At 17:40 02-10-2002 -0400, Jon Gabriel wrote: >Since both the Miriam Webster and American Heritage dictionaries are >accepted as one of the authoritative sources for spelling and definitions >of English, your definition of antisemitism as listed in your message >(quoted above) is incorrect. In modern parlance, indeed in proper English >usage antisemitism is defined as someone who is anti-Jew, not anti-Jew and >anti-Arab. > >So, in reference to your statement: > >> > It is one of the major flaws in the "logic" of the >> > fanatically-pro-Israel crowd. > >This is not a flaw in their logic. They are using the word properly and >you are not.
Sorry to disappoint you, but it is the other way around. If both Jews and Arabs are Semitic, than *by definition* the word anti-Semitic must mean anti-Jew *and* anti-Arab -- just like "anti-American" means "hatred of anything American" and not "only hatred of anything Texan". What the pro-Israel crowd is doing, is ignoring part of the meaning of the word because it does not suit their needs. But then, they really have no choice -- if they were to admit that "anti-Semite" also means "anti-Arab", they would end up having to admit that their logic is fatally flawed. Jeroen "Likud Delenda Est" van Baardwijk __________________________________________________________________________ Wonderful-World-of-Brin-L Website: http://www.Brin-L.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
