On 9/19/13 9:07 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 23:34:33 -0400, wrote:
Nobody ever explained to me why saying Jewish people were good
businessmen was a slur.
I bet the Jewish guys were laughing the hardest.
===
It has become politically and culturally incorrect to make
generalizations about any group of people even if there is strong
statistical evidence to back up the assertion.
Of course as we have seen, there are exceptions to every rule.
So, Gregg, do you think "Jewish people" are good businesspeople because
there is something inherent in the Jewish religion that genetically
encodes them to be that way, even though religion is cultural?
My liberal arts education taught me that in many parts of Europe for
hundreds of years Jews for the most part were not allowed to own real
property or go into the learned professions because of rampant
anti-Semitism and, as a result, lots of Jews became shopkeepers and
various other kinds of businessmen and women and artists. In this
country, for the longest time, Jews were for the most part were not
allowed to into the professions or into the upper levels of blue chip
corporations or into country clubs or into many of the most prestigious
universities.
In the late 1940's, Laura Hobson wrote a novel that was made into a
movie starring Gregory Peck..."Gentleman's Agreement." It tells the
story of anti-Semitism in this country and how Jews were kept out of
many businesses and social organizations.
If you understood any of this, perhaps you might understand why your
characterization might be considered a slur, the same sort of slur that
says black people have "rhythm."
I remember a sociology class in college (one of those many liberal art
courses) in which a fellow student said that if Jews hated Christians
the way Christians hated Jews, Doctors Salk and Sabin would have figured
out a way to withhold their anti-polio vaccine from Gentiles. But, of
course, Salk and Sabin didn't do that. Good businessman that Salk was
(Jewish, you know), he didn't patent his vaccine.
Gotta love rec.boats.