Tea Party Brews in Israel, Prompted by Concerns About Obama

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Nothing would happen. Do you even know how much money the US sends to Israel relative to their GDP?

Israel's GDP (2009): $205.8 billion

US military aid (2009): $2.5 billion

That's right - less than l.22 percent of Israel's economy.

I don't owe Israel or any foreign nation anything, and I would like to see my hard earned tax dollars stay home...or better yet in my pocket. It's hard enough to make ends meet these days without subsidizing some foreign country.

[Wayne and Claudia 40]

Pass the soda dude....this is better than skinamax

[scandal 951]

The Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים‎ "Yehudim" IPA: jɛhuːdiːm), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation.^[6][7][8] Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed into the Jewish people throughout the millennia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews

Paul Newman's half Jewish, Goldie Hawn's half too. Put them together, what a fine lookin' Jew.

So Sandler is an Anti-Semite too?

Um, no, Sandler is not an antisemite.

At the risk or repeating myself, the crucial difference between your quote from Sandler's Hanukkah song and the offensive phrase earlier in this thread is the article "the". As in: "The Jews", implying a generalization. Sandler refers to particular Jews throughout his (quite funny) song. Newman and Hawn among them. One could, for example, refer to Bernie Madoff as a particularly loathsome and awful person who happens to be Jewish, and I would not have any issue with that. But if one were to generalize by saying, for example, "Madoff and all those money-grubbing Jews like him ....", yes, I would of course have an issue with that.

Your Wikipedia quote defines the Jewish people and the things we have in common. We have a common history and ancestry, we share a common belief in a monotheistic faith, we believe ourselves to be the world's first monotheistic faith. Those are the basic elements that define all Jews, and it's appropriate to talk about "The Jews" in such a context. Trouble typically arises when following the phrase "The Jews are ..." is an adjective, not a noun-phrase like "monotheistic faith" or "the people of Abraham".

Adjectives such as "money loving", "hook nosed", "conniving" etc. are clearly out of bounds and typical of the well worn stereotypes. I'm not comfortable with more positive adjectives such as "smart", "ambitious", or "entrepreneurial". Those adjectives apply to some Jews clearly, but not to all - they too are unwarranted generalizations. "Immodest" is, in my view, an out of bounds adjective. By what right does anyone lay claim to state that "The Jews", all of us, are 'immodest"? nuh-uh.

This rule of thumb applies more broadly. If you catch yourself saying "The <people> are <adjective>", alarm bells should probably be going off. The Vietnamese are illiterate. The Australians are wonderful. Get the idea?

Is this overly sensitive and too-far PC? You may think so. I know when I am offended by something, and I'm offended by what I've seen here in this thread. I will not shut up just because you don't like it. I don't see any of the loudmouths shutting up around here, and there's certainly plenty of them. Why should I run and hide because you don't like what I have to say?

Now back to the Saints/Steelers, if you don't mind.

[scandal 951]

I don't owe Israel or any foreign nation anything, and I would like to see my hard earned tax dollars stay home...or better yet in my pocket. It's hard enough to make ends meet these days without subsidizing some foreign country.

Certainly then you oppose the aid we give Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan, right?

You are consistent, yes? Just checking.

[scandal 951]

Totally agreed! Tho, 'shylock' technically isn't offensive either ;lol: I know several of them, and they aren't even Jewish, ahahhaah.

Shylock is offensive, and a derogatory term used to refer to Jews. It comes from the character in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shylock

shy·lock (shlk) Offensive

n.

A ruthless moneylender; a loan shark.

intr.v. shy·locked, shy·lock·ing, shy·locks

To lend money at exorbitant interest rates.

[After Shylock, the ruthless Jewish usurer in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.]

[Fandango 1,439]

Shylock is offensive, and a derogatory term used to refer to Jews. It comes from the character in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

http://www.thefreedi...ary.com/shylock

shy·lock (shlk) Offensive

n.

A ruthless moneylender; a loan shark.

intr.v. shy·locked, shy·lock·ing, shy·locks

To lend money at exorbitant interest rates.

[After Shylock, the ruthless Jewish usurer in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.]

Yes, I know where it came from...my point was that in certain areas of the North, the term is not meant as a pejorative against Jews, rather a term for a loan shark.

