Of course the kids weren’t really being anti Semitic, they were just repeating something they heard everybody else saying.
And then a decade later, half of the kids calling people "Jew" as a joke had been doing bigotry for laughs so long that they became earnest bigots. Especially after they went online and rubbed shoulders with neo-Nazis who very deliberately use joke bigotry as plausible deniability.
Oh for sure, it’s a slippery slope. Actually, I know at least one guy I was friends with in High School is a genuine antisemite today and I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t know any actual Jewish people.
And then a decade later, half of the kids calling people "Jew" as a joke had been doing bigotry for laughs so long that they became earnest bigots. Especially after they went online and rubbed shoulders with neo-Nazis who very deliberately use joke bigotry as plausible deniability.
Oh for sure, it’s a slippery slope. Actually, I know at least one guy I was friends with in High School is a genuine antisemite today and I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t know any actual Jewish people.