# Imposing your religious laws on others (or Sweet Willy, the accidental Jew) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 21, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148 "2002-05-21T18:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/21 "2002-05-21T19:59:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweet Willy \* > \*\ ***Zev** I can’t believe that you of all people don’t understand why I have a problem with this. All of the discussion about how Jews are treated so poorly and how the anti - semites are after us \*\* And if they haven’t found you yet, I’d say you’re safe (at least you were until you publicly declared it here. D’oh! > [@](#): > > \*\* > and how it doesn’t matter if you believe in Judaism or not and how the messiah is coming to make me observant \*\* Which you don’t believe anyway, so what do you care? Or are you afraid it might actually come to pass? > [@](#): > > \*\* > and how you don’t recognize me as anything \*\* There are several things I recognize you as, but I’m too polite to say them… [sub] yeah, I know, low blow[/sub] > [@](#): > > \*\* > but Jewish because your law says I can’t be anything else. \*\* But since you don’t intend to follow Jewish law, what do you care? > [@](#): > > \*\* > It was not my lost cousin who made the rules. They are the rules of Judaism. Without the proselytizing of that crap I would still be just plain old me. \*\* Maybe, as **Captain Amazing** pointed out earlier, she was prostelytizing you, but just letting you know of your history. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Adoptions are sealed for good reason. \*\* That’s a separate debate. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/22 "2002-05-21T20:09:57Z")
Oh, and BTW, you still never said exactly what your problem was… Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/23 "2002-05-21T20:12:03Z")
**SW** If you had a Spanish or Italian grandparent, Spain and Italy consider you to be Spanish or Italian! That’s right, you can trot off down to the local consulate and, with appropriate proof, claim your citizenship and pick up your new passport! You go along thinking you’re a God-fearing American and it turns out you’re a dang foreigner! In fact, under the “one-drop” rule, you’re also probably “black!” :eek: Be sure and fill out those census forms correctly! People will treat you differently, too. Once word gets out, folks’l start offering you chittlins and giving you funny handshakes! Yessiree bob, once the good folks down your way find out about this, y’all’s gonna have a heap o troubles! There is hope, however. You will find that in most parts of the world – and certainly in the U.S – no remotely civilized person could care less about any of these issues. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/24 "2002-05-21T20:17:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweet Willy \* > [B and how the anti - semites are after us and \*\* How silly of me not to realize this before. This problem, **SW** is not a matter of how Jews define Jews, but how the anti-semites define Jews. After all, Hitler didn’t use the Jewish definition of who is a Jew, he used his own. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/25 "2002-05-21T20:42:08Z")
So, Willie, are we invited to the Bris? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/26 "2002-05-21T20:51:27Z")
BTW, **SW** , if someone else shows up and says that a long-lost relative died and left you a hog farm, will you resent them for suddenly making you a hog farmer? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Willy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sweet\_Willy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Willy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/27 "2002-05-21T20:51:47Z")
> [@](#): > > SW > If you had a Spanish or Italian grandparent, Spain and Italy consider you to be Spanish or Italian! Yeah and in white supremacy circles if you are of dark skin color you are considered a nigger. No problem there eh? Perfectly fine for a group of people to attach a tag to you because of you ancestry. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Willy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sweet\_Willy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Willy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/28 "2002-05-21T20:54:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > \*\*BTW, **SW** , if someone else shows up and says that a long-lost relative died and left you a hog farm, will you resent them for suddenly making you a hog farmer? > > Zev Steinhardt \*\* There is a right and a wrong way way to farm hogs **Zev.** I don’t have a problem with relatives farming hogs but if you run around telling folks i am a hog farmer because my relatives are hog farmers that makes you an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/29 "2002-05-21T21:02:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweet Willy \* > \*\* > > Yeah and in white supremacy circles if you are of dark skin color you are considered a nigger. No problem there eh? Perfectly fine for a group of people to attach a tag to you because of you ancestry. :wally \*\* And if this long-lost aunt had called you and told you that your grandmother was Rosa Parks, would you be starting threads blaming “the Blacks” for your (purely hypothetical and very unlikely to come to pass) persecution by the KKK? (self-editing the lines that would call Godwin’s Law down up on me) jayjay ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/30 "2002-05-21T21:02:55Z")
If there is any person, anywhere, who actually believes the story presented in the OP, please speak up. I don’t intend to elicit denials of the OP here in GD, that can go to the already started Pit Thread. I just want to hear from anyone anywhere who thinks the events discribed actually happened to Willie. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/31 "2002-05-21T21:04:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweet Willy \* > \*\* > > Yeah and in white supremacy circles if you are of dark skin color you are considered a nigger. No problem there eh? Perfectly fine for a group of people to attach a tag to you because of you ancestry. :wally \*\* **Sweet Willy** You have convinced me of the seriousness of your problem. I know how much _I_ hate it when _my_ friends call me names, even undeserved ones. It is truly sad to lose the respect of those whose opinions you value. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/32 "2002-05-21T21:06:50Z")
