‘THE LAST ACCEPTABLE PREJUDICE’

Jewish World Review ^ | July 28, 2003 / 28 Tamuz, 5763 | Suzanne Fields

[yonif]

The reason I excerpted this article is because I got a request from a friend of the sites owner that he needs some help attracting visits to his site, or else his wonderful Jewish opinion site is going to go offline.

Articles from that site are the only ones I excerpt, if you haven't noticed those who are complaining.

I didn't intend on making excerpting such a big issue, but by the looks of the keywords and messages, I was wrong.

[yonif]

bttt

[Abe Froman]

A stereotype isn't neccessarily untrue simply because it's a stereotype. Naturally exceptions abound, but generalizations tend to have become stereotypes because there is some truth to them. If someone is going to complain about a positive stereotype them bully to them, I don't care. I am free to say it anyway.

I don't neccessarily dislike any group. I dislike any particular members of any group that live up to the particularly negative stereotypes of said group, or at least those negative qualities that affect me and my way of life.

[Stu Cohen]

A stereotype isn't neccessarily untrue simply because it's a stereotype. Naturally exceptions abound, but generalizations tend to have become stereotypes because there is some truth to them. If someone is going to complain about a positive stereotype them bully to them, I don't care. I am free to say it anyway.

Perhaps. But according to your doctrine, if we accept the positive stereotypes, we must also accept the negative stereotypes.

Not taking offense at the positive stereotypes, while denouncing the negative stereotypes as "bigoted" or "anti-semetic" would appear disingenous. To reserve the right to take offense at the latter you must do so to the former.

I don't dispute there are many common traits that groups of individuals share. If you do not take offense at the negative, then your position is perfectly logical.

[Abe Froman]

FYI, no, I don't neccessarily have a problem with negative stereotypes. If there's negative stereotypes of european-decendants born in MN, then it's my duty to make sure that I don't live up to them (frankly I can't think of any bad stereotypes of my ethnicity, or at least not anything that I think is bad.)

Furthermore, agreeing that a stereotype has some truth does not a bigot make. Applying that stereotype automatically to prejudge each and every person in that group without little or no exception would define a bigot.