let me start by stating that as a human being who grew up with deeply humanitarian mother and an extremely industrious and responsible father but saw my young brother become close to a monster in my very home i understand that character is an individual and exclusive trait.
i have never believed that cultural or ethnic groups have common character traits. i know that common ideals are aspired to and common dreams my be shared about a community's future. but beyond that i know for a fact that people are ultimately their own best counsel.
i wrote this diary because i read a piece here
that had been referenced on a newsweek about how Madoff is embarrassing Jewish Americans on top of robbing wealthy folks to a tune of 50billion US dollars.
My first instinct was to recall a piece on the front page of the NY Times during the early days of the recent general election about elderly Jewish resistance to Obama for reasons ranging from Rev. Wright to his very name Hussein. I was shocked because I know most of my jewish friends are very liberal. I also know that Jews actively and financially supported the civil rights movement.
Here are some of the comments that some elderly jews in south florida made(NOTE that their names and even pictures were recorded by the
NY Times.
"His father was a Muslim and you can’t take that out of him," said Ms. Chotiner, 51, who said she would still vote for Mr. Obama, out of Democratic loyalty. "Do I have very strong reservations? Yes, I do," she said.
Other voters called Mr. Obama’s endorsement by the Rev. Jesse Jackson problematic, because Mr. Jackson once called New York "Hymietown" (even though he later apologized) and has made other comments offensive to Jews.
Some of the resistance to Mr. Obama’s candidacy seems just as rooted in anxiety about race as in anxiety about Israel. At brunch in Boynton Beach, Bob Welstein, who said he was in his 80s, said so bluntly. "Am I semi-racist? Yes," he said.
Decades earlier, on the west side of Chicago, his mother was mugged and beaten by a black assailant, he said. It was "a beautiful Jewish neighborhood" — until black residents moved in, he said.
Understand? Obama was responsible not only for Rev. Wright(which was understanble given their close relationship) but a constitutional lawyer and US senator was also responsible for black thugs and Jesse Jacksons comments and actions.
See, these elderly jews who had known how dangerous racism is given their direct experience of hitlers actions with full and passive support from anti-semitic german population were admitting that they felt like the germans did about the jews in their lumping together of all blacks.
I want to be on record for this because i think that the reaction among Jews is a teachable moment. I don't think that any racist who thinks madoff is a showing off his jewish disease with his crime actually believes that jews are all criminals. but they make that claim because they want to exact some form of hurtful feelings among jews. they know that jews are embarrassed because madoff's actions recall Shylock in Shakespeares racist novel, The merchant of venice.
Well, law abiding blacks are all too familiar with this dynamism. Remember the white pennsylvania racist mccain volunteer who fictionalised a black robber at an ATM machine? what was she thinking? RIGHT?
I hope that Jews and whites and blacks and straights who think gays are all anal sex addicts in loveless relationships will use this opportunity to ask themselves questions about identity and culture and the individual.