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He’s complete trash. He saw nothing wrong with his actions and made several videos/ tweets digging himself a deeper hole. At least kanye owns up to the fact that he’s antisemitic. Torrey is just a pig wearing lipstick pretending not to be. I’m Jewish and have dealt with antisemitism my entire life. What Torrey said was the same thing as what Kanye said. This is even more upsetting because we all used to love him & respect him. He was a Terp & a Raven.

What did he say? I didn't see Torrey's tweets and I don't have a subscription to the sun

Real rich coming from yitzy,

Here's the tweet that started it: https://twitter.com/TorreySmithWR/status/1585295727332569089

It was followed by tweets that doubled down and claimed he was being misinterpreted but he came around to understanding how his tweets were being read.

A later video recognizing what he said sounded pretty bad, presumably before his call with Schleifer: https://twitter.com/TorreySmithWR/status/1585456912161701889

Yikes

I still love and respect him. Guy was trying to make a point and missed the mark. It's hardly the same as what Kanye said. Also Torrey has done and still does amazing things for baltimore and people in need. He has a charity he is very active in and constantly gives his time and money to good causes.

But yeah go ahead and speak for everyone like we will all just dump him because he screwed up on one single comment.

Fuck that shit. Why can't anyone make mistakes anymore?

You can still do amazing things for your community while being a shitty person. His true colors came out today. He had the opportunity several times to learn from his mistakes and apologize and he chose not to. He took the “ I’m sorry that you’re offended route “ his remarks are the same antisemitic remarks that lead to the start of the Holocaust. That all Jews control the media and all Jews hold positions in power. And yes, everyone is allowed to make mistakes. He chose to continue to say “ I’m sorry you’re offended “

But then he came around and heard people out and understood that, even if he isn't a hateful person, his tweets were hurtful. Aren't people allowed to learn and grow? We shouldn't discourage it.

I’m of Jewish background and know Torrey. While I haven’t spoken to him about this, he’s an awesome person and does a ton for the community. I get his point even though it is offensive.

Fortunately there is a huge, informed Jewish community nearby to help clear things up provide some insight to everyone involved (except maybe ye)

And the reaction he is getting from this is not going to dissaude him from the racist opinion that the Jewish people are disproportionately influential in many areas of life. I certainly don't agree with the racist opinion in any way, to be clear... I'm just not sure its worthy of scumbag-no-matter-what-else-for-life status.

The double down is kind of insane though… he “meant what he said”

Torrey needs to take his lumps and learn from this.

Based on the article, he clearly did.

I can’t see it. Would greatly appreciate you posting it. 🙏

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I think you just have to do the best you can to maintain perspective that not everyone has the same experiences you do, and the folks making snap judgements on whether people fall into the ‘good/evil’ buckets based off a small set of impersonal experiences doth protest too much. And yeah of course it’s racist has been for a long time..

but I also think the ‘why didn’t adidas drop Ye when he said slavery was a choice but then they dropped him for being anti-Semitic is a fair question for Adidas to answer…

It’s hard not to step in the shit landmines

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Yes, it is antisemitic to use “but historically they have been in powerful positions” to not take seriously the fact that Jewish people make up less than 2% of the world population, most ARE NOT RICH AND POWERFUL. Jewish people historically have not been able to own property, so they lent money, sold jewels, and this is as a community. Things have a changed a bit, but there are still way more Christian people in powerful positions. So when issues happen to Jewish people it’s easy to push it off as. “We’ll, they are all connected anyway, right?”

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i love these "antisemitism is rooted in historical truths" arguments that cherry pick lending money because usury was against the law but ignore the fact that JUDAISM was against the law.

He has a point. Taking out the “historically successful part” Ye said a lot about black folk and no one in power or charge cared. Feels just like DaBaby. The second they stopped trashing blacks and started trashing others, their careers derailed.

> Jewish people historically have not been able to own property, so they lent money, sold jewels, and this is as a community.

