{"id":108864,"date":"2016-10-19T11:17:18","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T19:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=108864"},"modified":"2016-10-19T11:23:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T19:23:19","slug":"four-reasons-the-adls-twitter-report-embarrasses-nevertrump-pundits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=108864","title":{"rendered":"Four Reasons the ADL\u2019s Twitter Report Embarrasses #NeverTrump Pundits"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Loebricator<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The ADL released it\u2019s report titled \u201cAntisemitic Targeting of Journalists During the 2016 Presidential Campaign<\/a>\u201d which essentially defuses the exaggerated rhetoric from explicitly anti-Trump operatives like Ben Shapiro, Bethany Mandel and other Jewish conservative political pundits. Here\u2019s what you need to know about the report. I\u2019ll focus quite a bit on Ben Shapiro, who the report lists as the #1 target. I\u2019ll also mention Bethany Mandel, who made the top 10 list despite her minuscule social media footprint, and explain why she received so many tweeted attacks.<\/p>\n

1. Most damning: The incredibly small number of accounts actually sending antisemitic tweets.<\/h3>\n

One of the more damning of the report\u2019s findings is that only \u201c1,600 Twitter accounts generated 68% of the anti-Semitic tweets targeting journalists<\/strong> \u2026 confirming that these were persistent attacks on journalists by a relatively small cohort<\/strong> of Twitter users.\u201d (Twitter allows unlimited multiple accounts, so it\u2019s possible that the number of actual persons<\/em> responsible is an even smaller number.) I\u2019m not surprised, because pundits claiming harassment suspiciously never proffer statistics describing the tweets they receive (the sole exception was Bethany Mandel, who described \u201cthousands\u201d of source accounts). Their unwillingness to gather or share data with their audiences is sure sign that they\u2019re hiding something. The ADL report confirms that conservative pundits know they\u2019re exaggerating the scope of antisemitism among Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

Specific examples of conservative pundits\u2019 over-the-top rhetoric the report undermines are easy to find. For example, consider the rhetoric Ben Shapiro advanced in a National Review piece, \u201cTrump\u2019s Anti-Semitic Supporters\u201d wherein Shapiro cries<\/a>, \u201cThis isn\u2019t a majority of Trump supporters, obviously. It\u2019s not even a large minority. But there is a significant core of Trump support that not only traffics in anti-Semitism but celebrates it\u200a\u2014\u200aand god-worships Trump as the leader of an anti-Jewish movement<\/strong>.\u201d And yet, the ADL report suggests this \u201csignificant core\u201d is actually profoundly insignificant<\/em>. The inference is that Shapiro was making allegations without any data whatsoever backing his claim of a \u201csignificant core.\u201d He was either guessing, or lying\u200a<\/strong>\u2014\u200ahis readers can decide for themselves. In any case, it\u2019s clear that Shapiro\u2019s views and opinions simply can\u2019t be trusted on the issue of Trump supporters\u2019 demographics, views and beliefs.<\/p>\n

Bethany Mandel also repeatedly smeared Trump supporters generally based on only relatively few tweets, for example:<\/p>\n

\"1-tq82rogtnx3-cyhr81q4za\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what Trump supporters look like,\u201d she says. Never mind that photos and videos from Trump\u2019s rallies reveal that among his millions of supporters there are many Jews, Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities. The ADL report clearly proves that Mandel was wrong and reckless to use the tweets she received as a proxy for Trump supporters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the report explicitly states: \u201cWe cannot conclude that Mr. Trump\u2019s extensive use of Twitter \u2018encouraged\u2018\u201d\u2019 these attacks. Mr. Trump\u2019s use of
Twitter as a key communications tool is notable, but the platform is used extensively by all candidates. \u2026 As stated, there is no known causal relationship between Mr. Trump or his campaign and the wave of anti-Semitic attacks against journalists.\u201d This last admonishment against blaming Trump supporters generally for the actions of an extreme minority is what millennials like to call a \u201cmic drop<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. ADL\u2019s report fails to mention despicable \u201cchumming the waters\u201d by Shapiro and others.<\/h3>\n

