on the subject of "blood libel"

[rm]

Someone else on my friends list did a poll, and I realized that I was also curious and have enough people here to get a large sample even if it's not a scientific one.

Since my big discovery of today was that lots of people didn't realize that the "blood libel" thing was a totally anti-semitic thing to say and I was surprised by that, the question becomes is this one of those things _every_ Jewish person knows but non-Jews may not have encountered?

ETA: Comments filled with fascinating anecdata. Have fun.

For those of you who still haven't caught up with this, Boing Boing explains.

Poll below.

[Poll #1667388]

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Um, I wasn't particularly put off by the first comment because we're not all super precise all the time especially on subjects with which we don't have intense familiarity, but I'm put off by your defense of that comment here.

Judaism is a faith, not a race. Historically, Jews have come from a variety of ethnic groups and some of those groups have at times been insular or had particular emigration patterns that have created a more significant presence in the US and so shape the US conception of what Jews look like.

HOWEVER.... I'm trying to think how to phrase this.

When you effectively say "we all know what a Jew is likely to look like" that language, innocent though it essentially is here is also the sort of language that got millions and millions of Jews killed.

I get in taxi cabs here in New York, and cab drivers will ask me if I'm a Jew. Sometimes, it's because they're Jewish too. Sometimes, it's because they think Jews are murders; it's because of blood libel, and then I'm in a cab in a dangerous situation. I have learned to lie about my Jewishness in certain circumstances -- this in the 21st century in New York City -- to survive. I have also been chased out of stores in anti-semetic Europe for appearing Jewish.

You want to know the punchline? My nose is ROMAN. From my SICILIAN, CATHOLIC father. My mother is the Jew. And she does "look like one" whatever that means.

Also, your first comment? You can tell a Jew because they're pushy?

Just no.

Justify less. Listen more.

[eatsoylentgreen.livejournal.com]

"Justify less. Listen more."

fair enough

[rm.livejournal.com]

Bah, and in teh middle of my screed I let out a not... "my mother does not look like a Jew" was a part of the point (which sounds awful out of context) I was trying to make there.

Thank you.