All of us know that antisemitism is a pernicious bigotry that has always been around, aspiring to disenfranchise Jews and eventually get rid of them.
What has become evident is that, today, it’s turned into a thriving business that catapults its purveyors to fame and wealth. If you don’t believe that, just read Joel Waldman’s article, “Why I said no to Megyn Kelly” (April 7).
The former Fox News national correspondent and true crime podcaster, who was invited to appear on Kelly’s show, decided to pass up the opportunity that would have garnered him those coveted clicks, described by him as “the central currency of modern media.”
Knowing that such a spot would have amplified his own business endeavors by increasing his audience to “tens of thousands of new viewers and listeners,” he, nonetheless, declined, choosing to forego the extra notoriety in favor of retaining his moral compass.
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, he is all the more sensitive to the seismic outbreak of anti-Jewish sentiment that has emerged with a vengeance since October 7. Because when someone’s grandfather is burned in the ovens of Auschwitz, reducing him to unidentifiable ashes, how else can Waldman react to the news that fellow Jews were burned to death in their own homes?
Familiar with the world of podcasts, Waldman recognizes the game that’s being played in this very competitive and lucrative industry. Today’s trendy, provocative, and libelous claims against Jews have replaced the entertainment of the Roman Colosseum, where Christians were thrown to the lions for sport.
For those who seek the great reward of algorithms, directed to them, it seems to be an uber-addictive opioid, which pulls them in like a magnet.
In the case of the very popular Megyn Kelly, Waldman is bewildered, wondering how it’s possible that she, as a successful journalist who earned up to $69 million during her stint with NBC, would do this for the sake of money. He asks, “Is she that greedy or hateful or both?”
Clearly, it is not the financial incentive, because how much money does a person need to feel that they’ve arrived? Megyn has repeatedly denied that she is an antisemite, or has any ill will towards the Jewish people, and while that may be true, giving her the benefit of the doubt, how does a woman with her level of intellect and shrewdness fail to realize that her amplification of claims that “this war is being fought for Israel and not for the US” doesn’t stimulate angry and hateful sentiment against everyday Jews?
Kelly is not naïve and certainly not stupid. She would have to know that such viewpoints, expressed by her, will not go unheard or unheeded. Because when there is a growing audience waiting to be fed that kind of delicious morsel, it will be swallowed up faster than it takes cotton candy to melt in your mouth.
When profit overrides responsibility
So, what is the motivation of Kelly, who supposedly left the demanding nightly show on Fox, in part, to be more available to her family? Certainly, being a podcaster allows her those important moments to spend with her children, so it must be the lust for unmatched fame that is taking her in an unseemly direction.
Either way, Kelly knows what she’s doing. By embracing the likes of Candace Owens, who’s really gone to the dark side, saying she will not condemn the “young mom,” she has to know that she is aligning with a major promoter of dangerous Jewish conspiracy theories.
By also refusing to call out Tucker Carlson, because he is a friend, Kelly has chosen to abandon mainstream common sense and take the Colosseum path of Rome, knowing that it will benefit her business model, apparently the deciding factor in what she is willing to abandon for the sake of the demanded entertainment she is providing.
So, this is what it boils down to. Bigotry and racism have become the new commodity, packaged as a business but rendering the same results as thousands of years ago.
It will continue to do its intended damage by characterizing Jews as the vilified scoundrels who are responsible for everything that goes wrong in the world. It will also cause regular folks to reassess their own personal viewpoint of who these people are, because that always happens when whispers turn into vicious innuendo.
Before long, the justifications will be found, laying them at the feet of Jews, whether it’s in the form of higher food and gas prices or just the differences they exhibit in their personality. It’s always something!
People like Megyn Kelly, whether realized or not, play on the fears of both ignorant and informed people who need a reason to stop looking at themselves and take personal responsibility for whatever is not going right.
This blame game has turned out to be a lucrative and thriving business because it is needed at a time when so much corruption is being discovered in so many areas of society.
And while Jews make up a mere 0.2% of the world’s total population, it boggles the mind to believe that this microscopic speck of people could actually be the culprits of every evil that exists.
Yet, that is what clever, deceptive podcasters would like us all to believe, and when they have an audience eating it up, who among them would be eager to walk away from that kind of immeasurable success?
But here’s a tip, and it goes hand in hand with how Joel Waldman ends his remarkable article. King Solomon, known for being the wisest man who ever lived, said, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1).
Similarly, Waldman extends a personal invitation to Megyn Kelly to take some time out and meet his mother, the woman who survived one of the worst periods of history. He says that by doing so, Kelly will meet up, face to face, with the attributes of “quiet strength, resilience, and the power of humility,” all exemplified in the woman who gave birth to him.
That’s an offer that should not be refused, just as the wise words of King Solomon, but somehow, it’s not likely that either will be chosen.
The writer is a former Jerusalem elementary and middle school principal. She is the author of Mistake-Proof Parenting, based on the time-tested wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs, available on Amazon.