There's a lake in my town which exists (antisemitism).
The reason it exists is it is fed by a stream (deep-rooted cultural antisemitist sentiment as a cultural practice that uses desire to scapegoat, etc).
However, events such as storms, droughts, human water use (crusades, nazism, nakba) have caused this lake to rise higher or lower over the years.
To acknowledge that events contribute to the rise or the fall of the water level is not the same as claiming that the events are the cause of it existing per se.
The reason it exists is it is fed by a stream (deep-rooted cultural antisemitist sentiment as a cultural practice that uses desire to scapegoat, etc).
Wait, what part of this seems flippant? That seems to me like a succinct and accurate characterization of the enduring presence of antisemitism since antiquity. I don't see anything dismissive about this.
Von den Juden und ihren Lügen {On The Jews And Their Lies) is a little 65K word book that will show you how trite that statement is. BTW, if you didn't know. that little tome was written by the father of the protestant reformation Martin Luther and it was used as a major means of justification for the holocaust. So cultural, no, that doesn't cut it. Nice try though but it falls way short of the mark.
If you think someone is making light of a serious situation and you want people to know that, I think you should say it in words. Speaking for myself, I'm not making light of anything, and that characterization seemed respectful. I'm not sure what part you read as glib or jokey, and your response when asked to clarify seems needlessly cryptic.
I do this sometimes, all of my arguments have been countered, but I'm so sure I'm right. I'm probably just phrasing it wrong or thinking too slow, yeah thats it.
If I don't realize what I'm doing I'll go spend the next hour trying to solve the puzzle of "what I could have said to win the argument".
Hopefully they come back and think on it again when they are less defensive.