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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Mailbag "Are You Antisemetic or Just Stupid?"

Posted by on Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 9:32 AM

Dear Stranger:

Are you antisemetic [sic] or just stupid?

WTF? Did you really schedule your School Board debate for the first night of Rosh Hashana? Yup, you did. You must figure that Jews don't care about education. OK, you can go back to sleep now. Actually, I am hurt and disappointed. Every freaking calander [sic] has the Jewish High Holidays on it. And you guys claim to be hip, multicultural and "aware?" Ha.

Michael Blum

Dear Michael,

To answer your question: both. As a descendant from a huge Jewish family killed in the Holocaust—save for my grandmother and her sister, who was rescued from a concentration camp—and a Catholic mother, I exist in a synergy of guilt. Sin, sanctimony, circumstance, and virtually any suggestion of shortcoming only serves to resonate with my hereditary sense of inadequacy. This manifests in moments of grand stupidity and self-loathing, which, per my genes, must be a form of antisemitism. It's a closed circuit of self-loathing!

In response to your astute observation—"You must figure that Jews don't care about education"—when scheduling the event at Town Hall, we did know it was the first day of Rosh Hashana. Conspiring with colleagues Elijah Sanders and David Goldstein, we saw this as an inroad for our imminent War on Hanukkah, and we were redoubled in our chutzpah by the fact that September 28 was the best day for our newspaper's schedule and for the venue.

Shana Tova!
Dom

 

Comments (36) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
wisepunk 1
Dom, as a catholic mom/jewish dad combo myself, I would expect at least an email to the group if you are declaring war on the high holy days.
Posted by wisepunk on September 22, 2011 at 9:38 AM
gloomy gus 2
@1, the listserv's not what it was. Lately it's just Godwin after Godwin.
Posted by gloomy gus on September 22, 2011 at 9:41 AM
MacCrocodile 3
@2 - You know who else invoked Hitler all the time? Hitler.
Posted by MacCrocodile on September 22, 2011 at 9:44 AM
STJA 4
CHUTS-PAH.
Posted by STJA on September 22, 2011 at 9:48 AM
5
Little, tiny, baby crush.
Posted by karion on September 22, 2011 at 9:51 AM
6
Nice.
Posted by Whodunit? on September 22, 2011 at 9:51 AM
gloomy gus 7
@3, look who's a high roller, doubling down like that!
Posted by gloomy gus on September 22, 2011 at 9:53 AM
Banna 8
Can you just compromise and move the debate nearer to the green river so everyone can tashlikh?
Posted by Banna http://www.ucp.org on September 22, 2011 at 9:55 AM
Will in Seattle 9
I am personally offended by SLOG clearly ignoring the High Holy Talk Like A Pirate Day, one of the chief festivals of Pastafarianism.

Arrr.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on September 22, 2011 at 9:58 AM
MacCrocodile 10
@7 - It's Hitlers all the way down.

Is it okay if I just hate the Jew that wrote this email, or does that make me racist?
Posted by MacCrocodile on September 22, 2011 at 10:09 AM
11
its the "the Jew" part that makes you racist, not your hate of this individual.
Posted by soggydan on September 22, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Kinison 12
Michael Blum comes off as one of those folks who emailed threats of violence to King County over the pro-palestinian bus ads.

Posted by Kinison http://www.holgatehawks.com on September 22, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Keister Button 13
Can you please irritate Pam Geller so this Debate event could get more publicity?
Posted by Keister Button on September 22, 2011 at 10:14 AM
MacCrocodile 14
@11 - Good to know, thanks!
Posted by MacCrocodile on September 22, 2011 at 10:16 AM
Zebes 15
War on Hanukkah! War on Hanukkah! Menorahs tipped over by unruly bikes!
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on September 22, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Reverse Polarity 16
Dear Michael Blum,

You might actually have a point... if they were holding a debate about a private Jewish school. But since the debate is about PUBLIC schools, and that whole separation of church and state thing, then it doesn't make any fucking difference what religious holiday might be taking place on the same night.

