Hey, it’s quite possible he didn’t even know the connection. I didn’t until I was in my 20’s, when it was explained to me that this was racist, by a good Jewish friend (lover, actually). I’d heard it all my life, and had never connected that bargaining term with Jewish people.
There’s a difference between saying the Jews started the Iraq war & saying Jews started the Iraq war. I’m pretty sure Bill Kristol is Jewish. To be fair, he had a lot of WASP help, but it appears to have been his beloved idea.
Eric? Was his last name “Cartman”?
So, as you may know because I mention it all the time, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria from 2006 to 2008. Racism there was so totally socially acceptable and omnipresent that we volunteers would get together and work out the best ways to deal with it. It was tough to come up with a way to say “I’m trying to fit into your country and get along with you and be your friend but at the same time I think what you just said was completely abhorrent.”
Things I’ve had people say to me:
“The gypsies are the biggest problem in Bulgaria.” - my landlady
“Be careful with your things, the gypsies will steal them.” - my host mom
Noting that the manhole covers were missing in the street: “Ah, the gypsies stole them.” - also my host mom.
“Watch yourself, there are so many gypsies here, many more than in Bulgaria.” -
a very nice girl I met in Bucharest.
“Be careful downtown, there are a lot of gypsies.” - the owner of my hostel in Sarajevo.
Me, to one of my colleagues: “Stavrev, I need to talk to you about Lalyo, he was so bad in class today.”
Stavrev, sighing: “Kyla, do they have gypsies in America?”
When I put my kids into teams for an educational game: “I don’t want to be on a team with all the gypsies!” - one of my students
When my cat went missing: “Ah, the gypsies probably stole him and ate him. You know they eat cats, right?” - my next door neighbor, who was like, 12.
“All the gypsies are lazy.” - about a hundred people, which was hilarious, given that all of the backbreaking manual labor I ever saw performed in Bulgaria was done by Roma.
In 2007, my school had a graduation ceremony where all of the classes put on skits. The graduating twelfth graders - including their teacher - put on a skit in which they pretended to be Roma, which involved dressing badly and putting on Romski accents.
The “bad thing” that will happen to you if you break a superstition (ie, if you break a mirror) is “you’ll marry a gypsy.”
Violence against the Roma is pretty well acceptable. I mean, everyone will SAY it’s a bad thing, but crimes against them tend to go unpunished or even uninvestigated.
I was a teacher and tried to do what I could for my Roma kids, but they were so disadvantaged that I would have had to start them all over from the beginning. Not to mention their parents were illiterate and uneducated, there was very little emphasis on education, and most Roma kids drop out of school at 12 to get married. It was beyond frustrating.
The “brown” Volunteers (mostly Latino) had a really tough time and have some real horror stories about the times they got mistaken for Roma. The Romas’ ancestors were originally from India and they have a pretty distinctly subcontinental appearance; one volunteer who was Indian-American lasted a month in Bulgaria before quitting and going home. I’m surprised she made it that long, to be honest. Hell, I’m surprised she went to Eastern Europe in the first place; I would have tried to talk her out of it, personally.
I eventually kind of got used to the racism so that I almost didn’t notice it any more, but I sure as hell noticed when I got back to America. There was this sudden relief of not being surrounded by people constantly saying ugly things.
You do know that not all white South Africans are Afrikaners? In fact a good portion of those who speak Afrikaans (which is different than being an ‘Afrikaner’ of course) are what is designated in South Africa as ‘Coloured’ (mixed race, or of Asian descent).
I think my boyfriend is actually a lot calmer about this sort of thing than I am. He was born in 1984, so it’s almost much as ludicrous to blame someone his age for apartheid as it is to blame me for killing Jesus. He takes it in stride pretty much. I on the other hand get a bit hot behind the ears. He doesn’t get mistaken for being an Afrikaner, though. Most people in the UK (and in the US) seem to think he’s Australian. That’s way more offensive to him! 
Why does your dad hate Afrikaners in particular?
Some of the more unusual examples of racism I experienced:
Coworker: “If you transfer bus yards, don’t go to Bus Yard X. There’s too many Sikhs there and you’ll never get any over time.” I currently work at that yard, and yeah, on the extra work roster about 1/3 of the people have ‘Singh’ as their last name but their workaholic tendencies (if that has anything to do wtih their race/religion) don’t impact my abilitiy to get as much overtime as I want 
I’ve heard of multiple examples of Chinese-american mothers having a major problem with their sons dating white girls. Apparently they think white girls are too fat, stupid, and lazy 
. While I care to disagree about the last two, I do have to admit fat Chinese/Vietnamese women in their early 20’s are pretty rare. Genetics? Or do they just shame the fat out of them? Yeah I’m a little racist too. But I am curious about this one.
I think I’ve told this story before, but my dear brother went on a cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. When I asked him which he liked better, he said, “The Caymans. Too many niggers in Jamaica.” :eek: I could barely figure out how to interact with a comment that offensive and ridiculous.
