i want to talk about the word “jew” for a hot second, because i don’t think gentiles understand why some jewish people don’t like being called that. this year, cnn had a banner that said “Alt-right founder questions if Jews are people.” now, they’ve gotten a lot of backlash for it, and apologized, but here’s the point: the sentence “Are Jews People?” is very different from “Are Jewish people people?” See, in the second sentence, the absolute ridiculousness of the question is even more clear, because of course a jewish person is a person, it’s right in the name. But by calling jewish people “jews,” it allows certain groups to dehumanize us, remove our personhood. I’m not suggesting we get rid of the term “jew” entirely, but the full word is something to keep in mind when using it.
That argument doesn’t really make sense. At all. Does that mean we can’t say “Christians” either? Or Muslims? Or women? Because if you think about it the same argument could be made. The phrase “are women people?” would have to be changed to “are female people people?”
I’m Jewish and I really don’t think this argument holds up. I’ll be here waiting for another argument for that if someone would like to provide one. I sure love a good discussion (Jewish people usually do 😉 ).
@bialevin I want to open this by telling you how many jewish people have replied to this post thanking me for articulating feelings they couldn’t or agreeing that it makes them uncomfortable. I think that speaks to itself: it’s a term that has historically been used to make us into a faceless, dehumanized mass. Even the wikipedia page on the word jew has a section on antisemitism which comments that “The word Jew has been used often enough in a disparaging manner by antisemites that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was frequently avoided altogether…” and “ Indeed, when used as an adjective (e.g. “Jew lawyer”) or verb (e.g. “to jew someone”),[4] the term Jew is purely pejorative.” Again, I’m not suggesting we BAN the word. I’m saying it should be used carefully.
You are not the only person to make this argument, but I think you are the first jewish person. If you’re not The problem with your argument is that you’re comparing the use of “jew” to the wrong things. Calling us jews has been used similarly to how some people use “blacks” or “gays.” (That is, by the way, commented upon both in my tags of the original post, and many people have remarked upon the similarities.) Instead of thinking about someone using it casually in a conversation, think about people saying “The Jew is ruining America.” The second is a pretty gross use and if it doesn’t sound wrong to you to use the word jew like that, I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Compare to “…They show the many shapes the Jew assumes … They show the Jew for what he really is: The Devil in human form,” from Nazi propaganda. So “jew” ESPECIALLY “the jew” can be used to create a stereotype/representation of all jewish people and aids in saying jews are jewish people, because they aren’t people at all.
Here i’ve commented on the fact that with the word k*ke no longer really in use and jew has become the word of choice for anti-semites. Again, it’s also used by a great many other people. But when using or hearing the word, we have to think critically about who is using it, how they’re using it, their intentions, and why they’re using it over “jewish people.” I’m wary of anyone who never uses the term “jewish people” because I naturally fluctuate between saying “jews” and “jewish people.” I’m wary because I question why “jewish person” doesn’t seem to be in their vocabulary. Do you know that kind of guy who constantly says “females” instead of “women” and makes you a little uncomfortable? It’s a little bit like that.
Here I’ve also talked about the use of jews and how it differs from muslims and christians. I think another big thing people don’t think about is Jewishness and its relation to race. Comparing it to other religions falls a little flat because it doesn’t take into account that dimension. Again, compare “jews” to “blacks.” Japanese is an adjective and only a noun when naming the language itself. If you shorten Japanese down into a noun describing a person, it becomes a slur. Jew is not as extreme as that example, but consider the angle of jewishness as a race rather than a religion.
Sorry this is so long whoops! But hopefully that’s some food for thought.
also – and this is totally my own thoughts and ymmv – context matters. it’s kind of like that old joke about how a jewish person asking “are there any jews around?” is way different from a non-jewish person asking if there are any jews around–your reaction is going to be different. the vibe and feeling i get from a jewish person saying “we jews love a good discussion, amirite?” is humor and solidarity and amused self-deprecation (because…lbr, we do love some enthusiastic debate about like…literally nothing. Bagel Discourse is proof of that), whereas a non-jew saying “you jews love a good discussion, amirite?” would make me feel uncomfortable and stereotyped. so while the word itself is steeped in history, the context of who is using it also matters.
$0.02 from a very sleepy professional jew who probably hasn’t had enough coffee to be jumping in on the Discourse but like…we do love a good Discussion.
The shooting victim has said it was not Pedro who shot him.
In fact, the victim and at least one other witness have all gone on the record to state that NYPD officers — specifically David Terrell — threatened them to name Pedro Hernandez as the shooter.
So, in spite of the suspension of the arresting officer and numerous eyewitnesses including the victim each saying Pedro Hernandez didn’t commit this crime, he remains behind bars. This is criminal. It violates his constitutional right to a speedy trial. And it forces a child to grow up in incarceration, which should be avoided at all costs.
So here we are. When this young man should be preparing for college, he’s stuck behind bars. His next court date isn’t until mid-September — meaning that even if he is acquitted, he’ll still lose his scholarship, his relatives say. All of New York should be ashamed. The damage done to this young man’s life is immeasurable and the system that should protect him from harm has failed him at every turn.
I hate tumblr as much as the next guy but at least we still see dashboard posts in chronological order instead of the bullshit random order of instagram and facebook where stuff from days ago appears right below stuff that was just posted
I’ve been thinking, humans (although they are predators) don’t look very predator-y. We’re relativly small, we don’t have fur, our eyesight is not that great compared to a lot of species, our hearing is pretty bad etc, etc. Yet, we’re the dominating species. Strange.
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There were many Death Worlds throughout they galaxies. There were only a small handful that cpuld contain life, and no life nearing the intelligence needed to enter space. The Intergalactic Goverment (TIG) keept a loose watch over the planets that could contain life, checking in every 80 standard intergalatic days or so. No sentient life could evercome from such planets.
They were wrong.
When the human species entered space, all species aware, panicked. Multiple systems went into lock-down. Planets became boarded off, and TIG had to deal with the problem.
Warily, they sent a representative of the Hòxth species, renound for their nearly impenitrable skin, to meet with the Death Worlders.
They expected sharp teeth that could tear anything apart, eyes that could see to another side of the planet, tough skin, thick fur, posion glands. The galaxy expected many things of these Death Worlders, humans were no one of them.
They were squishy and quite small. They had some sharp teeth (but they weren’t that sharp at all), only two eyes, one heart and one pair of lungs. These creatures surely could not have come from the Death World. They would have been torn to shreds if so!
No, these creatures are just curious and very, very lucky.
My favorite method of learning pronunciation in another language is singing.
I spent the hours I travel on the bus singing reggaeton and have almost no accent when speaking Spanish.
Bollywood soundtracks helped me master the ड़ sound.
One of my students struggled with the English w sound and I had him sing the song “I Want It That Way” and he can say it almost perfectly.
Sing. Even if you suck. Sing.
Seriously, my pronunciation for French and Danish improved so much just by listening to their versions of Disney songs. Singing is an invaluable language resource!
True story!! This works! I blast Finnish music all day and learn the songs and it helps SO MUCH!
When people remark that I speak Swedish with almost no accent, I tell them that it’s because I sing so much. I’ve learned so much about pronunciation by singing in different languages, so this is is 100% A+ good advice.
There is science behind this! You use a different part of your brain to speak than you do to sing. For the same reason that people sometimes lose their accent (or even a speech impediment like a stutter or stammer) while singing, learning to pronounce new words is also easier.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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