When in history did Jewish people stop being heavily involved in those industries?

I agree there are way more Christian people in powerful positions, personally I think they are overrepresented in government and plenty of other areas.

> Ye said a lot about black folk and no one in power or charge cared.

The difference between Smith on Wednesday and you today is, well, https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/27/entertainment/kanye-west-hitler-album

Saying slavery was a choice really should’ve been the end of the road for Ye.

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I’m not gonna do that (it’s against the rules) but you can go on his Twitter and Schleifer’s and catch up.

i’ve never seen anything good come from twitter. please torrey stay wholesome

He made about numerous tweets before eventually apologizing. He made numerous tweets saying he meant what he said and he wasn’t going to apologize. I’m being downvoted for what? This shows people’s true colors on the subject..

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He said Nazi shit in that interview too. People really need to dial back their takes on this. I'm sure somebody could glean something interesting from the fact that TMZ in 2018 and Tucker Carlson last week both saw a benefit to airing sanitized interviews with Kanye but by that point it's easier to leave Smith out of it altogether.

No we not doing this. Us black folk laughed and made jokes about his antics and didn’t take anything seriously , how you mad because one community is actually defending themselves and not accepting bullshit.

Furthermore, he said his anti black nonsense and we still bought Yeezes and made the man a billionaire.

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>Ye said a lot about black folk and no one in power or charge cared.

Yeah. I am not sure that people didn't care about what he said so much as they didn't feel empowered to make a big deal about it on behalf of black people. It might be similar if a Jewish person was saying anti Semitic shit. Or it might not.

Certainly a sign we need more minorities in positions of power in the media and elsewhere.

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He's on the board of Sinai, the Jewish-founded and sponsored hospital. I don't know if that means anything either way, but it's kind of interesting given this news story.

An African American saying "slavery was a choice" is just a weird non sequitur, really. It's a fucked up thing to say, but it doesn't really even connect up with the cultural memes associated with white supremacist ideologies.

Suggesting that Jews control everything, and that one is about to inflict ultra-violence on them, has been the prelude to various anti-semitic ethnic cleansing initiatives for centuries.

Of course a German company founded by two guys who both joined the Nazi party and cooperated with the war effort was going to drop him. The only real question is why it took them so long.

So if he was a jew he could say the Jews control everything and it would be a weird non-Sequitur?

You don’t need to be in a position of power to not buy Yezees lol. But y’all did anyways.

Just like R Kelly, we knew about him but we still listened to his music anyways.

We really have to hold each other accountable. That’s our problem.

Am I just an asshole or are his comments not that bad and not antisemitic??

Note, I am not antisemitic? I’m genuinely curious.

What doesn’t offend someone anymore ? History happened, people interpret it sand spew their perceptions and manipulate details to suit their agenda. No one can cancel stupid or insensitive, get over it and ignore the BS that rubs you the wrong way. Thrive and move on or stew in the miserable stagnant conversations that change nothing.

I put this in the same group as the N word. Society as a whole has historically allowed people to trash thier own race, sex, etc...

It's not for outsiders to judge.

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More ill-advised/poorly stated than bad, the main thing somebody should've have pointed out to Smith is, for instance:

> “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?” West said at the time.

This didn't happen because antisemitism's some sort of unique bright line, this happened because Kanye kept forcing the issue and nobody's willing to make excuses for him anymore.

Beyond that, yes Black people are underrepresented in corporate boards/exec levels, and yes anti-Black racism is tolerated to a much greater extent in the US than antisemitism, and yes, Smith's entitled to his own perspective on this stuff but the biggest lesson here is Never Tweet.

Thank you for this.

Because there are less (or no) consequences when a person bashes their own group. What would have happened if a white person said the idiotic things he said about black people?

> No we not doing this. Us black folk laughed and made jokes about his antics and didn’t take anything seriously , how you mad because one community is actually defending themselves and not accepting bullshit.

