I don't GET anti-semitic remarks

[Anonymous]

The only time I hear anti-semitic remarks is when it is someone famous making it and its front page news. I'm Catholic as well, but far from a catholic environment.
I heard "Jew me down" once as a child, and the person saying it didn't mean it deragatory - it was a term she grew up with. The person she said it to gave her a quick reprimand, and I've never heard her say it again.
There was a recent post where someone wrote 'jip' and got reprimanded. I grew up with that term and never knew it was deragatory, so I've probably used it as an adult without realizing the origin of the word and that it is offensive.

[Anonymous]

My grandparents lived in Connecticut were German immigrants and incredibly anti semitic. I have an older brother who dated an obsessive hater of Jews. Once while his girlfriend visited our house for dinner she remarked about Holocaust: "If there were 6 million killed by Hitler, why are there so many left?"
My grandfather was a nazi and died in the 70's. My grandmother remarried in her 70's to a very stern sour man who was also a horrible anti-semite. Thank goodness, they are all dead.

[Anonymous]

I am quite exhausted by people who claim certain more horrible aspects of American life do not exist because they themselves have never experienced them or it would not negatively impact them even if it did exist, i.e., racism, anti-semtism, sexism. The motive behind such claims is usually a desire to pretend these experiences are not real. As if to say: What are you people on about? There's no anti-semitism--I'm a Catholic living in cloistered, covenant ridden Chevy Chase and I've never heard any anti-semitism or even seen a live jew. I'm not sure they even exist!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My grandparents lived in Connecticut were German immigrants and incredibly anti semitic. I have an older brother who dated an obsessive hater of Jews. Once while his girlfriend visited our house for dinner she remarked about Holocaust: "If there were 6 million killed by Hitler, why are there so many left?"
My grandfather was a nazi and died in the 70's. My grandmother remarried in her 70's to a very stern sour man who was also a horrible anti-semite. Thank goodness, they are all dead.

PP^^here, my grandparents were Catholics, too, btw.

[Anonymous]

I don't GET anti-semitic remarks in the sense that I don't get why it matters. Why are the Jews a protected class? Have you heard of anyone in this generation being denied any public or merit-based benefit because of Jewishness? Nope. (Admission to country clubs and other private institutions is different. I know that happens, and I think it's evil.)

Where is the great hue and cry about all the redneck jokes? The irish jokes? The blond jokes? Calling women "witches"? There is none (or very little, readily dismissed), because being a redneck or being irish is no longer any kind of social detriment. None of these insults should hold any power whatsoever. It's anachronistic, akin to "your mother wears army boots". Deserves nothing more than "huh?"

[Anonymous]

Does the OP mean she's never heard this stuff in person, or in the media? I've honestly never heard it in person. But I've hear *about* it when it's reported in the media. I believe it's out there. I've just never heard it from anyone I have encountered personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it is amazing for such a relatively small minority group, how many people in banking and entertainment are jewish. there are lots of historical and cultural reasons for this -but it is what fuels the stereotypes.

The stereotypes are much older-- certainly than the entertainment industry. I think the scapegoating of an "other" during difficult times (plague, economic depression) is what fuels the stereotype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, Have you never heard the phrase, Jewish American Princess? JAP for short. Construed by many to be anti-semitic.

I just read an interesting article that suggested the JAP stereotype was created by male Jewish authors and comedians to justify their own intermarriages. It's really anti-women, especially anti-Jewish women. There was a concerted campaign to stop repeating it within our own community (which is, I think, where it was mostly to be found in the first place) because it insulted our own daughters-- so you don't hear much about it any more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not op. But I grew up in a strict catholic parish and neighborhood. And I was aware of a few of the stereotypes, but most of the foul language I didn't hear until college.

