Month: July 2017

geniusorinsanity:

jewishomgcp:

bialevin:

jewishomgcp:

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.