A reader just emailed me: "we recently met people whose aunt and uncle built the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver in 1912- we went there for lunch. She told us when the hotel was built they could not get a liquor license because they were Jewish and so ran it as apartments. Then when they wanted a mortgage they couldn’t get one because they were Jewish, so they had to sell at a loss and the people - not Jewish who bought the property were able to convert it into a hotel as they received a liquor license. Her aunt and uncle left for California where they became very wealthy. So antisemitism has been around forever, now it’s just out in the open!
Wonderful review, Pieter. And so important. Canada is a hot mess of antisemitism and I totally agree - this obsession with holocaust education is misguided. The mutation of the virus that we are dealing with today is steeped in hardcore Marxism and Islamofascism. They have found common cause in their demonization of Jews. But this convergence of interests will be short lived. Kudos to Ted for writing such an important book and thank you for publishing such a thoughtful summary/review.
Can you give a concrete example of how an actual DEI policy leads to antisemitism? This seems similar to the right wing demonization of 'wokeness.' DEI mean Diversity Equity and Inclusion. The people I work with have used this to open conversations and not to shut them down. I have no clue as to what you mean by 'wokeness.' It seems to be a vague slander that people on the right use for anyone person or policy that they do not like or who calls attention to the facts of Canada's history. I certainly hope that I am woke.
My wife, who is East Asian, has been spat at, shoved, verbally abused and refused service in Vancouver. She has been stopped and searched entering Canada. This all got much worse during Covid.
I will seek out and read this book but I hope you will reflect on how you use terms like DEI and wokeness and what they actually mean, not what the right wing pretends they mean.
Steven, I understand what you are saying and do note that the term 'wokeness' is not used here precisely because it is vague. The core principles of DEI are not questioned as mentioned, they seek positive outcomes, but that is not how things have worked out in practice.
The key is in the 'hierarchy of minorities' and the fact that DEI identifies people not as individuals first but only as members of a group. I think Ted Rosenberg is far from a right wing person, there are many progressive Jews who have over the past 20 months discovered that DEI was not there for them. It is probably best if you read Ted's book.
Again, I ask for examples of where DEI initiatives have not worked out in practice. And to be fair, perhaps look at places where they have. Can you give me an example of a DEI policy that treats people 'only as members of a group'? I cannot.
Have our institutions, including those with DEI policies or programs, failed Jewish people over the last three years? Yes, I have seen plenty of evidence of this. This is evidence of DEI not being applied or being applied selectively. It is not a result of DEI. It argues for better DEI policies and not for their abandonment.
One of the arguments against DEI is that it works against hiring and promotion based on merit. It is a myth that this is what organizations would do without DEI. People hire and invest in people who look like, sound like, and think like them.They do not hire on merit, they merely pretend to. 'The most competent person is the person most like me.'
I suggest you read Scott Page's books on this.
The right wing comments on 'woke' are vacuous but do harm. They should be challenged.
One example would be, and this is from Rosenberg's book, where: "Similarly, the regulatory authorities in Canada are proposing to “decolonize” and “decenter” medicine across the country, mandating training in DEI and making social justice activism a core competency necessary to obtain and maintain medical licensure. Following a national outcry from physicians, the new “decentered and decolonized” regulatory system was deferred to 2027" It may be deferred but it may make its way back into medical licensing in a few years.
You do agree that DEI has affected Jewish people and then you argue that it is not DEI as such, but the way it is implemented. To that I would argue that it may be so poorly defined and left open to interpretation at each institution that it is bound to generate undesired outcomes in a number of cases.
It is clear that it seeks to replace merit based hiring, again because one of its core principles appears to be favouring group characteristics over the individual. If there should be a different approach to 'merit based hiring' is a discussion outside the scope of reviewing and assessing Rosenberg's book.
From the people I have spoken with DEI has generally effected Jewish people, especially Jewish women, and especially in the healthcare system in very positive ways. I do not agree at all that it has had a negative effect. This has nothing to do with the definitions, the ones I have read are clear. It is an organizational failure to act on the policies and not a problem with the DEO policies, at least for the ones I have read..
I will reserve further comment till I have read the book, but in general I would support making training in understanding the systematic ways in which the medical system and doctors discriminate, today and not in the past, against First Nations people and against people, again especially women, whose first language is not English. Indeed, I have been observing this first hand at VGH and UBC. There is persistent discrimination that is shockingly obvious. And most of it is from older male doctors.
A reader just emailed me: "we recently met people whose aunt and uncle built the Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver in 1912- we went there for lunch. She told us when the hotel was built they could not get a liquor license because they were Jewish and so ran it as apartments. Then when they wanted a mortgage they couldn’t get one because they were Jewish, so they had to sell at a loss and the people - not Jewish who bought the property were able to convert it into a hotel as they received a liquor license. Her aunt and uncle left for California where they became very wealthy. So antisemitism has been around forever, now it’s just out in the open!
Wonderful review, Pieter. And so important. Canada is a hot mess of antisemitism and I totally agree - this obsession with holocaust education is misguided. The mutation of the virus that we are dealing with today is steeped in hardcore Marxism and Islamofascism. They have found common cause in their demonization of Jews. But this convergence of interests will be short lived. Kudos to Ted for writing such an important book and thank you for publishing such a thoughtful summary/review.
