The Difference between Sarah Silverman in 2011, and Michael Douglas in 2015

Looking at the title, you probably ask, “What’s the difference? You probably mean, ‘What’s the connection between Sarah Silverman in 2011, and Michael Douglas in 2015!’” Well, I am not talking about the connection between them personally, but about the difference in the public’s reaction to two similar statements that they both made, four years apart. In 2011, comedian Sarah Silverman replied to Piers Morgan in a ” target=”_blank”>reported an anti-Semitic incident his son had had in Europe, and the story went viral.

It’s not only that in 2011, Sarah Silverman was not as famous as she is today. Morgan even asks about her popularity in that interview. The difference in the media response, in my view, has to do more with the exponential, worldwide growth of anti-Semitism during those four years than with the level of popularity of the two celebrities.

In general, I agree with Ms. Silverman. I also sympathize with Mr. Douglas, having experienced anti-Semitism first hand in my youth, as well. And it can be nice to be the underdog, as Ms. Silverman remarked, but I do not think that the world regards Jews as underdogs. People do not hate underdogs; they hate the bad guys, and that’s what we’re considered by the majority of the world.

Had the US not defended Israel in the UN numerous times over the years, the truth of the world’s view of Israel in particular, and Jews in general, would have been exposed years ago. Only now, with America’s waning support, are we beginning to feel the heat, with such absurdities as the UN’s Commission on Status of Women resolution that Israel is the ” target=”_blank”>The Anti-Semitism Surge That Isn’t” are not helping us face the facts and start thinking about how to cope with anti-Semitism instead of burying our heads in the sand pretending it does not exist.

If we are” target=”_blank”> I have written in The New York Times, we owe it to the world.

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