Why Jews Like Me Hate Sarah Palin

Yesterday I was on the subway, and I didn’t get a seat. This happens often. As I hung onto the bar, I threw up a little in my mouth. Why? The woman sitting right in front of my waist was reading Going Rogue. Why would a Black woman from Harlem or the Bronx (my stop on the express train is the first after it passes through the Bronx and Harlem) be reading Sarah Palin’s stupid book?

There was a post on Gawker today, by Pareene, asking “Why do the Jews hate Sarah Palin so much?” I dug a little deeper, reading the Commentary piece and subsequent rebuttal referenced in the Gawker post, because I am a Jew, and I think Palin is a big pile of wasted space.

Jennifer Rubin points out that Palin is pro-life, while many Jews are not. (Gawker summarizes Rubin’s argument by saying, “basically that American Jews dislike Palin because of all of her bullsh*t rural working-class signifiers: large family, no formal education, folksy, hunting, etc. Jews, per Rubin, hate that stuff.”) My opinion only (and feel free to cut me up in the comments - after my post about Birthright, I can take it) is that genetic testing prevents bringing suffering into the world. Jewish law states that any pregnancy that will cause harm, emotionally or physically, is a pregnancy that can be terminated. End of story.

Palin is all about church, while Jews generally believe in the separation between church and state. Palin is a huntin’ hockey mom living at the very edge of Alaska, where, perched on her couch, she can see Russia, while Jews populate the big cities and slaughter goats with intentionality instead of hunting. She attended multiple universities on the way to earning but one degree, while Jews are generally urban, educated, Blue State dwellers. She’s from the rugged outback, while Jews pretend to be outdoorsy in their North Face Fleeces.

This strikes us as fairly reductive and inflammatory! Like basically Jews are all urban cosmopolitan elites sneering at stupid hard-working Christians, and all that? Ok, Commentary! If you say so!

Jews, as a group, tend to be hard-working. We work in a variety of fields, from running restaurants to writing in the blogosphere, from professing in the halls of higher education to teaching kindergarten. Sure, some of us love outdoor adventures, and have excellent shooting skills. As a camp person, I love spending a couple of nights sleeping in a tent and cooking over a fire.

David Frum’s response points out that Palin is just scary to anybody who doesn’t want to see American divided into first- and second-class citizens. Pareene states that there are many reasons not to like Palin. But when it comes down to it, at least for me, there is a visceral reaction to a woman in a position of influence who is just not smart. I will not deny her facility with PR, as she certainly has a team of people who know how to make a name for her.

McCain had a chance as a presidential candidate, and by choosing the sideshow that was and is Sarah Palin, he made it a lot easier for Obama to get elected. So, I will continue to grimace at mentions of Sarah Palin, Russia, her house, and her stupid, stupid book. But I will do it from a Blue State, where my BS and MA keep me warm at night, after eating a large dinner of kosher, organic turkey and relaxing in one of my many camp t-shirts or fleeces.

David Frum’s response points out that Palin is just scary to anybody who doesn’t want to see American divided into first- and second-class citizens.

That's laughable when you consider Frum's calling those who disagree with him "unpatriotic."

Frum's article is absurd. Take this for example:

Even before Sarah Palin’s book deal, the Palins ranked among the richest people in their hometown of Wasilla – and were capable of expressing intense disdain toward their perceived social inferiors, like the Johnston clan. If anything, the Palin family’s status grievances look less like Richard Nixon style resentment of poverty and humiliation – and much more like John Adams’ fury on encountering in London those English snobs who didn’t realize what big deals the Adamses were, back home in Braintree.

Just about anybody, David Frum included, might not feel comfortable with the Johnsons. But the Palins were more accepting of Levi than Frum would have been. Much good it did them in the end, though.

Liberal first, woman second, "jew" last. She is not a Jew, she is entitled to be a Jew by vitue of her birth, but clearly she is not a mitzvot (commandments) observant Jew.

Why do Freepers have to post these Anti-Jew rants every week? Why cant we just stick to defeating liberals in general instead of these questionable posts that could tend to breed antisemitic thoughts? We all know by now that there are a lot of liberals...of formerly Jewish religious origin. Can we drop it now?

Before I post a thread should I go down a check list and make sure the article agrees with everything we all hold dear? What do we learn from that “preaching to the choir” type of self-editing? We’re all grown-ups here, and I think we can take a Lefty screed or rant once in awhile. In military intelligence one of our sayings is “Know Your Enemy” and that applies to the culture war and politics as well, don’t you? As for the anti-Semitism, I think the moderators are capable of handling that.

This is an example of the urban/rural dichotomy which is balkanizing the nation. I can't find any evidence that city living is proof of superiority in any way but it seems to be a common belief.
Dumb as a rock barbarian ghetto dwellers are seen as noble and deprived while their counterparts in the country are thought to be savage and depraved. You might even get the idea that the "Deliverance" plot could never be rewritten for urban characters.

I've even seen it here, on Free Republic, it's a visceral undercurrent. The Founders knew about it, and responded with the electoral college system. Jefferson predicted that when we became concentrated in cities, as in Europe, we would become as corrupt as Europe.

I agree. It's the anti-rural, urban supremacist mindset that exists even here on Free Republic. Not only Jews, but the descendants of almost all historical "immigrant" groups still seem to look on the inhabitants of the rural American Heartland the way the whites on the coasts looked on the "merciless red-skinned savages" who lived in the exact same areas. Even here one occasionally finds the charge of "nativist" or "know nothing." The former charge is especially ironic in that the same people who are accused of "nativism" are the "alien European invaders" who destroyed the indigenous cultures. Meanwhile, the later European immigrants (the ones who suffered prejudice from their predecessors) get something of a "pass" as being themselves victims.

Us rednecks. Neither indigenous nor immigrant, but the bigoted oppressor of both! Kinda unique, ain't it?

BTW, the fact that the agrarian Jefferson was an ideological radical while the rootless/cosmopolitan/urbanist Hamilton was the Original American Conservative is another of those fascinating ironies of American history.

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