Hacker News Reader

Comment by jevoten | Hacker News Reader

Should we still be outraged about Harvard? What proportion of its students are Jewish, compared to the US overall? It seems the president of Harvard is Jewish*, so it can't be too antisemitic, can it?

*In fact, 5 of the 8 Ivy League universities have Jewish presidents, if one follows the links from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League

View on HN

I sometimes wonder what other Semitic cultures think about Jewish peoples claiming “Semitic” as their exclusive word. Antisemitic would mean being against not just Jews but also other cultures that fit into the Semitic definition.

>Jewish peoples claiming “Semitic” as their exclusive word

Antisemitic, as a term, was popularized by people who disliked Jews, who wanted a genteel euphemism for opposing Jews.

So what semitic really means or what Jews think it means is irrelevant.

Once upon a time, people self identified as antisemitic. It sounded nicer than "Judenhass" or whatever.

I think I've read that semitic is an obsolete language grouping, not a race or culture, but I'm not sure.

It can still be anti Semitic because you need to compare with the base rate of a peer institution that does not have anti Semitic recruitment practices. Comparing with the overall population is a fallacy.

Ok now do the same for all the rest of the minorities. But wait they dont have presidents representing their communities. What you said makes no sense.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com