Yair Rosenberg
"Antisemitism isn't systemic, so it's not as bad" is the zombie talking point that won't die. 1) Second claim doesn't follow from the first. 2) Even if it did, the goal is to stop bigotry before it becomes systemic, not use the fact that it's not yet systemic to dismiss it and let it metastasize. 3) Some U.S. antisemitism is systemic, and when people say it isn't they're revealing their blind spots: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/anti-semitism-media-coverage-political-partisanship/673184/ 4) If you don't think antisemitism can go systemic and that this is a major hazard for any society, open a history book or a map. The Soviet Union. Nazi Germany. Iran. Medieval Europe. I could go on. Too often, "antisemitism is not structural/systemic" is just code for "I want people to stop talking about this thing." We can have smarter arguments.
Matt Stoller
A lot of people wonder why I'm dismissive of claims of anti-semitism. I'm not. It's a bad thing. It's just not systemic in America and I don't think we should pretend otherwise so that a few people can justify their anxiety or grievance-based self-conception.