The Mainstream Media Masquerade

In a seven minute long Twitter video, actor Arnold Schwarzernegger compared January 6th’s Capitol Hill riots to Kristallnacht.

Kristallnacht. The night German Nazis burned down Jewish synagogues and vandalized Jewish schools, homes and businesses. The night they killed close to 100 German Jews.

The Capitol Hill riots were abhorrent and wrong in every way.

They were, however, not Kristallnacht.

The media did not seem to care much about Schwarzenegger’s inappropriate Holocaust comparison, though.

No #cancelarnold hashtag trended.

There was no outrage from his coworkers or place of employment

He moved on with his life and career, completely unscathed.

The news world was silent and their silence deemed Schwarzernegger’s Holocaust comparison completely unproblematic.

About a month later, actress Gina Carano posted a meme on her social media account, comparing being a Republican actress to being a Jew in the times of the Holocaust.

Being a conservative actress in a liberal industry such as Hollywood is difficult and unfair.

It does not, however, resemble Jewish life in Nazi Germany in the 1940's.

Carano was out of line for making a Holocaust comparison. And this time, the media (and Hollywood) seemed to think so as well.

Within minutes, mainstream media was all over the story.

The hashtag #cancelGina began trending on social media almost instantly.

News outlets and celebrities called out Gina for her inappropriate comparison of the Holocaust.

Within days, the actress was fired from Disney Plus because of her post.

The alacrity in which main stream media and Hollywood pounced on Gina Carano is a stark contrast to their deafening silence towards any liberal who has made similar comparisons.

Let’s be clear: Anyone who uses the Holocaust, the harshest oppression to ever befall the Jewish people, as a metaphor for anything other than anti-Semitism should be called out and educated.

The contrast of the treatment of these two incidents begs the obvious question:

Why did mainstream media suddenly care about calling out inappropriate Holocaust comparisons?

The answer to this question is a secret hidden in plain sight.

The media does not actually care about calling out inappropriate Holocaust comparisons.

Cancelling Gina Carano is not about fighting anti-Semitism, showing solidarity with the Jewish community or preserving the integrity of the Holocaust. We know how many other left wing reporters, politicians and celebrities made Holocaust comparisons and did not “get canceled”, fired or held accountable.

Cancelling Gina Carano is about mainstream media taking advantage of a perfectly curated moment of social justice to further a loud, narrow-minded political narrative that is quickly sweeping over our nation.

In canceling Gina Carano, the media donned the costume of “defender of Jews and the Holocaust”. Perhaps the only thing more abhorrent than people who hate Jews are those who use Jews and their oppression to push their biased political agenda.

We see Hollywood and media pushing their biased political agenda often.

We see this when TV shows depict Orthodox Jews in a negative light, and never in a positive light.

We see this when the only news reported about Jews during COVID was disparaging, and not a word about the immense selflessness Jewish communities across the world showed in donating plasma and volunteering to help the sick and elderly.

Unfortunately, this is not our first rodeo and we know by now that, for the media, defending the Jews is never about defending the Jews and always about pushing a political narrative. There is historical precedence for the media’s behavior. In timing that can only be explained as Divine Providence, the Schwarzenegger and Carano incidents happened in close proximity to the Jewish holiday of Purim.

If you are not familiar with the story of Purim, there is no need to dig up a Megillah scroll to search. Simply open up your eyes to what is occurring in the world this very second.

The Purim story is unfolding before our eyes as we speak. In fact, it recurs in every single generation. While the characters change from generation to generation, the plot line always remains the same- annihilate the Jews.

In the original Purim story, the dictator in the Purim story was the wicked King Achashveirosh who endorsed his advisor Haman’s decree to kill every single Jew- young old, male or female- from the face of planet Earth.

In today’s Purim story, the dictator is the mainstream media who have total tyranny over our thoughts, specifically as it relates to the narrative of the Jewish people.

When mainstream media is not deafeningly silent about anti-Semitic attacks and news, they are reporting them to push a political narrative.

Like young children dressing up in celebration of the holiday of Purim, Hollywood and news reporters have been masquerading as Jew supporters.

In canceling Gina Carano, the media donned the costume of “defender of Jews and the Holocaust”.

But their support and solidarity (as usual) have an agenda.

It is incumbent upon every person Jew and non-Jew alike to be aware of this agenda.

It is our duty to realize that the events of Purim are happening right now, this year especially.

In fact, Jewish law dictates that if we heard the Megillah from a person who reads it as if it was a story from the past and not a contemporary experience that is happening right now, we have not fulfilled the commandment of hearing the Megillah.

If the decree to annihilate the Jews happens in every generation, though, then that means our salvation is present in every generation as well.

But how do we fight the media’s decree to annihilate the Jews, if they in fact have a monopoly of the news we consume?

The answer to this lies in the Purim story as well.

In the original Purim story, salvation from physical annihilation came through the bravery of Queen Esther who risked her life to tell her husband King Achashveirosh, "I am Jewish".

In today's Purim story, our salvation from mainstream media's dictatorship needs to come from each and every Jew telling the world, "I am Jewish.”

Be enraged at the media's dishonest narrative of the Jewish people, but channel that rage!

Take the passion that fuels rage and use it to exclaim the same words Queen Esther did thousands of years ago, "I am Jewish!"

Tell it to the world through your words if you are a writer, your art if you are an artist,

“I am Jewish!”

Tell it to the world through your lessons if you are a teacher, your Instagram accounts if you are an influencer.

“I am Jewish!”

Whisper it to your children as you tuck them in at night. It should be the last words they hear as they fall asleep and the first words when they arise in the morning.

"You are Jewish!”

Yes, yes I am.

It may take time.

We may endure pain and injustice.

But Queen Esther showed us that the greatest weapon in fighting hatred of the Jewish people is Jewish identity and pride.