Ian McCartney, the chairman of Britain's Labour Party, last night described a Jewish leader of the opposition Conservative Party as a "Fagin".
This 21st century Fagin will pick the pockets of Scotland's pensioners by abolishing the pension credit and then plan for a new generation of poor pensioners by abolishing the second state pension.McCartney claimed the comment wasn't intended to be anti-Semitic. Perhaps not. And here is how Charles Dickens described the character "Fagin the Jew" in Chapter 9 of Oliver Twist:
the Jew stepped gently to the door: which he fastened. He then drew forth: as it seemed to Oliver, from some trap in the floor: a small box, which he placed carefully on the table. His eyes glistened as he raised the lid, and looked in. Dragging an old chair to the table, he sat down; and took from it a magnificent gold watch, sparkling with jewels.Presumably Dickens didn't intend that to be anti-Semitic either.'Aha!' said the Jew, shrugging up his shoulders, and distorting every feature with a hideous grin.
Meanwhile, the "S-word" seems to be staggeringly popular in Western Africa.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 29, 2004 07:00 AMOT, but a goodie, FYI. Remember the liberal, lying, lefties (L3's) always harping about how the plight of the Iraqi people was the US' fault. Well, here is a very revealing article from the NY Times today about how Saddam skimmed billions on the "Oil for Food Program".
Posted by: Kevin P. on February 29, 2004 06:07 AMWithout meaning to be offensive, I'm confused. What makes the "s-word" bad? Is it worse than the term "Uncle Tom"? Since it refers to an individual, not an entire ethnicity, can't the group distance itself from those characteristics? People point to David in context of "David & Goliath" and aren't focused on his ethnicity; group responses may create the association. Doesn't defending the undefendable make it appear as if those badly steroetypical characteristics are acceptable to the group once you circle up the wagons around the individual bearing them? Please pardon my lack of understanding, but I'm genuinely curious.
Posted by: Keiki on February 29, 2004 10:50 AMUncle Tom is a term that is taken differently by different people. To some, Uncle Tom was a heroic character. On the other hand, Shylock was a hideous character, with no redeeming qualities.
The Africans who got a raw deal from the American slave holders and traders are all dead. While the American blacks who feel the "yoke of oppression" in America today might have a point, many American blacks are thriving, even wealthy, in today's America. There is absolutely no chance that they will be enslaved in this lifetime. Meanwhile, I have a living relative who still has a tatoo from the death camp, and it is nowhere near certain that we have seen the last mass murder of Jews in this world. If Jews are a bit sensitive about antisemitism, it is because we know that it is entirely possible that we will someday be forced into the ovens ourselves.
Posted by: Michael Gersh on February 29, 2004 01:35 PMAl-jazeera seems to approve of Mccartney's remarks.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B2366A4A-921E-4AFA-A5A4-2676878B1327.htm
Posted by: Orion on February 29, 2004 02:52 PMMore evidence of the respectability of anti Semitism in the U.K. We spend a lot of time talking about France but the U.K. is no more warm towards Jews then the rest of the continent.
Posted by: Joel on March 1, 2004 06:13 AMJoel - Are you sure that you know of what you speak? You may be technically correct: They may be "no more warm" than the French are toward Jews. But it is abundantly clear that the level of outright public hatred and hate crimes against Jews is much higher in France than the U.K. How many synagogues have been bombed or burned in England?
After all, when most of the rest of the continent was content to allow Hitler to solve "the Jewish problem" by means of mass murder, England was quite involved with solving the "problem" by exporting it to a new state they were carving out of their territorial mandate in the Middle East. I don't know about you, but I much prefer exile to execution, even if neither one is "warm."
Posted by: Michael Gersh on March 1, 2004 12:20 PM