That is not to say that Catholicism is free of anti-Semites, but more that strict religious communities probably don't permit it as much. Also we were sO heavily catholic that it probably lessened the odds just because there were

That's funny, the very Catholic Poles were very anti semitic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't GET anti-semitic remarks in the sense that I don't get why it matters. Why are the Jews a protected class? Have you heard of anyone in this generation being denied any public or merit-based benefit because of Jewishness? Nope. (Admission to country clubs and other private institutions is different. I know that happens, and I think it's evil.)

Where is the great hue and cry about all the redneck jokes? The irish jokes? The blond jokes? Calling women "witches"? There is none (or very little, readily dismissed), because being a redneck or being irish is no longer any kind of social detriment. None of these insults should hold any power whatsoever. It's anachronistic, akin to "your mother wears army boots". Deserves nothing more than "huh?"

You are so right, PP! When a video surfaces on Youtube of a major Dior designer saying "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead, dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would be fucking gassed. You'd be fucking dead." it is really no different than telling a blond joke or saying, "Your mother wears army boots." The only appropriate response is "huh?"

PP, are you out of your mind? Show me a video of someone saying that rednecks should be 'fucking gassed'.

[Anonymous]

To support, 9:56... many of our grandparents did get "fucking gassed". We're a bit touchy about it.

PP who brought up anti-Semitism among Catholic Poles should be advised that she's right, and is still right concerning nationalist Polish Catholics today, and that the Catholic Church has taken some seriously anti-Semitic positions over the last 1,000 years, BUT that anti-Semitism is not so prevalent among American Catholics today. There are a variety of historical and cultural factors that played out differently between the communities. Ultimately, it's not an especially relevant comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't GET anti-semitic remarks in the sense that I don't get why it matters. Why are the Jews a protected class? Have you heard of anyone in this generation being denied any public or merit-based benefit because of Jewishness? Nope. (Admission to country clubs and other private institutions is different. I know that happens, and I think it's evil.)

Where is the great hue and cry about all the redneck jokes? The irish jokes? The blond jokes? Calling women "witches"? There is none (or very little, readily dismissed), because being a redneck or being irish is no longer any kind of social detriment. None of these insults should hold any power whatsoever. It's anachronistic, akin to "your mother wears army boots". Deserves nothing more than "huh?"

You are so right, PP! When a video surfaces on Youtube of a major Dior designer saying "I love Hitler. People like you would be dead, dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would be fucking gassed. You'd be fucking dead." it is really no different than telling a blond joke or saying, "Your mother wears army boots." The only appropriate response is "huh?"

PP, are you out of your mind? Show me a video of someone saying that rednecks should be 'fucking gassed'.

Do you believe that speech like this is detrimental to Jewish people in any material way? Do you think that Dior-followers will now go out and gas your mother, because of speech like this? It's shocking, yes. And hurtful. But what is the real-world effect? Sincere question.

[Anonymous]

By the way, don't discount the power of "your mother wears army boots". It was a serious, appalling insult in its historical context.

[Anonymous]

I'm not PP, but yes, if there's enough of this, I do think life can get a little worse for Jewish people. The most visible results are violent anti-Semitic incidents. Someone unbalanced shoots up a Jewish day camp (this happened where I grew up) or the Holocaust museum. Sure, the individual perpetrators were a little or a lot crazy, but people who track these things notice an increase in such incidents during times when anti-Jewish rhetoric becomes more socially acceptable to be expressed publicly.

I'll tell you I was walking near Washington Hebrew in NW a few years ago when a passing driver (youngish man, looked professional) got frustrated with a traffic backup caused by the pre-school's pick-up and shouted, "Fucking Jews" as he roared off. I think he might have felt too inhibited to have done this in the '90s, but saying such things quietly has become much more socially acceptable in the 2000s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: But what is the real-world effect? Sincere question.

Not that PP, but don't you think hateful speech has the ability to spread hatred? My grandmother uses the n-word because she heard it from everyone when she was growing up. It is embarrassing to his peers and coworkers. I think there is a real chance people will wonder who else in his group holds similar values.

The actual effect is that the guy is being charged with a crime. The article said anti-Semetic remarks are a crime in France.