On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 7:01 PM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > today I received a e-screed that blamed the Jews for the current > financial mess, with special reference to Madoff. > > (Meanwhile, last year I heard what sounded like anti-Jewish bigotry > from an old friend (a finance guy) while he was drunk. Maybe he felt > left out because Madoff wouldn't let him in. If so, he's very lucky.)
I think that goes back to the age-old stereotype of Jews as Shylock-type usurers and money-changers. (Like all stereotypes there is a factual basis to it as in a disproportionate Jewish representation on Wall St.) In any case, the financial crisis has certainly fed into old-fashioned anti-Semitism: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/lifestyles/spirituality/x1452247424/Madoff-scandal-stirs-old-fears-of-anti-Semitism I wonder if this brand of anti-Semitism makes it harder for reasonable people to criticize Israeli imperialism in Gaza.. -raghu. -- Now entering Iowa. Please set your clocks back 20 years. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
