from Tucker Carlson Tonight. The clear absence of standards for editing, the lack of on-the-spot research of influences named during an interview, the failure to follow up with hard questions about ideologies or rhetoric – these are stumbling blocks, not good journalism.



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