Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv Vandalized

hamodia ^ | Sunday, February 18 | By Hamodia Staff

[Eleutheria5]

Proving once more that Jews are not all that smart.

[af_vet_1981]

Proving once more that Jews are not all that smart.

Prima facie antisemitic statement exhibiting prejudice against all Jews

[Eleutheria5]

Except that I’m Jewish, live in Israel, and am Orthodox/Chabad Chassid. So I get to knock Jews, just like blacks get to use the N word. Because we don’t really mean it, and really it’s affectionate, not pejorative.

Furthermore, one of the great things about Jews is that we can laugh at ourselves, and that’s because we are culturally encouraged to be introspective and honest with ourselves.

So, it’s embarassing that some local dumbasses, who are probably Jewish since this is Israel, decided to deface the Polish embassy on account of this Holocaust law that they’re thinking of passing. Someone says that “very little good will come of this,” and I reply in effect that one good thing will come of it, ‘cause this proves that Jews are not all that smart, thereby disproving a stereotype. The pressure’s off, guys. We don’t have to study so hard, because we have proof that, yes, Virginia, there are Jewish dumbasses in the world. Laughing at ourselves. It’s fun.

Furthermore, if you’d parse the sentence, you could see your error. “Jews are not all that smart” means that not all Jews are smart, or we’re not as smart as all that. If I wanted to say that all Jews are stupid, I would have said “Jews are not smart” or “All Jews are not smart”. So there.

[af_vet_1981]

Except that I’m Jewish, live in Israel, and am Orthodox/Chabad Chassid. So I get to knock Jews, just like blacks get to use the N word. Because we don’t really mean it, and really it’s affectionate, not pejorative.

That is an invalid excuse.

AfricanAmericans who use the N word while forbidding others from using it is not exactly a stellar endorsement of doing something similar to Jews, who are still the target of widespread prejudice as a people.

Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

— Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene I

[af_vet_1981]

Furthermore, if you’d parse the sentence, you could see your error. “Jews are not all that smart” means that not all Jews are smart, or we’re not as smart as all that. If I wanted to say that all Jews are stupid, I would have said “Jews are not smart” or “All Jews are not smart”. So there.

Except in English the meaning is not very, or not really

For example, the puns were not all that funny.

[Eleutheria5]

I don’t presume to give blacks lessons in being black. The fact is that they mean something different by the N word among themselves than whites do as a verbal jab at a black that could lead to blows. It is their prerogative to feel offended or not in either situation. Beyond that, they have no power to forbid anyone from using any word.

As for Jews telling self-deprecating humor, it’s what we do. A gentile could tell a “Jewish joke” and depending on a number of factors, such as tone and context, get a laugh or an angry stare that might lead to blows. In School Ties, the blue-blooded snot who discovered that his best bud was Jewish began the hostilities with a “Jewish joke,” and it was pure venom. But my own joke was not such, and certainly not prima facie evidence of anti-Semitism.

Jews and blacks both are born with an indelible bull’s eye engraved on them. How we deal with it is our affair, and whether or not we take offense at a particular remark made by another is up to us, just as it is to that ‘other’ whether or not to care, or to give the knife another twist.

I’ve been punched in the face by a total stranger, surrounded by an angry mob eager for an excuse to kill or maim me, and spat on and shouted at by a lunatic subway preacher. Ethnic humor is the least harm I’ve ever experienced in encounters with the ‘others’. Laughing it off, or countering with a better one of my own, a la Cyrano de Bergerac, is often the best defense.

[af_vet_1981]

I don’t presume to give blacks lessons in being black.

1. Are blacks not a people worth teaching morality ?
2. Is their culture not an issue, in the United States or Israel, Crown Heights or Qiryat Malachi (not to mention the Sudanese roaming Israel with knives as teeth seeking whom they may destroy and consume) ?
3. Are they being playful and affectionate when they approach women just being black ?
4. Are there two (or more) sets of moral weights and balances, or are all elevated from darkness to the same light ?

[PapaBear3625]

The sad part of this manufactured political controversy is what you said. some Poles collaborated during the war with the Nazis

And some Polish Jews collaborated with the Soviets and their NKVD when Stalin invaded Poland from the east. It was an ugly time.

[Eleutheria5]

We are talking about the use of the infamous N word. Let’s restrict the discussion to that. If they want to come to my land and assault me or mine, I’ll multiculturalize them ‘til they beg for mercy, but I won’t use the N word. Wouldn’t want to offend anyone.

[Eleutheria5]

The Poles who collaborated with the Nazis did so as opportunists or haters or a combination of the two. They did not do that on behalf of the Polish people or any putative government. Nobody elected them to the post of informer.

[af_vet_1981]

We are talking about the use of the infamous N word. Let’s rest We are talking about the use of the infamous N word. Let’s restrict the discussion to that.

Back to the beginning



...

Except that I’m Jewish, live in Israel, and am Orthodox/Chabad Chassid. So I get to knock Jews, just like blacks get to use the N word.

I beg to disagree. There is one set of weights and balances. Personally, I have never known a Chababnik to ever do such a thing. Let me qualify what I mean by use of the term Chabadnik, someone who was born into a Chabad family and remained. There are all kinds of people searching for their trail who attend Chabad shuls and their behavior fluctuates. I have never known Chabad to speak so about the Jewish people, in public or in private, sober or drunk.

On the other side, I've frequently witnessed secular, conservative, reform, progressive, etc. Jews, Israelis and in the Diaspora/Galut, speak unwisely about their Orthodox/Chassidic brethren, correcting that behavior as well when it generalizes to the entire group.

As for the embassy, someone sinned and committed a crime. I hope whoever was involved is brought to account, for the sake of peace and justice.

May we all live to see peace and justice.

[Eleutheria5]

“Personally, I have never known a Chababnik to ever do such a thing.”

OK. So now you have.

” Let me qualify what I mean by use of the term Chabadnik, someone who was born into a Chabad family and remained.”

I’ve been a Chabadnik for 44 years. I mean by use of the term Chabadnik what Chabadniks mean by it; actively studying Chabad Chassidus, recognizing the Rebbe as their guide in life, and striving to live according to his precepts. You may define Chabadnik any way you wish, but you can’t compel me or anyone else to accept that definition.

[af_vet_1981]

You may define Chabadnik any way you wish, but you can’t compel me or anyone else to accept that definition.

Hokay; one may define oneself according to one's conscience and cannot be compelled to accept another's definition.