I’ve tried to stay fair. Measured. Above the constant outrage cycle social media demands from everyone these days.
But I can’t do it anymore. It’s not in my DNA.
I’m a scrapper by nature. Not because I was born into hardship, but because I come from people who had to fight to survive, rebuild, and continue on when the world gave them every reason not to.
That kind of resilience gets passed down. So does the instinct to recognize when something feels horribly off. And lately, the temperature feels dangerously hot.
My father lost his entire family in the Holocaust. Entire branches of our bloodline erased before they even had the chance to fully begin. And if you think that kind of trauma disappears in a generation or two, you don’t understand trauma at all.
Children of survivors carry it, too. We carry the vigilance. The fear. The constant scanning of the room when the tone of the world begins to shift.
You can disagree with Israel’s government.
You can disagree with war.
You can question policy and leadership.
That is your right.
But what I cannot wrap my head around is how quickly that conversation has morphed into open hostility toward all Jewish people everywhere.
Suddenly Jews around the world are expected to answer for everything happening overseas simply because they are Jewish.
When exactly did that become acceptable?
Recently, I saw a post on social media that urged Jewish people to stop “crying wolf” over the commencement speech at the University of Michigan given by Derek Peterson. The history professor praised pro-Palestinian student protesters “who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”
Honestly, that comment stopped me cold.
Do people understand what families sacrifice to get their children into universities like Michigan? The years of pressure, studying, financial strain, and work it takes just to get there?
Graduation is supposed to celebrate students and everything they accomplished. Not become a stage for political grandstanding that leaves Jewish students and families feeling alienated during one of the proudest moments of their lives.
And this is the bigger issue.
Every incident gets minimized on its own. A speech. A protest. Graffiti on a temple. Harassment online. Demonstrations outside Jewish neighborhoods. Jewish students feeling unsafe on campuses.
But together?
Together they paint a much darker picture.
Temples are being desecrated. Jewish neighborhoods are being targeted for intimidation disguised as activism. Students are being screamed at by people chanting slogans that call for the death of all Jewish people. And the normalization of all of this is so shocking to me that some days it honestly feels like I’m watching society malfunction in real time.
What scares me most is how intellectualized hatred has become.
It no longer arrives screaming from a podium. Sometimes it arrives disguised as activism. Sometimes as education. Sometimes as selective outrage where every minority deserves protection except- somehow-Jews.
And yes, I said it.
The Holocaust is being minimized, distorted, mocked, and rewritten by people who learned history from TikTok clips and idiotic rage podcasts.
What a disgrace. Seriously.
Influencers with no expertise, education, or understanding are becoming the loudest voices in the room because outrage has become profitable. Clickable. Monetized.
Are you seeing this?
I don’t need social media personalities explaining the Holocaust to me.
My family lived it.
I am the daughter of a survivor, and those memories-even secondhand- shape the way I see the world forever.
And before someone says, “People are just criticizing Israel,” let me say this clearly: criticizing a government is not antisemitism. But targeting Jewish students, vandalizing synagogues, glorifying violence against Jews, intimidating Jewish families, and rewriting Jewish suffering absolutely is.
The Jewish people are an intricate part of this world.
Jews have contributed enormously to medicine, science, technology, law, literature, education, and humanitarian progress. But honestly, even saying that feels grossly wrong because human beings should not have to justify their right to exist through accomplishments.
No people deserve hatred.
Period.
And what comes next?
That’s the question people should really be asking themselves. Because history never stops with one group.
If society becomes comfortable openly targeting Jews again, who’s next? Black communities? Christians? Asian communities? Catholics? Anyone deemed inconvenient by the outrage machine of the moment?
History has already answered this question if people would bother reading it honestly.
The hypocrisy is deafening.
We spent years teaching children about bullying, inclusion, kindness, mental health, and protecting vulnerable groups. Entire movements were built around compassion and acceptance. And yet somehow people are now rationalizing hatred and intimidation when it comes wrapped in political language they agree with.
I hope I don’t need to stand in a bikini selling wellness teas on Instagram to get your attention.
These are just my words. But words matter.
History matters, too.
And one day this era will be written about clearly, without the filters of social media outrage and political tribalism distorting it in real time.
And when your grandchildren ask what people did during this moment-who spoke up, who stayed silent, who justified hatred, who looked away-the answer will matter.
The Jewish people will still be here.
We always are.
The real question is, what kind of legacy does everyone else plan to leave behind?
In the end, I believe light will always shine brighter than darkness.
That’s my Reveal.
Love,
Karin
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