I also hear a lot of anti-Semitic comments from people who don’t realize they are talking to a half-Jewish person. Had a student hand me some pennies and say, “Here, have some Jew gold.” :rolleyes:
I’m not sure where racism ends and where rampant polictically correct bullshit begins. I think it’s a very fuzzy line between the two. These days if someone makes the tiniest note about another’s culture or skin color, it’s a sure thing that someone is going to holler “You RACIST!”
My dear Aunt Ola, who passed away last year at the ripe old age of 96, always used to describe people racially and/or culturally in conversation. She was the product of an older, simpler Texas. “T’other day I was talking to Missus Jefferson down the street—she’s a colored lady—and she was saying how those 'Messkin folks a block over done went and…”
Is it racist to notice physical or cultural differences?
I 'dunno; I grew up being told that racism was a feeling that one race or ethnicity (generally the group you were a member of) was superior to other races simply by virtue of being born that way. Nowadays it seems like rascism is defined as anything you want it to be, so long as it might be deemed offensive to someone of another race for any reason. It seems to be more about words that actual feelings and attitudes.
Er, what does that even mean?
I’m pretty sure Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are not Jewish.
Still, I get what you’re saying, but Moran was clearly referring to “the Jews.”
It wasn’t until I was in my mid 20s when I realized how anti-Semitic my father is. I’d gotten a glimpse of it when I was a kid and I had remarked that he looked like Gabe Kaplan (from “Welcome Back Kotter”) in one of his old pictures. “I don’t look like a dirty Jew!” was his heated reply. I didn’t even know what a Jew was so it didn’t register as offensive.
A few years ago, the two of us were sitting around talking about Shaq O’Neill, and he mentioned something about Shaq being a good guy like Kobe Bryant. Kobe had just been charged with rape and it was all in the news, so I asked for some clarification. That was enough to make my father explode in rage and accuse me of being like “the rest of those Jews”. I was so stunned I couldn’t speak.
But I confronted him later that day. He apologized for “calling me out of my name” but lectured me on why hatred for the Jews is justifiable. Every argument he spat at me, I flipped around and said, “People say the same about black people!” Finally we reached an impasse and he apologized again, because I had started crying. I had seen his ugly side countless times before, but never had it seemed so disgusting and irrational.
I have no doubt he still believes all that crap, but he never talks about it in front of me. And you better believe if he relapses, I will put him on blast yet again.
IMO, no, as long as you’re not being offensive, it’s just silly to pretend you don’t notice any differences. The other day, some of my classmates and I were sitting around, and someone mentioned another of our classmates, John, who wasn’t there, in passing. And one person asked “wait, who’s John?” And the original mentioner hesitated and said, “He’s tall…dual degree with the business school…um…”
Me, thinking this is just silly: He’s black.
Questioner: Oh, right, John Lastname!
If you’re just using someone’s appearance as a descriptor, it’s not racist.
Because we’re so cheap, you know, pennies are like GOLD to us.
Oh right. So hard to keep it all straight! I guess I’ll have to report to the ZOG for a refresher course 
I had known this woman for over forty-five years – since we were children. We had grown up in the same small Southern town where race wasn’t discussed in polite company and we had managed to eventually end up teaching for the same school system in a liberal Southern city. I knew that she was a Democrat, but we rarely talked politics. She wasn’t interested in the subject.
But she was curled up on my sofa watching the Academy Awards about fifteen years ago when I said something about a certain black actor being particularly handsome.
Her response took the breath out of me. “That nigger?” She snarled. I’ll never see any movie he’s in!
It was obvious to her that I was stunned by what she had said. Comments between us were strained and cool for the remainder of the program. She was argumentative about something else that I said and conversation completely cooled.
Although she lived within walking distance of my house, we did not see each other again for three years. We have resumed our friendship, but it has never been the same. She hasn’t used “the word” again, but by cracky, she did let it slip several years later that she has been to some of his movies…
I win!
No, we don’t. As an atheist recently living in the Seattle metro area, I can tell you that bigotry of all stripes is common. I had some interesting conversations at work after revealing my lack of religious beliefs. People were shocked that I seemed so nice! I don’t know about the OP, but racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. are just as common in Seattle as anywhere else.
I certainly never felt the comfort of any Seattle “liberalism”.
Oh, had a good one today - got called a race traitor because I work for the Feds when there is a black man in the White House. :rolleyes:
The first one is just bizarre, considering Jamaica is of course full of black people.
The second one might get that person a kick in the nuts, depending on my mood. I thought Jews were supposed to be rich according to folklore.
(An acquaintance, on finding out I was of fractional Jewish descent: “So you don’t have money, but you want some.” I just said, “Yeah, pretty much.”)
That the tribe are misers, I think.
Of those three cities you name (Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco), only Seattle and San Francisco are even among the top 25 most liberal cities in the country:
http://govpro.com/content/gov_imp_31439/
I think that you assume that liberals are mostly well-off professionals. In fact, liberalism is more common among blue-collar types.