“Don’t like it? Don’t look!”
How Netflix avoids responsibility for indoctrinating people with Antisemitism
By Chava (Danielle) Greyman
This is the second time that I have written about the role of the media in indoctrinating the masses with antisemitic ideologies. I use ideologies pluralised because there is a brand of antisemitism for every antisemite. This time, I want to write about how Netflix, and other companies, shirk their collective responsibility of showing content that is amusing/interesting and does no harm.
I am a movie buff and have paid for a Netflix subscription for nearly ten years now; spending around £1200 on the course of my membership. Yesterday, I cancelled my account. This decision was motivated by Netflix repeatedly showing antisemitic programming that has now evolved into full-on blood libel. Most recently, Netflix has added the movie “Farha” to their collection of propaganda (more information available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cODBG1ipPA&feature=youtu.be) The 1h32m movie follows the story of the Palestinian Anne Frank, who hides from the evil Nazi Jews…Sorry, Israelis. The movie features babies being brutally murdered by Israeli soldiers for the simple reason that they are Palestinian babies. Of course, we know a Jew’s favourite snack is the blood of an innocent Goy child; so, this is entirely plausible to the Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam. The director herself admits there is no truth to her imaginative recreation of “The Nakba”, rather it is a mix of tales told by people she knows, but the Jordanian Times published an article on the 7th December proclaiming that Farha “has stirred global attention and “proves popular”, despite Israeli outrage and denial of the reality of its depicted events.” Now, we could go into discussing the reality of Jewish liberation, and Arab countries pushing Palestinians to leave for fear of them being treated the same way Arab countries treated Jews, and the fact that Palestinians had no problem living under British rule/Jordanian rule/Ottoman rule but that is not what this is about. This is about Netflix.
Netflix accept zero responsibility in the content they promote. Their response to complaints is dismissive with a “don’t like it? Don’t watch it!” attitude which fails to consider that there are consequences to other people mindlessly consuming their content. Netflix has a moral duty to be aware and conscious of the ideas that they promote, something they are currently rejecting. At a time where attacks against Jews are at an all-time high, where Israel is an excuse to attack Jews in the diaspora, how can Netflix feel that their contribution to this culture of Antisemitism is irrelevant? Moreover, I don’t think any other social group would be presented in this stereotypical demonising light. Netflix has shown itself to be a company that, if not actively hates the Jewish people, is happy to profit from Antisemitism. I believe we need to engage in collective action to send the message that we will not accept this. I am asking you to cancel your Netflix accounts and tell their customer service why.
