Mark Ruffalo put on a great performance in what I consider one of the best movies released this year — Crime 101. People should consider giving the film a viewing. They should also give consideration to Ruffalo’s comments last month regarding the relationship between the Israel government and the plans of one movie company — Paramount — to acquire another — Warner Brothers.
Ruffalo’s comments hit the mark. Thus, it is not surprising that instead of trying to refute them, Paramount sought to keep people from considering what Ruffalo said. Paramount did so by rolling out in response the accusation that Ruffalo had used “antisemitic tropes.”
Looking at the coverage in the New York Post of the back-and-forth, it is clear that Ruffalo’s comments in no way criticized anyone on the basis of ethnicity or religious views — what has until recently been nearly universally considered a necessary component of antisemitism. Instead, Ruffalo’s criticism is focused on the actions of the Israel government and the support for such from people and a company related to the proposed corporate acquisition. Tellingly, Paramount in its attack on Ruffalo just threw out the accusation that Ruffalo stated antisemitic tropes without critiquing in particular the comments he made.
In a rejoinder to Paramount and others flinging the antisemitic label at him, Ruffalo wrote in part at Twitter:
The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and fundamentally dishonest. Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people.
Hear! Hear!
Fortunately, people are increasingly seeing through such vicious and vacuous smears. The days of being able to suppress people’s arguments by shouting “Antisemitism!” are over. People are on to the misuse of this allegation to condemn statements that criticize the actions of the Israel government or the support others provide for those actions.
