Sorry, Anton. I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm just a mixed-race gay autistic guy from Trinidad & Tobago who discovered classical music when he was a teenager. Yes, this included Wagner way before I read about his Antisemitism.
When I wrote about Tannhauser in your post, in the back of my mind, I was wondering if you'd be offended. The reason I did was because Jewish composer/pianist Daniel Barenboim, past music director of the Israel Philharmonic, was trying to get the Israel Philharmonic to program Wagner's works in Tel Aviv as he had done previously in Germany, Italy and elsewhere. I have the utmost respect for Barenboim because, at 17, he performed and recorded all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas FROM MEMORY and is still one of the few Beethoven scholars in existence. Also, from his master classes, I'd learned how how to interpret Beethoven's sonatas as pictures or architecture.
In a similar note, should I shun all the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft because he was a known racist? How about the cartoons of Walt Disney? The movies of John Wayne? The writings of Thomas Jefferson? Hell, even classical music is said to have a history of racism.
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/25/arts ... story.html
I can't imagine all the white composers, conductors and music programmers welcoming black people with open arms. Similarly, if I was a homophobe, I'd be robbing myself of the music of Elton John, Queen, Culture Club, Judas Priest, the B-52's, George Michael, the Village People, R.E.M., etc.
So, no, I had no intention of being antisemitic. I'll just be more careful from now on.