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History (Education)

A Kanye West fan forum responded to his antisemitism with a deluge of Holocaust education

A heartening response to his horrifying interviews.

Photo by Pixabay/Pexels

Train tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

Kanye West (who has legally changed his name to Ye) has been making headlines—again—not only for his bizarre public behavior, but for blatantly antisemitic remarks he made in recent interviews.

There's no question that Ye's comments praising Hitler and Nazis and denying that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust are hurtful and dangerous. There's no question that bad actors are using Ye's antisemitic comments to push their white nationalist agenda. The question is whether Ye fans would allow their admiration of his musical talents—or whatever else they like about him—to overshadow the fact that he is now regularly spewing pro-Nazi rhetoric to millions of people.

In at least one corner of the internet, fans are responding in what may be the most effective and meaningful way possible—by countering Ye's commentary with a deluge of Holocaust education and remembrance.

Reddit's r/kanye subreddit is a page dedicated to discussing all things Ye, and it currently has more than 700,000 members. After Ye's interviews on Tim Pool's podcast and Alex Jones' Infowars this past week, in which he spoke of loving Hitler and Nazis while complaining of being wronged by Jews, members began flooding the forum with posts about people who fought the Nazis in World War II, information about the victims of the Holocaust and remembrances of those who were murdered in the genocide.

It was a heartening response to Ye's horrific views, and especially powerful coming from people who consider (or considered) themselves huge fans of the artist.

One example is this post of a photo showing emaciated prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp with a quote from Ye's Infowars appearance, in which he said, "I don't like the word 'evil' next to Nazis."

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Another poster shared a photo of three survivors of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp, showing the tattoos of their prison camp numbers on their forearms.

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Another shared a photo of the "Book of Names" at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the names of those murdered in the Holocaust are written.

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Dozens of posts shared in the subreddit include photos of Jewish children who had their childhoods destroyed, people who suffered in concentration camps, heroes of the Holocaust who helped saved lives and more. Judging from the posts and comments, there appears to be widespread agreement on the subreddit that Ye's antisemitism must be condemned in the strongest terms and that people need to know that his statements about the Holocaust are wrong.

"This is officially a Holocaust awareness sub," wrote one poster who shared an infographic about how many young people are woefully uninformed about that piece of human history.

The transformation of the subreddit is a testament to the power of social media. Though misinformation spreads fast and social media can easily become a cesspool of toxicity, when people use it for good it can be a place where reasonable, righteous voices rise to the top.

It's certainly sad and frustrating for folks who have felt a connection with Ye's music to witness him spiraling further and further into bigoted madness. Feeling the need to speak out against someone who has been a positive force in your life isn't a comfortable spot to be in. But there are views that are unconscionable and messages that simply cannot be tolerated, and Ye's remarks egregiously cross both of those lines.

Fandom doesn't mean fanaticism and no reasonable person can possibly defend the antisemitism Ye is pushing. (Heck, some of the most unreasonable people aren't even trying to defend it.) Whatever his mental health situation may be, attacking Jews and supporting Nazis is wrong and harmful and needs to be named as such.

Simply calling it out isn't enough, though, when falsehoods flow freely. Sharing accurate education about the Holocaust so that people can gain a deeper understanding of the scale and systemization of the world's largest genocide is one way to not just call out antisemitism but to battle it with truth. The Holocaust carried out by Hitler and the Nazis is a historical reality no one should remain ignorant of and no one should get a pass for denying, no matter how famous or once beloved they may be.

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Kanye West made some good points about Christians who "fall short"

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Kanye West is running around recording gospel albums, teaming up with Joel Osteen, and talking about his love of Christ every chance he gets. But his religious fervor is not without criticism. West was called out for holding invitation-only Sunday services, and acting Kanye West-like, rather than Godlike. "He's employed a choir of people who are not only singing his songs, but are all dressed in his apparel. Is Christ really at the center of this gathering?" Tobi Oredein wrote in Premier Christianity magazine.

West discussed the judgements surrounding his faith in a new interview with Vogue, saying it's okay when humans fall short of being godlike. "A lot of times, people try to point out the flaws of people who are Christian. But always remember, Christians are not Christ. We fall short. We all fall short of the glory," West told Vogue. Nobody's perfect. Not even Kanye West.

RELATED: Kanye West is building low-income houses that will look like they're straight out of 'Star Wars.'

West then made a basketball analogy, comparing Jesus to Michael Jordan. "It's like, there's a lot of people with 23 on their backs, but there's only one Jordan. You can't really compare most people with 23 on their backs to Jordan at all," West told Vogue.

West even acknowledged his own shortcomings when it comes to his faith. "I'll tell you what, when I don't apply grace, I don't get the results I'm looking for. Everything must be done with grace. That's one of the things I pray for—and I need to pray for more," he told Vogue.

This isn't the first time West addressed what people think of the way he expresses his beliefs. West alluded to judgement from the Christian community on Jesus is King. In the track "Hands On," West raps, "What have you been hearing from the Christians? / They'll be the first one to judge me / Make it feel like nobody love me."

RELATED: A girl was told she's 'too fat' to wear jean shorts at her church. Her thoughtful response is going viral.

West says religion has changed him. "I thought I had it all figured out," West told Vogue of his old life. But finding God has changed "everything, my ego," he says. He also told Vogue, "The true principles of Christ can and will make you a better person."