Thanks for playing.
Posted by Reverse Polarity on September 22, 2011 at 10:28 AM
Foghorn Leghorn 17
"Semetic" sounds an unfortunate side effect at the 2010 International Nathan's Famous Blowjob Races.

Dan might have to weigh in on whether it's thus ok to be antisemetic.
Posted by Foghorn Leghorn on September 22, 2011 at 10:29 AM
18
You should have scheduled it during the day of Yom Kippur, so the sinful school board incumbents would have to sit for hours pleading to be written into the Book of Life for at least another year.
Posted by sarah70 on September 22, 2011 at 10:29 AM
19
5000 years of persecution and you complain about this?
Posted by six shooter on September 22, 2011 at 10:30 AM
MacCrocodile 20
@16 - Or it shouldn't, anyway. I can imagine a scenario where racist Christians in charge deliberately schedule an important meeting for a day they know the Jewish community (see what I did there, soggydan? I'm not a racist any more!) would be observing an important holiday. But that's not to say that's even remotely what happened here, of course.
Posted by MacCrocodile on September 22, 2011 at 10:33 AM
care bear 21
I just have the hereditary Catholic guilt and that's bad enough.
Posted by care bear on September 22, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Soupytwist 22
@15 - I died of LOLs.
Posted by Soupytwist http://twitter.com/katherinesmith on September 22, 2011 at 11:34 AM
venomlash 23
@15: I'm putting a gyroscope in my dreidel. Tip THAT over, bitch.
Posted by venomlash on September 22, 2011 at 11:36 AM
24
I'm pretty sure you could have just ignored this guy, Dominic.
Posted by tkc on September 22, 2011 at 11:37 AM
25
@19. Thanks for that. I snarfed my tea.
Posted by mkyorai on September 22, 2011 at 11:57 AM
MacCrocodile 26
@24 - Obviously he couldn't.
Posted by MacCrocodile on September 22, 2011 at 1:09 PM
27
So Jews, which is more important, your religion or your kids? I'll wait over here for your answers.
Posted by Mister Trick Question on September 22, 2011 at 1:34 PM
Vince 28
Jews, Catholics Muslims...all think the world revolves around them. Shmucks!
Posted by Vince on September 22, 2011 at 2:26 PM
29
@16: I eagerly await The Stranger's gubernatorial debate on December 25.

Dom: This new "war on commenters through public humiliation" is really fun. Keep up the solid work, Guilt Boy.
Posted by Baloch on September 22, 2011 at 2:55 PM
brian 30
@29, Sadly most elections have concluded by December 25th.
Posted by brian on September 22, 2011 at 6:49 PM
31
Dear Dom, You are as stupid as you think you are cute. Rather than simply say you fucked up, you mention other Jews. As in, "Some of my best friends?"

Michael Blum
Posted by blum on September 22, 2011 at 9:17 PM
Post_Mortem 32
Blum, I think he also mentioned that he is, too. So, less like, 'Some of my best friends', and more like, 'a number of us who helped plan this thing'. Moreover, I think he explained at the very end how it wasn't a mistake, just the day which best suited the parties involved.

It's cool to see someone who almost completely misses the points being made call someone else stupid, though. Well done, sir.
Posted by Post_Mortem http://pointlessman.blogspot.com/ on September 22, 2011 at 10:41 PM
33
Well, Post. That someone would knowingly decide to exclude even the marginally observant two-times a year Jews from this event really speaks for itself.

Michael Blum
Posted by blum on September 23, 2011 at 7:30 AM
Post_Mortem 34
Yes. The secular world doesn't revolve around Jewish holidays. But surely you knew that already.
Posted by Post_Mortem http://pointlessman.blogspot.com/ on September 23, 2011 at 1:22 PM
35
Post - FYI, many secular organizations refrain from holding events on the Jewish High Holidays. But surely you knew that already.
Posted by blum on September 23, 2011 at 4:06 PM
36
You know, cultural competence, inclusiveness, all that sorta progressive stuff the Stranger and I believe in.
Posted by blum on September 23, 2011 at 7:44 PM

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