Fishermen \u201cchum the waters\u201d by dumping bloodied, wounded fish into waters hoping to attract large fish to catch. Shapiro and Mandel extensively engaged in this practice on Twitter. For example, one of Shapiro\u2019s more infamous tweets:<\/p>\n

\"1-n9wjiz8m9jljxehutqs3hg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is it any surprise then that Shapiro ranked highest in the ADL\u2019s ranking of Jewish journalists receiving antisemitic tweets? Through this tweet and others, and especially through his practice of awarding \u201ctrophies\u201d to his attackers by retweeting the most despicable, Shapiro was literally begging to be attacked.<\/p>\n

Bethany Mandel engaged in similar aggressive retweeting campaigns, essentially amplifying her attackers\u2019 messages to thousands of her followers (many Jewish), i.e. doing her attackers\u2019 bidding for them! The impact of this is clear when one considers that Mandel made the ADL\u2019s top ten list of Jewish pundits receiving antisemitic tweets, yet she has roughly only 5% of the number of followers on Twitter as Shapiro. Mandel made up for her relatively small social networking footprint by aggressively retweeting and literally inviting her attackers:<\/p>\n

\"1-yjmwqnirxqxhgunk4lqfaq\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s day and age, readers understand how social media metrics drive the incomes of political pundits. Readers can draw their own conclusions as to why Shapiro and Mandel so fervently invited antisemitic attacks upon themselves on social media.<\/p>\n

3. Why did conservative pundits embrace and promote this wildly exaggerated narrative, conflating the scope of the antisemitic tweet issue?<\/h3>\n

Why, you ask, would conservative pundits want to conflate the antisemitic tweet issue? Isn\u2019t Trump the Republican candidate? What gives?<\/p>\n

To understand, you need to know two things. First, that most of the targeted pundits are opposed to Trump\u2019s candidacy and circumstantial evidence suggests that some are even indirectly compensated for opposing Trump. Many proudly stamp themselves with the #NeverTrump hashtag, suggesting they will actually vote for Hillary or stay home on Election Day. In a piece titled \u201cThe Campaign to Toxify Donald Trump Among Jews<\/a>\u201d Joel Pollack insightful calls the game what it is: a political ruse. Second, that millennial conservative pundits like Shapiro and Mandel adhere to so-called \u201cSocial Justice Warrior\u201d (SJW) tactics, successfully developed by the progressive left, which emphasize sensational emotional appeals over facts, logic and reason. Shapiro once laid out the game plan<\/a>: \u201cThis is what the left does: they pick a target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it. They use individual cases as a baton to wield against groups they hate<\/strong>.\u201d Shapiro exhibits this blunt instrument tactic in a post to his own Daily Wire titled, \u201cThe Anti-Semites Are Out In Force For Trump<\/a>,\u201d wherein he \u201cproves\u201d his point by revealing a handful of cherry-picked antisemitic tweets.<\/p>\n

Shapiro and other conservative pundits so gleefully re-tweeted cherry-picked antisemitic tweets because they learned that tactic from the left and have no ethical restraints against using the same tactics to smear and shame millions of innocent Trump supporters. All\u2019s fair in the world of modern conservative punditry, which at its core is driven by social media metrics, not \u201cconservative principles.\u201d Shame on them.<\/p>\n

4. Jewish conservatives\u2019 behavior is inconsistent with their typical reaction to antisemitism from the right. Why?<\/h3>\n

I wrote about this hypocrisy before(here<\/a>), my summarized observation generally being that, for example, pundits like Shapiro and Mandel openly support the NRA, and are nowhere to be found when Jews supporting gun control are threatened by antisemites within the NRA (likely the same people threatening Jewish Trump-opposition), or how they\u2019ve passively acquiesced to Ted Nugent\u2019s membership on the Board of Directors. Why isn\u2019t the same level of hysteria warranted? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Loebricator: The ADL released it\u2019s report titled \u201cAntisemitic Targeting of Journalists During the 2016 Presidential Campaign\u201d which essentially defuses the exaggerated rhetoric from explicitly anti-Trump operatives like Ben Shapiro, Bethany Mandel and other Jewish conservative political pundits. Here\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1361,29754,42792],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adl","category-ben-shapiro","category-bethany-mandel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t