I can't wait to read Ted's book.
i for one am not antisemitic.
BUT:
I wont tolerate whomever began the description of people as "pro Israel", or "pro Palestine".
Theyre NOT rival soccer teams you fucking imbeciles
What I -am- is anti war.
Nearly, very nearly, Complete pacifism.
Consider 9/11, which some say is comparable to Oct 7.
The US lost 3000 dead: and spent the lives of 7500+ soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis.
Israel lost about 1200, and has killed 10-40,000 Palestinians in revenge.
So.
How many of the "other" do you have to kill to rectify the loss of -one- of your own?
And when does the cost/benefit analysis come in to play?
Is it moral to "accidentally" kill 300 infants or small children, to achieve a military objective? i.e., a few dead Hamas operatives?
ALSO: The IDF has several major intelligence, military, and police agencies who have infiltrated Gaza and presumably Hamas.
So how was the IDF caught off guard? Did every Mossad and other agent miss the preparations and communications?
How exactly does Hamas smuggle in armaments and war materièl?
Why did Hamas have cell service and internet throughout this conflict? (presumably monitored)
...
ALSO:
Why, if the IDF is deathly afraid of the neighbors attacking, have they not invited UN peacekeepers to patrol Gaza, the West Bank, and the borders?
The UN saved South Korea and the Balkans, with a minimum of bloodshed.
Milosevic and the other war criminals are mostly dead or in prison; Kim Jong Un and NK are a paper tiger.
Can you give a concrete example of how an actual DEI policy leads to antisemitism? This seems similar to the right wing demonization of 'wokeness.' DEI mean Diversity Equity and Inclusion. The people I work with have used this to open conversations and not to shut them down. I have no clue as to what you mean by 'wokeness.' It seems to be a vague slander that people on the right use for anyone person or policy that they do not like or who calls attention to the facts of Canada's history. I certainly hope that I am woke.
My wife, who is East Asian, has been spat at, shoved, verbally abused and refused service in Vancouver. She has been stopped and searched entering Canada. This all got much worse during Covid.
I will seek out and read this book but I hope you will reflect on how you use terms like DEI and wokeness and what they actually mean, not what the right wing pretends they mean.
Steven, I understand what you are saying and do note that the term 'wokeness' is not used here precisely because it is vague. The core principles of DEI are not questioned as mentioned, they seek positive outcomes, but that is not how things have worked out in practice.
The key is in the 'hierarchy of minorities' and the fact that DEI identifies people not as individuals first but only as members of a group. I think Ted Rosenberg is far from a right wing person, there are many progressive Jews who have over the past 20 months discovered that DEI was not there for them. It is probably best if you read Ted's book.
Again, I ask for examples of where DEI initiatives have not worked out in practice. And to be fair, perhaps look at places where they have. Can you give me an example of a DEI policy that treats people 'only as members of a group'? I cannot.
Have our institutions, including those with DEI policies or programs, failed Jewish people over the last three years? Yes, I have seen plenty of evidence of this. This is evidence of DEI not being applied or being applied selectively. It is not a result of DEI. It argues for better DEI policies and not for their abandonment.
One of the arguments against DEI is that it works against hiring and promotion based on merit. It is a myth that this is what organizations would do without DEI. People hire and invest in people who look like, sound like, and think like them.They do not hire on merit, they merely pretend to. 'The most competent person is the person most like me.'
I suggest you read Scott Page's books on this.
The right wing comments on 'woke' are vacuous but do harm. They should be challenged.
One example would be, and this is from Rosenberg's book, where: "Similarly, the regulatory authorities in Canada are proposing to “decolonize” and “decenter” medicine across the country, mandating training in DEI and making social justice activism a core competency necessary to obtain and maintain medical licensure. Following a national outcry from physicians, the new “decentered and decolonized” regulatory system was deferred to 2027" It may be deferred but it may make its way back into medical licensing in a few years.
You do agree that DEI has affected Jewish people and then you argue that it is not DEI as such, but the way it is implemented. To that I would argue that it may be so poorly defined and left open to interpretation at each institution that it is bound to generate undesired outcomes in a number of cases.
It is clear that it seeks to replace merit based hiring, again because one of its core principles appears to be favouring group characteristics over the individual. If there should be a different approach to 'merit based hiring' is a discussion outside the scope of reviewing and assessing Rosenberg's book.
From the people I have spoken with DEI has generally effected Jewish people, especially Jewish women, and especially in the healthcare system in very positive ways. I do not agree at all that it has had a negative effect. This has nothing to do with the definitions, the ones I have read are clear. It is an organizational failure to act on the policies and not a problem with the DEO policies, at least for the ones I have read..
I will reserve further comment till I have read the book, but in general I would support making training in understanding the systematic ways in which the medical system and doctors discriminate, today and not in the past, against First Nations people and against people, again especially women, whose first language is not English. Indeed, I have been observing this first hand at VGH and UBC. There is persistent discrimination that is shockingly obvious. And most of it is from older male doctors.