Memo to Rick Sanchez

You can find the Cafe Society thread on what was said here.

As a Jewish person who has personally experienced antisemitism, please let me extend to you a hearty Go Fuck Yourself.

Next time, please let them taser your nuts so to limit the chances you breed.

Thank you.

Cite? I don’t think there is any solid evidence that nut tasering is a reliable form of birth control.

I could conduct studies…

Since you bothered to post this thread, I figured you might have noticed…http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/01/cnn.sanchez/index.html?hpt=T2

-Joe

I believe bagel dogs work…

I think Sanchez is a total douche, but I can’t help but think firing him is a bit of an overreaction.

Oh I know he was fired. He can still go fuck himself.

I’m a Jew and I don’t think anything he said was particularly antisemitic.

Ditto. I’d cautiously conclude that he was on the edge already with CNN and this was just the last straw.

It seems like a classic tale: Member of a minority having a chip on his shoulders so that he sees bigotry everywhere, even amongst people who are in an even smaller minority. And yet he doesn’t realize that he’s actually bigoted against those people.

And I agree: I have a special dislike for people who have experience prejudice themselves, but are prejudiced against others. I know it happens, and is something you should try to correct, but this just rolled off the guy’s tongue like it was no big deal. Of course “those people” run CNN.

Also, even if he did believe that, how stupid do you have to be to say it where those in the conspiracy can fire you. This guy fails at even being a conspiracy nut.

ETA: I dont’ think you heard the clip. He is told that Jon is Jewish, and then talks about how “those people” run his organization. It’s the classic “Jews run the world” statement. He had ample time to correct it if that was a misinterpretation, but he didn’t.

It’s the same thing racist people will say about blacks. They won’t flat out say it’s because they are black. They’ll just say they don’t like their kids hanging around “those types of people.” It’s a classic red flag.

I mean, come on, I thought what you did until I heard the clip. He flat out said that Jews did not count as an oppressed minority. You can’t talk about them running everything after that without it being racist.

Throw in bringing unsubstantiated bigotry comments about Stewart, Colbert, and even his own employers, and why wouldn’t he be fired?

Shed no tears for Ricardo. In a moment’s time, he’ll be spirited away to Fox News on the wings of dusky angels.

Yeah, his comments about Stewart were a little strange but he went into full bigotry mode when he started talking about the people like Stewart who run his organization.

Not too dusky, I assume. Otherwise they might be illegal immigrants trying to steal jobs from hardworking American angels.

When he was talking about “people like Stewart who run CNN”, does he mean Jews or “elite Northeast establishment liberals” who are bigoted against the right wing or Hispanics or the poor or whatever group Sanchez thinks people are bigoted against?

To me he seemed to deny the very concept of antisemitism while throwing in a Jews run the World for good measure.

This is always, always the problem. Because so many coastal elite types seem to be Jews - and vice versa - it gets very easy to confuse the two groups and think that they got where they got because of their ethnic culture* rather than their regional or class status.**

  • I maintain that religion is not the focus here, and is, in fact, sometimes used to take focus off a very self-aware and -protective ethnic and cultural group.

** Class is a stronger taboo than ethnicity in America - or at least we usually have found ways to work around ethnic issues.

Elite northeast liberal is pretty much code for Jew. The only time I’ve every heard the phrase used is when referring to Jewish people by those pretending they aren’t actually racist. ‘He looks a little like a northeast liberal elitist.’

Yep, that’s how I read it too. Usually they add secular in there which I also think is code for secular Jews or ATHEISTSSSSS! They especially like to go on about the secular Hollywood elite.

If you read the transcript, Sanchez was going on and on about how Jews aren’t real minorities and Stewart’s family life so when he said, “people like Stewart”, even if he didn’t mean Jews, in context, it really looks like he was referring to Jews.

But the term isn’t 100 per cent airtight. Northeast liberal elites (never mind elitists) don’t have to be Jewish without exceptions. In fact, Jews are probably a numerical minority even in the group “liberals who live in the northeast and occupy elite positions.”

I’ll admit this isn’t tremendously important except that it gives people on both sides easy, advantageous excuses. Bigots can say - and think - they aren’t singling out Jews. Jews in turn can think they’re being singled out even if they’re not.

In turn, those of us who aren’t either Jews or bigots are kept from the real issues: knowing who means what, and why. It’s their fight, you might think. But no, it’s not. It’s about the society we all share.

Now that’s a reasonable assumption to make in case of Sanchez, given the context of his other remarks. BUT. It’s still a way to keep the discussion in predictable territory, where people don’t engage meaningfully. No one seems to want that.

Cite for said code? I’ll even help you out a tad.

ETA: Please don’t cite yourself, the 10th hit on that search :wink: