effect on music

[Fred Blumenthal <xd2fabl...>]

I would like to respond to "effect on music" by Judith Cohen in digest 
2472.  If this discussion group is concerned with Jewish music, then it 
can't avoid being concerned with anti-semitism, and it strikes me that the 
boycott of Jewish music she mentions is anti-semitism in the broadest 
sense.
I don't support every action of the Israeli government any more than I 
support every action of the U.S. government.  But in voicing these 
thoughts I'm simply being critical, which is very Jewish, and employing my 
freedom of speech, which is very American.  I'm neither a disloyal Jew nor 
an unpatriotic American.  (Yes, Prof. Cohen writes from Canada, but their 
civil liberties seem to be the same as ours in the U.S.)  Israeli 
reactions to the Intifada remain controversial, but to understand them one 
must imagine oneself in the Israelis' situation.  Common anti-semitism 
would prevent that, which seems to be what Prof. Cohen is describing.
Admittedly, Jewish music has a gentile audience in Europe, possibly 
originating in guilty consciences in certain quarters, and Prof. Cohen's 
popularity in Spain may be related to that.  But my observation in the 
U.S. has been that performances of Jewish music attract mostly Jewish 
audiences, and I imagine that the Spanish anti-semites and the fans of her 
music are separate groups of people.  So a boycott of Jewish music would 
be a poor tool with which to strike out at the Israeli government, but an 
adequate tool for expressing anti-semitic thoughts.

Fred Blumenthal
xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com