Actually, the only people I've heard of referred to as shylocks are Italian, go figure. heh.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Certainly then you oppose the aid we give Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan, right?

You are consistent, yes? Just checking.

I do object to that aid. Egypt is corrupt, Jordan is corrupt and so is Pakistan. If the US threatened Israel with no more aid money, and the Arab country's threatened the Palestinians with no more aid money unless those two stopped fighting, then there might be a chance for peace.

* On a more realistic side...I don't see it happening. Hamas is run by a bunch of terrorist, and the hard core Jewish Orthodox have too much say in Israel's affairs. Throw in the terrorist group of Hezbollah in Lebanon who is backed by Syria and Iran...and again I don't see peace in that area anytime soon.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Why_Me

[^_^ 5,021]

Certainly then you oppose the aid we give Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan, right?

You are consistent, yes? Just checking.

Depends on why the aid exists. I have a serious problem with the religious fetishism the American right has with Israel.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I'l make sure I say the word "Brit" and not "Limey" when responding to you and Pooky.

btw us "Yanks" don't get all butt hurt over that term when referring to Americans.

Edited November 1, 2010 by Why_Me

[scandal 951]

I'l make sure I say the word "Brit" and not "Limey" when responding to you and Pooky.

btw us "Yanks" don't get all butt hurt over that term when referring to Americans.

Nor do Israelis mind being referred to as "Tzabarim" , an endearment not dissimilar to "Yanks". Yet again, you've missed the point.

Try this one on for size: "Americans have a cowboy mentality. Americans are arrogant".

I don't think this label applies to 300+ million Americans, and yet it's a stereotype often heard.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Most southerners don't like being called yanks.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Most southerners don't like being called yanks.

Rebel !!!

Johnny Reb

Edited November 1, 2010 by Why_Me

[Teacher Mark 53]

Um, no, Sandler is not an antisemite.

At the risk or repeating myself, the crucial difference between your quote from Sandler's Hanukkah song and the offensive phrase earlier in this thread is the article "the". As in: "The Jews", implying a generalization. Sandler refers to particular Jews throughout his (quite funny) song. Newman and Hawn among them. One could, for example, refer to Bernie Madoff as a particularly loathsome and awful person who happens to be Jewish, and I would not have any issue with that. But if one were to generalize by saying, for example, "Madoff and all those money-grubbing Jews like him ....", yes, I would of course have an issue with that.

Your Wikipedia quote defines the Jewish people and the things we have in common. We have a common history and ancestry, we share a common belief in a monotheistic faith, we believe ourselves to be the world's first monotheistic faith. Those are the basic elements that define all Jews, and it's appropriate to talk about "The Jews" in such a context. Trouble typically arises when following the phrase "The Jews are ..." is an adjective, not a noun-phrase like "monotheistic faith" or "the people of Abraham".

Adjectives such as "money loving", "hook nosed", "conniving" etc. are clearly out of bounds and typical of the well worn stereotypes. I'm not comfortable with more positive adjectives such as "smart", "ambitious", or "entrepreneurial". Those adjectives apply to some Jews clearly, but not to all - they too are unwarranted generalizations. "Immodest" is, in my view, an out of bounds adjective. By what right does anyone lay claim to state that "The Jews", all of us, are 'immodest"? nuh-uh.

This rule of thumb applies more broadly. If you catch yourself saying "The <people> are <adjective>", alarm bells should probably be going off. The Vietnamese are illiterate. The Australians are wonderful. Get the idea?

Is this overly sensitive and too-far PC? You may think so. I know when I am offended by something, and I'm offended by what I've seen here in this thread. I will not shut up just because you don't like it. I don't see any of the loudmouths shutting up around here, and there's certainly plenty of them. Why should I run and hide because you don't like what I have to say?

Now back to the Saints/Steelers, if you don't mind.

At first I wasn't so sure that WhyMe was using the term in an offensive manner. I believe he was now. Sorry Scandal.

Edited November 2, 2010 by Mr. Saigon

[scandal 951]

At first I wasn't so sure that WhyMe was using the term in an offensive manner. I believe he was now. Sorry Scandal.

It's all good .

Thank you Mr. S.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The post was worded poorly. It's a stretch to suggest that the poster is bigoted on behalf of a single quote.