Posted on 11/04/2006 2:04:45 AM PST by twinself
A city worker was under fire last night for penning an essay that uses ethnic slurs to describe Polish-Americans and calls their Brooklyn enclave in Greenpoint "even uglier than the morons who work there." David Langlieb, a 23-year-old Parks Department project manager, defended his work as "satire."
"I live in Greenpoint, I'm half Polish, I have nothing but love and fondness for the Polish community," he said. "If you take what's there out of context, of course it's incredibly offensive."
But Frank Milewski of the Polish-American Congress, who read Langlieb's entire essay, called it an "an out-and-out insult" and was horrified the author referred to Greenpoint residents as "vermin."
"When you insult somebody you don't cover it up by calling it satire," he said. "The Nazis used to talk about Poles and Jews as subhumans and vermin."
Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn), who represents the neighborhood, said "my eyes pretty much popped out of my head when I read this."
In a piece for his alumni magazine at Haverford College, Langlieb wrote that "communities like Greenpoint are a dying breed in America, and thank God for that."
Greenpoint's main problem, he wrote, was "Polish people infesting its rowhouses."
Langlieb described a Greenpoint "of the future" that will be filled with lawyers and investment bankers "after the vermin are gone."
"This was aimed at certain Haverford graduates who move into cohesive communities with little interest in giving back to those communities," Langlieb insisted.
Warner Johnston, a Parks Department spokesman, said Langlieb's "views do not reflect the views of the agency, he is writing as a private citizen."
Langlieb's mother, Arlene, called the essay "tongue-in-cheek" - and noted members of his father's Polish-Jewish family died in the Holocaust.
She said her son, who was an editor at his college paper, "likes to get noticed."
"I remember the time he did an editorial about my cooking," she said.
"23 yr old Parks Department project manager"
IOW, a lawnkeeper's super.
"Some American Jews" tells the truth about the very nature of this type of humour. Holocaust jokes about Jews were very popular not long time ago among some Poles. I never found them funny and expressed my dislike openly making some people's eyes go very big. Using expressions like "verimin" in relation to an ethnic group doesn't have anything to do with PC or satire.
I gotta love how these hipster twerps have infested Greenpoint (coming up from Williamsburg) over the past 5-10 years and do nothing but put down the (legal) immigrants and their children who actually work for a living.
"Republican vermin infesting the FR" would be humorous to you? Doubt it.
I gotta love how these hipster twerps have infested Greenpoint (coming up from Williamsburg) over the past 5-10 years and do nothing but put down the (legal) immigrants and their children who actually work for a living.
That being said, this appears to be poorly written satire by a parks department employee, who should stick to pushing pencils for the city. Even this half-Pole isn't so dense as to not notice this. ;-) Nevertheless, my rant still stands.
My dear Jewish friend once caught me off guard and wordlessly stunned as when we were constructing his new home and the installers were fitting out the MBath shower - he said it was "big enough to gas the little Jew" and it broke my heart (or thumping gizzard). When I told him, he laughed it off and apologized if I WAS HURT.
Sometimes, those jokes are more disturbing to the acquainted than to the intended.
More often they spread hatred and contempt towards the indended. Maybe I should send your friend a collection of Polish "gas chamber jokes". What do you think? :)
All I know is that I'm an American who happens to be white, with no idea of what ethnicity I should be carrying a torch for.
We quickly mutually realized that was an area we're best to avoid.
Amen to that. Plus they age much better than most. Eastern European women blow the rest away.
Too many people are just wimpy nowadays. If anything makes them think little unhappy thoughts they get all lathered up. Take my tag line for example, some might think it's politically incorrect while others know it's just simply accurate
Sticks and stones may break .......
Your blood, who you are and where you come from - all those identy constituents are very important. Jews know this - that's why they were able to preserve their culture against all odds throughout thousands of years. Thanks to that they felt distinct and proud of their heritage and influenced much bigger, stronger but less ethnically conscious nations. I must say I admire them for that very much.
Good. I hope his neighbours will show David what they think about bad apples.
Everyone knows that Jewish horn removal is the largest segment of plastic surgery in the U.S. :)
Pity some of them don't have their Poles-hating tumor removed from their brains as a bonus. ;)
It seems that it's OK to trash people of European background, since the left's agenda is to eliminate Christians and Jews and replace them with third-world savages who chop heads.
I am of Polish descent, and my father told me most of the Polish jokes that I heard growing up. It sounds like a satire to me. More much ado about nothing, imo.
I am also of Polish descent, and all the good jokes circulated the Polish neighborhood. Of course, I am also from Chicago, and we didn't tell Irish jokes; we elected them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.