Xref: utzoo news.misc:2280 soc.culture.jewish:8596 Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!husc6!wjh12!redsox!campbell From: campbell@redsox.UUCP (Larry Campbell) Newsgroups: news.misc,soc.culture.jewish Subject: Re: How Many (x) Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb? Keywords: sensitivity, sensationalism Message-ID: <568@redsox.UUCP> Date: 6 Dec 88 04:11:51 GMT References: <358@sulaco.Sigma.COM> <494@Aragorn.dde.uucp> Reply-To: campbell@redsox.UUCP (Larry Campbell) Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc. Lines: 33 In article <494@Aragorn.dde.uucp> ct@dde.uucp (Claus Tondering) writes: }I think that there is a profound difference between jokes about jews and }jokes about Beglians, Irish, Scotchmen etc. Consider, for example, a joke }about a Scotchman who is very fond of money. Now, replace the Scotchman }with a jew. Is the joke the same? No, it isn't. Why? The joke suddenly }becomes sick, because the accusation that jews are overly fond of money }has been used for centruries as a pretext for persecution of jews. Nobody }has ever persecuted the Scots for being greedy misers ... No one ever persecuted the Scots? Check your history books. The English certainly did their share. It's just that the Jews have been persecuted more recently, and, due to modern technology and its effects (mass culture, mass media, etc.), more efficiently. The Jews do not have a monopoly on persecution. They are in the unique position, among victims of (attempted) genocide (I say "attempted", because if the Nazis were successful, there would be no Jews left), of having been persecuted: - Recently - Somewhat successfully (in central Europe, anyway) - On a massive scale over a short period of time (modern technology) - And -- sadly, I think this is very important -- by a regime that provoked a world war and *lost*. English settlers did much worse to the American Indians. But it took longer (300 years), finished less recently (1880 vs. 1945), and guess what -- we *won*. History is always kind to winners. -- Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc. campbell@bsw.com 120 Fulton Street wjh12!redsox!campbell Boston, MA 02146