• Brokkr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    5 months ago

    It already has lost its meaning. Semites are anyone who speak or spoke a semetic language. Arabic and Hebrew are both semetic languages. Palestinians and Israelis are both semites.

    • yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yes, but the term antisemetic was coined by - well - antisemetic Germans who wanted a more scientifc term for “Jew hate” explicitly.

      It doesn’t matter that Arabs are semetic, the history of the term solely refers to hating Jews.

        • yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          ???

          You know, you’re right. It doesn’t matter how words are used, only the etymology matters.

          That’s why it’s ok to refer to black people as negros. After all, “negro” is the Spanish word for “black”, so “negros” just means “blacks”. And the n-word is just an English version of negro after all.

            • yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              5 months ago

              What I am saying is:

              The meaning of words is defined by how they’re used. Antisemitic has never been used to refer to anything but hating Jews akin to how the n-word has been used as an insult instead of a neutral descriptor.

              You cannot use the n-word as a neutral descriptor, nor can you use the term antisemitism to describe hatred of non-Jewish ethnicities.

              • ShroOmeric@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                5 months ago

                You just said that words are described by how people use them.

                So I’ll use that word like any other the way I prefer, and by doing that I’ll shape its meaning.

                See why it sounded dumb now?