The recent Clavicular controversy has produced a lot of outrage, a lot of commentary, and, in my opinion, a lot of confusion.

For those who have not followed the story, Clavicular is an online influencer whose brand is built largely around shock value, looksmaxxing culture (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like), livestreaming, and viral controversy. He recently came to Israel and was welcomed, filmed, and promoted by some Jewish and pro-Israel influencers.

That alone would not necessarily be a scandal. Israel has hosted many strange visitors before.

The problem is that Clavicular has a public record of highly offensive content and associations, including content that many Jews understandably view as antisemitic. Videos and clips circulated of him around Nazi references and Holocaust-related mockery, and his visit to Israel quickly became a fight among Jewish influencers: Was this a chance to educate and transform him? Was this a disgraceful platforming of someone who had mocked Jews? Was this smart hasbara? Or was Israel simply being used as a prop in someone else’s viral content machine?

That is where I think most of the commentary has gone wrong.

Most of the influencers commenting on the story are making the same basic mistake: they are lumping all antisemites together.

But not all antisemites are created equal.

In fact, borrowing from the structure of the Four Sons in the Pesach Haggadah, I think there are four different types of antisemites.

There is the Wise Antisemite.

This is the ideological antisemite. He has read the books, studied the theories, learned the language, and built a worldview around Jew-hatred. He knows what he believes. He knows what he is saying. He may dress it up as politics, theology, sociology, anti-Zionism, or “just asking questions,” but underneath it all is a coherent, deliberate hostility toward Jews.

Then there is the Wicked Antisemite.

This is not always the deepest thinker, but he is malicious. He knows that attacking Jews gets attention, power, clicks, followers, or money, and he uses it. Some of these people are dumb wicked. Others are smart wicked. But the core is the same: they understand enough to know that what they are doing is harmful, and they do it anyway.

Then there is the Simple Antisemite.

This is probably the most common category. He repeats slogans, memes, conspiracy theories, and........

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