General Discussion

You do recognize that there has been a departure from the linguistic pattern of using the word "phobia" only for "fear." I reluctantly accept that usage defines a language, of course. It's not my cup of tea to have a popular departure from a fairly beautiful etymological history and usage pattern happen in my time, I guess.

People who hear the word "phobia" and think only "dislike" in select cases such as "homophobia," I would think were once rare. But now, that's basically the accepted understanding. Still, a lot of people can misunderstand that there's an implication of fear, and that comes along with a pejorative connotation that doesn't help mutual understanding.

When I hear "antisemitism," I hear a lot of emotions. I automatically translate the word into a description of an attitude that tempts people to self-defeating weakness, paranoia, and spiraling to criminal-mindedness if they don't manage to bump into some wisdom on the way down.

I trust that you know that using German won't work as a way to talk about it with people who don't know German. In a related way, people who have a hard time accepting that people they befriend or, worse, that they themselves have the capacity to hate someone who isn't evil might not truly hear the phrase "Jew hatred." I don't know if it's superstition, though, but I do think I'm seeing a lot more deep reading from some of these young people. So maybe they'll figure it out.