Introduction
Jew watch.com is a website that is dedicated to the spread of negative news about Jews. It is owned by an American citizen known as Frank Weltner.His main argument is that the world is full of conflicts and chaos because of Jewish cunningness, conspiracies, fraud, extreme media control, strong arm tactics on American and world politicians, and economic greed. He claims that the Jewish agenda to unfairly disadvantage other groups has not begun today, but has been in existence for a long time. Other sins that have been committed by Jews according to the website include assassinations, takeover of governments, and genocides.Weltner claims that Jews are only 2% of the United States population behind the Caucasians, African Americans and Latinos, and yet control the largest segment of the economy; something he thinks is totally unacceptable (Weltner 1). The online presence of jewwatch.com is not a shock given the recent rise in online hate groups (Lohr 1).
Jew Watch.com Site Organization
Jew watch.com has the characteristic poor content organization that is common to hate websites as well as other sites that have content that has been cobbled up hurriedly. The aim is usually to reach a wider audience with their message within the shortest possible time.
The Big Picture of Jew watch.com
Peculiarities, audience and Purpose of Jew watch.com
Peculiarities
Jewwatch.com has one peculiarity. The site is jammed with information links that lead to numerous web pages that have information that is organized in a very convincing manner. There is a wide variety of historical linkages to great people and events. The holocaust is one such event; whereby Frank claims that the holocaust never occurred, and if it did, then it was justified. The site also claims that great historical personalities such the former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, former American presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as Nikolai Lenin and thinker Karl Marx were Jews whose aim was to push forward the Jewish agenda of enslaving the world.
Audience
Jewwatch.com news is a product for public consumption. Researchers can access the site as well as people who have anti-Jewish sentiments and want to gather more hate news or propaganda as a way of strengthening their resolve and equipping themselves with the tools for hunting for converts. There is no restriction regarding access meaning that anyone with internet access can access the site and read all that is there.
Purpose
Based on the information that is available on the website, the general purpose of the site is to spearhead the anti-Jewish campaign. The specific ways through which the site accomplishes this include the accumulation of propaganda that is useful to people with an anti-Semitic mindset, the collection of donations as a means of supporting the activities of those behind the site and their cause, and the offering of encouragement and support to followers of this group who may be tempted to stop being champions of this cause.
Fundamental Beliefs, Communication Strategies And Effectiveness
Fundamental Beliefs
Based on the information that is available on the site, the following are the major or fundamental beliefs
- Jews are financial fraudsters. They have taken over the banking industry in both the developed and the developing world by using unscrupulous banking methods that are characteristic of greedy people.
- There is a belief that Jews have also taken control of the world media; an instrument they have used in the past, they are using presently and will not hesitate to use in the future to manipulate the world public opinion so as to fit their needs and desires.
- The black people are descendants of Noah’s playful son; Ham, who laughed at the father and was promised a life of extra hard work.
- The Jews have ruthlessly manipulated the world system to take over governments by planting Jews at top government positions such as the presidency and premiership. Examples for these include the presidency of the United States whereby Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were allegedly of Jewish descent. The former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill is also thought to have been a Jew.
- The site also propagates the belief that the former Germany dictator, homophobe and racist Adolf Hitler who persecuted Jews, Blacks and Asians, is currently a saint in heaven. This is apparently due to the fact that he dealt with people the followers of Jew watch.com perceive as enemies (Jews).
Communication Strategies Employed by Jewwatch.com
Jewwatch.com employs a number of strategies which are aimed at different goals. There are some that are meant to make the audience believe that what the organization is presenting to them is legitimate, truthful and authoritative, and therefore credible. There are also some that are targeted at the emotional sphere of the audience and those that are merely employed to attract and sustain attention from the audience (Jacobs & Potter 3-4). The site also makes use of generation-sensitive communication as a way of attracting the followership of a particular age group (Upleaf 1).
Credibility Building Strategies
As a way of convincing the audience that what the website is offering is credible, Jewwatch.com has made numerous historical connections. These connections are in the form of people such as presidents, prime ministers and thinkers who are widely known as well as famous historical events. The famous people include Psychologist Sigmund Freud, thinker Karl Marx, Communist leaders Nikolai Lenin and Leon Trotsky, former American presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Famous events that have been connected to the propaganda of jewwatch.com include the holocaust and the Red Revolution. The depth of the information reveals a level of expertise despite its evident bias
Emotion Provoking Messages
The element of pathos is heavily played in the presentation of information on how Jews have carried out genocides against non-Jews. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the main part here with a direct link from the website to recent news articles on the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The alleged suffering of the Palestinians under the weapons of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is meant to elicit deep emotions such as sympathy and empathy.
Generation Specific Communication Strategy
With the rise of the online motion picture and the evolution of you tube, the youth are now a huge audience for online videos. The owners of jewwatch.com have not forgotten this since it is the most potent way of attracting the attention of young people. Thus jewwatch.com has videos of its founder; Frank Weltner discussing his views and airing his message on the evils committed by Jews.
Non-Verbal Strategy
This covers color, layout, graphics and animations. Jewwatch.com has poor color coding with poor graphics and little animation. Instead there is heavy article traffic that is mostly in blue; a setting that makes is boring. This is a design defect for jewwatch.com (Brewer, DeJonge & Stout 10-11).
Effectiveness of the Website
The effectiveness of the site will differ from person to person. For example the impact it can have on an individual who is already harboring anti-Jewish sentiments is different from the impact it will have on an individual who is seeing it for the first time and does not have anti-Jewish ideas. For someone with an anti-Semitic mindset, it will be very effective since such a person will be interested in information rather than website layout and other graphical seduction tools. For the person seeing it for the first time, and has not prior anti-Semitic feelings, jewwatch.com will have little or no impact.
Conclusion
From the analysis, the website, jewwatch.com owned by the white supremacist Frank Weltner has all that it takes to strengthen the faith of converts. Its power to bring in new converts is minimal due to its design weaknesses. The great historical links and emotional messages that are geared towards seducing the reader into believing that Jews are evil people are some of the communication strategies the website uses.
Recommendation
The activity jewwatch.com is robust. Therefore it is recommended the site be checked from time to time by all that are concerned so as to gain access to new information. Works Cited.
Brewer, Ernest, DeJonge, Jacquelyn & Stout, Vickie. Moving to Online. New York: Sage Publications, 2001. Print.
Jacobs, James & Potter, Kimberly. Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print
Lohr, Steve. Online Hate Sites Grow With Social Networks. The New York times. 2010. Web.
Upleaf.Strategic Online Communications for Non-Profits. 2009. Web.
Weltner, Frank. Personal Statement of Frank Weltner, Librarian.Jewwatch.com. Web.