Friday, June 19, 2009

Old Article on Anti-Semitism

A year ago, I recall discussing a survey about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe at my alma mater, Bard College, when suddenly an angry so-called liberal began angrily fuming about hwo "Jews aren't persecuted" and should stop whining about it. When I pointed out that his perspective benefited from the very overpriviliged American myopia that he was quick to criticize in others (after all, Jews may have had a historically positive experience in this country, but that has hardly been the case elsewhere in the world, something that is only easy to overlook if you forget that the world has history outside these borders), he reacted with even more incense. This from a supposedly "progressive" and "racially liberal" individual, at a school that takes pride in being among America's most left-wing.

I mention that anecdote as an introduction to this article:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/21/antisemitism-jews-un-oped-cx_cr_0122rosett.html

1 comment:

rachina85 said...

"For 2007, FBI figures show that among 1,477 religiously motivated hate crimes reported by U.S. law enforcement authorities, 9% were anti-Islamic, 9.5% were "anti-other religion," 4.4% were anti-Catholic and, by far outstripping any other category, "68.4% were anti-Jewish."

First of all: 68 percent?

Second of all: Sweet Zombie Jehovah, 68 percent?!