Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega Is Being Compared To Kanye West
An Israeli journalist compares Jenna Ortega to Kanye West in order to make a point about the nature of antisemitism.
An article posted by The Times of Israel is making waves on social media after comparing Wednesday star Jenna Ortega to Kanye West, how are those two very different individuals being compared you ask? Why, author Daniel Margolis is wondering which one is more antisemitic of course, equating West’s open support for Hitler against Ortega’s stated support for the people of Palestine. While it is true that the geo-political situation in the nation of Israel is very complex, with no easy solutions, fans on social media have been quick to defend the young star.
The crux of the issue is a Tweet of Jenna Ortega’s from earlier this year that simply said “Decolonize Palestine” and linked to a website. Daniel Margolis argues that the statement equates to supporting the “two-state solution”, and the linked website is further in support of abolishing the state of Israel, again, according to the author. The “two-state solution” is a controversial plan to revert Israel’s borders to those it had in 1967, which would shrink the country and provide land to Palestine, allowing it to again be its own state.
On the surface, that seems like a cut-and-dry solution, but as Margolis points out, the reality of the situation in Israel itself is far more complex. While comparing Jenna Ortega to Kanye West is a little hyperbolic, it is done to make a larger point, thankfully, as comparing the two directly is insulting to the up and coming actress. In the blog post, the author does mention that Ortega “presumably sincerely believes that antisemitism is evil, no less so than sexism, homophobia, hatred of Muslims, or other forms of racism and xenophobia.”
“The problem is that, like millions of other well meaning Americans, she has no real understanding of antisemitism, and therefore is unlikely to recognize it in at least some of its forms, and, also like millions of other Americans, she likely doesn’t do much investigation into a cause before she posts it to social media.”
Daniel Margolis on Jenna Ortega
While giving Jenna Ortega the benefit of the doubt, the article continues with its main point, “The problem is that, like millions of other well meaning Americans, she has no real understanding of antisemitism, and therefore is unlikely to recognize it in at least some of its forms, and, also like millions of other Americans, she likely doesn’t do much investigation into a cause before she posts it to social media.” This is why an Israel-based Jewish writer decided to set social media on fire with such an incendiary headline to eventually make it to this point.
It is hard for the average person to label Jenna Ortega as antisemitic compared to Kanye West, one is saying that she supports life across the globe while the other is praising Hitler and insisting that belief in Jesus is required to hold public office. The eye-catching headline has been circulating around social media for days now, and while there may have been a more elegant way to make his point, Margolis’ belief that people don’t investigate a cause, a post, or an article, before sharing it on social media is absolutely true.
Margolis explained why he used Jenna Ortega in his piece, saying “She seems to be one of the most genuinely well-meaning people, and yet she was the one to post the most genuinely evil piece of anti-Zionist propaganda and broadcast it to more people than there are Jews on Earth.” He concedes that there is no hope for Kanye West, but believes that Ortega will take the time to fully research a source before broadcasting it to her millions of followers.
