Through most of yesterday there was, on the recommended list, a diary about how to spot antisemitic dog-whistles. And interspersed through its thousand (!) comments, I ran, several times, across a certain bit of misinformation. I ran across it enough times that I thought it deserved a little diary of its own. It was about the word "antisemitism."
Several different posters said (paraphrased):
Since the Arabs are also speakers of a Semitic language, doesn't that mean that the word 'antisemite' should by rights refer to anti-Arab bigotry as well? Haven't [Zionists, Jews, Israel] stolen or hijacked the word by implying that it only applies to Jews? Hasn't a perfectly good word been nefariously compressed until it means something much less than it did?
Well, the answer is a very decisive "no." We can take a look at the history of the word "antisemitism" and find out why.