Rant #2,531: Fake Friends

Happy Monday.

I had a pretty blah weekend, nothing much happening, and I barely could keep my eyes open yesterday, when my wife had to work.

I did my "due diligence"--somebody actually told me that that I should pick a different term to use for what I need to do during the day, but I like the phrase, so I am going to keep using it--and then that was that.

My day was pretty much over.

But I did wander onto Facebook during the weekend, and I had a bizarre encounter with one of my "friends" there this weekend, and let me tell you about it.

One of these supposed "friends" put up an absolutely vile photo, and I don't care what side of the fence you sit on, it was absolutely vile and disgusting.

I viewed the photo, took issue with it, and let the "friend" know what I thought of it.

One thing led to another, I reported the photo to the Facebook police, my "friend" took the offending photo down, he let me have it, and that was pretty much that.

I also put up a message about it, without using the photo, because, quite frankly, I have been attacked before from all sides, but never like this.

Here is what I said. And no, I am not going to put up the photo, because it is reprehensible.

Through my message, I think you can get a good visual in your head about what the photo was and what it looked like.

Read on:

"I do not like Michael Bloomberg, and I will not vote for him. That being said, a photo going around showing Bloomberg's head being photoshopped on Adolph Hitler's body--with a mustache for good measure--is patently anti-Semitic, because the poster told me flat out that Bloomberg reminds him of Hitler.

And yes, the poster is JEWISH.

When are Jews on both side of the aisle going to open up their eyes and see that such posts justify the hate that many harbor toward the Jews--in particular when the post is put up by someone who is Jewish?

If you see such a post, please report it to Facebook as being offensive.

I do not care for Bloomberg. He is an elitist, but he is not a Nazi.

Any depiction of him as being a Nazi is promoting anti-Semitism, whether the poster believes it or not."

Yup, reprehensible.

Just so you know, the "friend"--who as you can probably tell, is no longer a "friend"--called me every name in the book, said that people loved his post, and that he had every right to put it up, because that is what he believes.

Having every right to do something, and actually doing it, in my book at least, equals out to two different things.

The photo was repulsive, and as a Jew, I couldn't let it just fly by.

Others who read my explanation were as repulsed as I was, simply through my description--they had never seen the photo, and probably never will.

There is a rise in anti-Semitism in this country. It has always been there, and the rise actually began during the Obama years, and has continued upward during Trump's first term in office.

People who have a hate for the Jews--it is really a jealously, that such a relatively small faction of people can make such a major contribution to society--have this hate festering in their souls, and they only need a slight shove to go over the tipping point.

Portraying the Jewish Bloomberg as perhaps the most repulsive figure in our recent history--his reign was only 80 years ago--and photoshopping a Jew upon a photo of the very person who exterminated 6 million Jews from this earth--is reprehensible.

And even if it was done as satire, the photo itself was not satirical, it was reprehensible, because unlike portrayals of Hitler in the movies--such as by Charlie Chaplin, Mel Brooks, and yes, even Moe Howard of the Three Stooges--doesn't show how stupid his thinking was, doesn't show how idiotic the Nazis were in their hatred of Jews and others that opposed them, and it doesn't show the vileness of their mission.

Chaplin, Brooks and Howard demonstrated, through comedy, what a heinous creature Hitler was, and the entire Nazi regime was.

This photo almost celebrated Bloomberg as heir apparent to Hitler, and I just could not tolerate it on an open network like Facebook is.

When I asked the poster to tell me what link there was between Hitler and Bloomberg, he only said that Bloomberg reminded him of Hitler, and that was that.

That is begging the question, not answering it.

And yes, even though I believe Bernie Sanders is a horrid individual who himself festers the anti-Semitic flames with his own behavior, I would have said the same thing to the poster if he had put Sanders' likeness on Hitler's body.

We need to be more civil with each other on social network platforms, and Jews, in particular, must be very, very careful, because it has been proven time and time again that these networks are one of the tools people use to spread the hate.

If there is some fallout over it, so be it.

When I see anti-Semitism, I am going to call it out.

And when I see it from a fellow Jew, it just makes me sad. And angry.

Speak to you tomorrow.