West may not be a perfect Christian, but he's trying. He also told Vogue he's making it a point to surround himself with people who are going to raise him up and make him a better Christian. "You can pick your influences," he said. "I sought out to have Bible study, and to be around other Christians who could keep me accountable."

Taking West's Michael Jordan analogy one step further, just because you might never be as good as Michael Jordan doesn't mean you shouldn't play basketball. Striving to hit a standard doesn't mean someone has gotten there, and they shouldn't be judged for that.

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Kanye West is building low-income houses that will look like they’re straight out of 'Star Wars.'

California has a housing crisis. Rent is so astronomical, one San Francisco company is offering bunk bedsfor $1,200 a month; Google even pledged$1 billion to help tackle the issue in the Bay Area. But the person who might fix it for good? Kanye West.

The music mogul first announced his plan to build low-income housing on Twitter late last year.

"We're starting a Yeezy architecture arm called Yeezy home. We're looking for architects and industrial designers who want to make the world better," West tweeted.

But this isn't just any low-income housing. It has a twist. A very big, "Star Wars"-themed twist.

The homes are currently being built in an undisclosed California location, though West recently met with investors in San Francisco. Renderings of the home were postedon Instagram by fashion designer Jalil Peraza. The posts have since been deleted, but we're certain they're going to mimic a certain galaxy far, far away.

There is literally no such thing as 'sex with underage women.'

The prefabricate structures are going to resemble Luke Skywalker's childhood home on Tatooine from "A New Hope" and might also be used as a place for homeless to live, according to the New York Post.


West showed off the homes in a recent interview with Forbes, which describes them as "a trio of structures that look like the skeletons of wooden spaceships. They're the physical prototypes of his concept, each oblong and dozens of feet tall."

"West has been working with a team to design prefabricated structures that sport the same austere aesthetic, with the goal of deploying them as low-income housing units," Zack O'Malley Greenburg wrote in Forbes. "He tells me they could be used as living spaces for the homeless, perhaps sunk into the ground with light filtering in through the top."

Trump just bizarrely claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger had 'died.' An unfazed Arnold flexed back.

The fact that the houses mimic Skywalker's home isn't too out of left field. West has slipped "Star Wars"references into his songs, and even says his house in Hidden Hills has "wabi-sabi vibes."

While there seems to be an impulse to not take West seriously — he's been called "crazy" more than anyone should — these houses sound alot better than paying $1,200 for the same sleeping arrangement as summer camp.

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Kim Kardashian makes an important point about Kanye West mental health speculation.

Mental health stigma is very real. Let's be careful not to add to it.

In case you haven't heard, Kanye West has been tweeting about Donald Trump. But this article isn't about that, at least not really.

Since returning from his self-imposed, nearly year-long Twitter exile earlier this month, the multiplatinum artist has taken a few... sharp turns.

For the first few days, his feed was mostly just a few feel-good fortune-cookie-level aphorisms. People seemed to like that.

Then there were several days when he tweeted about fashion and plans for some new music.

Somehow, that all led to several days singing the praises of President Trump and sharing videos by far-right commentators like "Dilbert" artist Scott Adams.

None of this is entirely new information, as West announced to a crowd in November 2016 that while he didn't vote, "If I would’ve voted, I would’ve voted for Trump." The two also met up at Trump Tower shortly after the election. So this stuff should surprise no one.

(Though buried alongside West's Trump praise, he also announced that he'd fired his manager and lawyer.)

In the wake of West's pro-Trump, anti-being-managed tweets, many have speculated that he's in the middle of a mental breakdown.

Yes, it's true that West was hospitalized for a week in late 2016 for what his team referred to at the time as "exhaustion," while others speculated that it was part of a mental health crisis. According to Hot 97 host Ebro Darden, however, that hospitalization was related to an opioid addiction.

It's still not entirely clear what exactly it was all about, but honestly, it's not any of our business. And neither is the idea that these new tweets indicate any kind of undiagnosed or untreated mental health condition.

Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.

Here's the thing about those kinds of rumors: They're really not helpful. And Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian West, offered up some important thoughts on the matter.

"To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this... your commentary on Kanye being erratic and his tweets being disturbing is actually scary," Kardashian West tweeted. "So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair."

The most important message in the thread is the last one, reading, "Mental Health is no joke and the media needs to stop spitting that out so casually. Bottom line."

She's right. Suggesting someone is experiencing mental illness because they don't share your views on politics is patently ridiculous. As a society, we have a tendency to try to explain away things we don't understand (or don't want to understand) by placing blame on mental illness.

We see this play out every time there's a mass shooting: Rather than looking at the underlying causes, we offer up "thoughts and prayers" and spend a few days talking about mental illness.

Using mental illness as a scapegoat any time someone does something we don't like simply increases stigma.

And this stigma actively prevents people with mental illness from getting the help they need.

The point here is that none of our tweets speculating about West's mental health — even if many of them are the result of genuine concern — will actually help him. He may very well be struggling with mental illness right now, or he may not. Unless we personally know him, none of us are really in a position to help him or make that judgment.

In any case, he will almost certainly not see or want the vast majority of our commentary on this.

What's important to consider is how our tweets and our discussion about mental health might impact everyone who does see it. The world is long overdue for a discussion about mental illness, but must we always frame it in the context of tragedy, embarrassment, or disagreement?

Let's do better.

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