You have to do the all American thing, **SW**. Milk it for personal gain. Go work for an Orthodox Jew. He can never demand you to come in on Saturdays and will let you leave early on Friday. Take off at least 4 days of Pesach, 2 days of Rosh Hashana, 2 days of Shavuot, Yom Kippur, Tisha B’Av, Fast of Gedalia, hell throw in Sukkos and Purim for fun. Contact Israel and see what the current benefits of aliyah (immigration) are – chances are you will get some subsidized or free housing and a few free or cheap language classes. Apply to [Vanderbilt](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=115905). Most of all, learn the secret handshakes, read _Protocols of the Elders of Zion_, eat a Christian baby, and join the ZOG. We have a chair waiting for you, **Willy**. Just hand over that foreskin at the door. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Willy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sweet\_Willy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Willy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/33 "2002-05-21T21:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Truth Seeker \* > \*\* > **Sweet Willy** > You have convinced me of the seriousness of your problem. I know how much _I_ hate it when _my_ friends call me names, even undeserved ones. It is truly sad to lose the respect of those whose opinions you value. \*\* Thank you for a bit of understanding. I don’t want anyone calling me names, whatever they may be, based on my ancestry. I am no more Jew than a person of color is nigger. It is offensive and the people propogating this should learn that it is. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/34 "2002-05-21T21:09:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\*If there is any person, anywhere, who actually believes the story presented in the OP, please speak up. > > I don’t intend to elicit denials of the OP here in GD, that can go to the already started Pit Thread. I just want to hear from anyone anywhere who thinks the events discribed actually happened to Willie. > > Tris \*\* **Tris** , I’m allowing for the possibility that it’s true, given that the alleged phone call came before the referenced thread and may have inspired that thread. As far as the likelihood of truth here goes, I don’t know. In all honesty, I’m inclined to believe in the essential ruby-red color of the sky if **Sweet Willy** were to assert it’s blueness. jayjay ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/35 "2002-05-21T21:11:33Z")
How will the average person walking down the street know you’re Jewish? If the ‘anti-semites’ didn’t know you were Jewish last month, how will they know you’re Jewish this month? If you receive a Jewish Profile Card in the mail asking you to complete the form and provide vital statistics, RUN! ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/36 "2002-05-21T21:11:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by edwino \* > \*\*Contact Israel and see what the current benefits of aliyah (immigration) are \*\* Funny you mention that. That’s what started the whole “I want to be a Jew” thread to begin with… Now we’ve come full circle. _Sigh_ Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/37 "2002-05-21T21:16:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sweet Willy \* > \*\* > I don’t want anyone calling me names, whatever they may be, based on my ancestry. I am no more Jew than a person of color is nigger. It is offensive and the people propogating this should learn that it is. \*\* So “Jew” is an insult, like “Nigger”? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/38 "2002-05-21T21:21:30Z")
> [@](#): > > In an instant peoples thoughts about me change because of the blood in my viens. If it is any consolation to you, at all, there is nothing posted in this thread that has changed my thoughts of you in any way. . > [@](#): > > I don’t want anyone calling me names, whatever they may be, based on my ancestry. From what you have said, we have the occurrence of exactly one woman (whom you will probably never meet in real life) telling you something about your ancestry _in private_. It is likely that more people have referred to your ancestry as you drove down the highway (road tempers being what they are, today) than you will ever hear as a result of this lady’s information. I really think your senses of proportion and perspective are long overdue for your 100,000 hour checkup. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/39 "2002-05-21T21:32:55Z")
I’m reaching a conclusion, after some consideration, that either the OP is fiction or **SW** is a little slow. Consider: The woman calls him, _in private_, as **tomndebb** points out, and tells him that a long-lost grandmother was Jewish. Since this is his mother’s mother, that means **SW** is also Jewish. At this point, the aunt and **SW** are the only people who know this information. Now, an intelligent person, feeling that being Jewish is a negative and may buy them all kinds of trouble, would just shut up. Not mention the call to another living soul. But what does **SW** do? He comes to a message board with over 10,000 members and tell all the world and Jesus, too, that he is, indeed, genetically Jewish. Granted, all we know for sure about him is what he allows to be shown here, so we have no idea who he is in real life (not that that would be a huge deal to figure out, given the right tools, the right knowledge, and enough interest to break through the general apathy about the man), but we now know that the poster known as **Sweet Willy** is, allegedly, Jewish. So we have to conclude that either: [ol] [li]Sweet Willy is a dolt.[/li] [li]Sweet Willy’s argument against Jewish law is more important to him than his privacy.[/li] [li]Opal is also Jewish. [/li][/ol] So which is it, **SW**? Why would you let your deep, dark secret out to 10,000+ people, not to mention all of the non-members who lurk and read the boards? jayjay ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148/40 "2002-05-21T21:35:39Z")
\ \ \ \ \ Yup, that’s it; got the whole set - I think I’ve actually seen _everything_ there is to see now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imposing-your-religious-laws-on-others-or-sweet-willy-the-accidental-jew/110148.md?page=3)