I grew up with Jewish neighbors in the Hyde Park/Kenwood district of Chicago, moved when I was nine or ten years old. Now, nearly 70 years later, I still consider it the best time of my life. I miss them.

For me, an Irish Catholic kid, antisemitism is personal.

Thank you for that.

WW2 and the Holocaust were taught extensively in school growing up, I don't think they teach kids shit now a days

Also growing up in a Methodist church, I know the bible well. Visiting Israel was an experience I will never forget

Visiting Auschwitz and Warsaw, learning of the atrocities there were totally mind blowing to me

Why was the treaty of Versailles not enforced?



Complacency

My wife's Armenian grandmother survived after being shot by a German officer because "She looked like a Jew". That was in front of her home in Rostov-on-Don during occupation. My wifes DNA shows 10% Ashkenazi.

In the south, I have met less Jewish folks than most. I did work with a guy that was Jewish. He and a black coworker got into the most hilarious argument about which demographic had the best jokes about them. They had the room laughing our arses off. I don't know if this adds to this discussion, but it was one of the best days at work I ever had.

My grandmother and her little sister were orphaned when the were 7 and 5 respectively. The girls were adopted by different families, both Jewish, who kept the girls until they were 15 and old enough to go to work as seamstresses. The girls lived as family members, were taken to their Baptist church on Sundays and were treated as family members even when they moved out. There were Christian presents for the girls on Christmas and birthdays and on Sundays a family member took them to their Baptist Church for services while the caretakers stayed outside and "Kibitzed" she said.

She told me that if I could ever help "A Jew", as she said, I had to do it and feel good about it. She made it a point to tell me that we didn't 'owe' anything, it was an act of kindness same as what she got from the family that kept her out of the work house.

So I have. I think she'd be pleased.

I would have liked your Grandmother.

The vicious intensity and sheer volume of hatred for Jews and Israel that I read and see posted on ‘Truth Social’ and ‘substack’ content is alarming and frightening to say the least.

What is also quite bothersome, is when an otherwise MAGA-minded individual all of a sudden chooses to vomit up a tirade of anti-Semitic hate and vitriol.

quote:

Originally posted by Marlin Fan:
I would have liked your Grandmother.

quote:

Originally posted by Cookster:
The vicious intensity and sheer volume of hatred for Jews and Israel that I read and see posted on ‘Truth Social’ and ‘substack’ content is alarming and frightening to say the least.

What is also quite bothersome, is when an otherwise MAGA-minded individual all of a sudden chooses to vomit up a tirade of anti-Semitic hate and vitriol.

You are right!!!!

Some people are so goddamned dumb.

I don't give a shit if someone is Jewish; I give a shit if they are an asshole or not.

I like your attitude!!

quote:

Originally posted by xd45man:
In the south, I have met less Jewish folks than most. I did work with a guy that was Jewish. He and a black coworker got into the most hilarious argument about which demographic had the best jokes about them. They had the room laughing our arses off. I don't know if this adds to this discussion, but it was one of the best days at work I ever had.

I worked with a guy many years ago named Saul. He was extremely honest, and extremely funny. Saul was a big guy. He liked food. One New Years he decides to buy a treadmill. He just didn’t want to go to a gym and I understood why. He’d rather get a piece of cardio equipment, get his weight down a little, at which point he’d be comfortable joining a gym to lift. We had discussed it. So one of those cardio equipment stores sells him the treadmill and they had some kind of 30 days return period type thing. Well Saul didn’t like it. He wanted to exchange it and perhaps, get a bike instead. Maybe an elliptical. He just didn’t like the one he got. So he starts calling them at work and his cube was next to mine so I got to hear it for days. It was a battle for days. So heated words were exchanged. I think on the 3rd day in a row, Saul gets heated and drops it on the dirty salesman. He says, and I”ll never forget it. He says “Look! I’m Jewish! You are not going to win!” I damn near fell out of my chair. Saul said the guy got dead silent on that phone and the next thing he said was “We’ll pick it up tomorrow.” They sent a service over and picked the thing up, free of charge. Later he went and picked something else out.

Saul was hilarious. At Christmas one year he asked if I was doing anything special. I said nah. I’m Christian, and Catholic to boot, so to me every day of the year is Christmas and Easter. I don’t need some marketing holiday full of consumerism. I asked what he was going to do and he says “I’ll be at one of the Chinese restaurants with the rest of the Jews.” Then another time people were talking to him, as he was about to take vacation for a week so we were going over who is going to cover his workload. Mid-discussion, I say Saul, where you going on vacation? He says “You know I’m Jewish, we go to Florida” and had the biggest smile you have ever seen on his face. Loved working with that guy.

Like everyone else, I’m done with the antisemitic bullshit. I’ve had friends (past friends) talking shit when I cut them off. I’d ask them, do you believe in God? (Yes). Do you believe in Christ? (Yes). Then I’d say, cut it the fuck out around me man. Jesus was a Jew! So STFU!

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
...Jesus was a Jew! So STFU!

Reminds me of the joke, punchline was "One of our boys made it!"

Thank you all who made no jokes about a serious subject. Killing six million people is nothing to joke about in any manner.

Jokes? Early in my working career, three of my co-workers were survivors of Nazi concentration camps.

No jokes.

quote:

Originally posted by Marlin Fan:
Thank you all who made no jokes about a serious subject. Killing six million people is nothing to joke about in any manner.

I grew up quite aware of the Holocaust, both from tv/movies and from friends whose relatives were in the camps. I saw the tattoos on their grandparents' arms. As an adult I've watched many documentaries about WWII and the post-war years. None of that had the impact of visiting Dachau two years ago.

I stood alone in the gas chamber for a few minutes. It was surreal and indescribable. Emptier than space, not full of ghosts as I had expected. The crematoria were likewise an indescribable experience.

How that woman could post a picture of herself smiling in front of the original crematorium and writing that's where Trump supporters should be, idk. How a person could stand in that spot smiling and wishing others suffer the same as what happened there during the war, is nothing but evil.

Some lines are just too absolute to be crossed, not to be wished upon even your actual mortal enemies. Joking about the Holocaust crosses that line. Unfortunately, stupidity and evil know no limits.

Unfortunately, stupidity and evil know no limits. So true!!!!!

This thread has helped me.