Cut out the first four sentences and it's OK.

I'm all for freedom of association. People can have their clubs and exclude people that don't fit, and the excluded ones can resent it to their heart's content, if that's what they feel like doing. It's not healthy to do that, but that's their look-out.

Only the first four sentences? Hell, I am part-Welsh but it is not something I raise with my also part-Welsh English relatives because of the inevitable racism, denial and related stupidity. Not that the Welsh think much of the English either.

The point is that the Jews are by no means the only people who have some amongst them who advocate some sort of ethnic or religious separatism. Until recently, most of my ancestors would have been appalled at the idea of my marrying a Catholic and I expect some might still raise on eyebrow at the thought of my marrying an Irish or French woman. To be clear, most of my relatives have no such bigotry.

But I will tell you what is bigoted: Holding the Jews to a higher standard than any of the rest of us hold ourselves.

But I will tell you what is bigoted: Holding the Jews to a higher standard than any of the rest of us hold ourselves.

Nicely put.

Yeah, the first four sentences, that's what I said.

You got to have your own club. Somebody else can be
not up to snuff. Personally, I feel resentment toward gold-medal Olympians. Damn that Mary Lou and her perfect vault! You think I don't want to be on a box of Wheaties?

Better the box of Wheaties than the milk carton next to it.

That's one of those clubs nobody wants to join. I was thinking that the other day when I saw Marc Klaas and Mark Lunsford together on TV.

Yeah, the first four sentences, that's what I said.

Yeah, got that. And it makes less sense now you have tried to explain what you meant. There is no squaring "It's not healthy to do that" and "resentment toward gold-medal Olympians", for example.

But your incoherence on those points is minor next to the bigger misunderstanding. Being Jewish is not like an "exclusive" country club or winning a place at an elite university or competing in the Olympics, all of which were (and continue to be) denied to Jews in many parts of the world. When people accuse the Jews of separatism they are accusing the Jews of arrogrance, racial supremacism and lust for power all of which, not incidentally, are invariably part and parcel of the ideology of the anti-semites. The accusation of separatism is far too serious to use as an excuse to reherse "anti-PC" rhetoric.

Whatever, Torquemada. Every group has characteristics of belonging: Jewish, Catholic, Mormom, Muslim, American, Russian, Gold-Medal Winners, and Dads Whose Daughters Have Been Murdered By Sex Predators.

There's such a thing as being non-X-group. All groups do their separateness to one degree or another or there would be no group, club, religion, nationality, species, etc.

Do a Venn diagram of all the groups you belong to, and marvel at how different it is from your neighbor's.

BTW, my religion says don't yoke yourself with unbelievers, and come from among them and be ye separate. I guess I'll accuse myself of "arrogrance, racial supremacism and lust for power."

So ... how 'bout them Mets?

In all seriousness, I take your point Donnah, but I have to put the balance of my inclinations with Flea. As much or more than the Jews - or any other group of people with like beliefs and culture - separate and choose to associate with themselves, complaining about that separatism, holding them to some higher, hostile, conspiratorial, envious standard because they culturally tend toward success/a high profile is a nasty inclination in humanity. You don't hear this guy ranting about the Amish.

I'm not sure how you pointing out the human tendency to resent those that are different devalues the tendency's often racist or anti-semitic character. Your hostility towards Gold medal winners would just be "petty." If you wanted them eliminated from the planet or blamed them for your own deficiencies, it would be "crazy."

Applying either of those levels of antipathy to a racial or ethnic group would be considered, racism, prejudice, anti-semitism, etc. Our society puts a higher negative tax on "racism" than it does on, say, mocking or disliking ugly people. Does this lead to inconsistencies and inequities in thought and practice? Allowing us to discriminate against certain groups with impunity, while others are sacred? Sure. Is it overall a bad thing? I'd say no. Because overall, the world is far better with less stupid, nasty racism, even if some people take political correctness too far.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have the facts of life ... the facts of life.

When the world never seems,
To be li-ving up to your dreams.
And suddenly you're shoutin' out,
The facts of life are all about the JEWS!
All about JEWS
JEW-EW-EW-EWS,
A-ll about JEWS

You're an anti-semite.
When those are your facts of life.
Learnin the facts of life.
Learnin the facts of life.
Learnin the facts of li-fe.

So I've got this straight, a tribe practicing a non-evangelistic faith with a five thousand year history of being chased across the planet to avoid being butchered or enslaved evolves into a somewhat insular and self-reliant society? Color me unsurprised.

Sinister conspiracy or survival mechanisim? You decide.

Torquemada tortured and murdered Jews. But such is a small detail when an all important pose is at stake.

And the Facts of Life

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