Sports business analyst Darren Rovell took the occasion of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest and most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, to post about why people hate Jews.
And most of the comments he received seem to prove him right.
“As we are in our holiest of days today, we understand that much of the hate we get is because of jealousy,” Rovell wrote on X.
“We make up fewer than 2% of the American population, but make up 33% of this list released by Forbes today.”
The list in question was the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, which can be read in full here.
Allegations that the Jewish community’s high representation among the richest and most powerful people in the world, relative to their smaller percentage of the population, have been frequently used by antisemites to develop wild and unfounded accusations of conspiracy related to market control, government manipulation, and a general rigging of the affairs of the world to support some supposed master plan that doesn’t pass even the most rudimentary objective academic or historical scrutiny.
Yet, as the responses to Rovell’s post show, these tropes remain alive and well.
“Posts like this are exactly what causes antisemitism,” one user wrote.
“Pride causes antisemitism,” Rovell replied.
“The post you made isn’t helping, Darren,” wrote another.
“lol bragging about wealth is definitely going to help your case against anti semitism,” wrote another.
To consider Rovell’s post a brag says far more about the commenter than about the one who posted it.
The list is the list. The number of Jewish people on the list is the number of Jewish people on the list. Would it be considered a brag worthy of the scorn of hundreds of social media responses if a Buddhist, Christian, or Hindu person had cited the disproportionately high number of billionaires from his or her religion on the Forbes list?
Almost certainly not.
So, why does Rovell’s post increase antisemitism, as the responses allege, if there isn’t an awful lot of truth behind it?