> Furthermore, he said his anti black nonsense and we still bought Yeezes and made the man a billionaire.

I have a quick question: "We"?

Precisely who is this "we" that you're referring to? Likewise, who are "us Black folk" in this scenario? I ask because, among those that I choose to associate with, "we" have consistent principles and don't seek to willingly and actively fund those who do damage to "us Black folk".

You may have been more than happy to laugh at him, make jokes about his antics, not take him seriously, and proceed to give him your money in exchange for one or more pairs of his Yeezes.

In the meantime, please adjust your language to use the singular. If you're to use the plural, then I would ask that you drop the monolithic statements, focus your wideranging statements to specific entities, and kindly leave "us Black folk" out of it while "we" continue to call him out on his bullshit.

Thanks,

- Management.

Obviously I’m speaking in general and by the end of the day , if it didn’t apply to you , then it wasn’t about you.

The “we” and “us” know who they are and believe me , I have seen it first hand ! I’m sure you have too.

> Obviously

Obviously it's not that obvious or I wouldn't have addressed it - particularly when you use terms like "we" and "us" that confer inclusion of self; and the monolithic statements don't do anyone any good.

> if it didn’t apply to you , then it wasn’t about you.

Regardless, it still needs to be called out.

> I have seen it first hand ! I’m sure you have too.

Since the topic at hand is anti-Antisemitism, let me ask you: have you ever seen anyone of Jewish faith or ethnically so use terms like "we" and "us as Jewish folk" as a descriptive statement when referring to people who are also Jewish such as Ben Shapiro who downplay anti-Semitic comments, or who themselves espouse similar ideals?

No.

You haven't.

Just like I've seen Black Israelites and members of the Nation of Islam - both of whom are known for prominently espousing anti-Semitic rhetoric, but I'm not running around referring to them as "US" and "WE" just because their membership happens to be Black.

So, with that said, I reiterate: if you want to refer to yourself, then refer to yourself. If you want to refer to people you know [of], then refer to people you know [of]. Otherwise, keep "US" out of it.

Thanks.

I saw that you mentioned Ben Shapiro. In case some of you don't know, Ben Shapiro is a grifter and a hack. If you find anything he's said compelling, you should keep in mind he also says things like this:

>If you believe that the Jewish state has a right to exist, then you must allow Israel to transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper. It’s an ugly solution, but it is the only solution... It’s time to stop being squeamish.

^(I'm a bot. My purpose is to counteract online radicalization. You can summon me by tagging thebenshapirobot. Options: climate, sex, history, covid, etc.)

^Opt ^Out

No, if he was a jew and said they invented anti-semitism just to have something to do, that would be a weird non-sequitur.

I think you might have completely missed my point, intentionally or otherwise.

This is a pretty good break down of some of the questions you are asking. https://www.ajc.org/news/10-tough-questions-on-antisemitism-explained

Thanks for sharing that.

I think my issue here was responding to the person who said, "this is not going to dissaude him from the racist opinion that the Jewish people are disproportionately influential in many areas of life." Obviously it seemed like I was disagreeing with that, I apologize, that was not my intent. Just because Jewish people might tend to work in a specific industry for whatever reason (possibly based in historic or current racism) doesn't mean they're disproportionately influential. I don't think Jews control the banking industry anymore than I think Hispanics control the landscaping industry. Apologies if I offended anyone.

I feel like I either misread your "disproportionately influential" as "overrepresented" or at least that's how I replied to it. I apologize, rereading my post in the context isn't at all what I meant. I do not think Jews control the banking or media industry or anything like that. And Kanye is a clown, has been for a long long time.

> there are still way more Christian people in powerful positions

Why would 'Christian people' be the appropriate frame of reference here rather than Black people given what Smith actually said?

Yeah, think of how long it took for people to start really talking about Bill Cosby.

I’m just now seeing your response. Thank you for reading this and being open-minded. I appreciate your response.