4/3/2007

14 Responses to “L.A. Times Op-Ed: Of Course Jews Are Shrewd!”

1. So what’s the problem here? Richardson isn’t the brightest light bulb in the box, but he is being pilloried for making a fairly truthful, if politically incorrect statement.

   The surprise here is that the Time columnist is defending the poor guy – as opposed to jumping on the anti defamation bandwagon.

   Richardson could have said “Arabs are violent” as opposed to “Jews are shrewd”. He would still be playing ball had he have done this, but the Times would have had a fit.

   Jim Hall (ba9dfb) — 4/3/2007 @ 3:48 pm

   
   

2. And I’ve got a natural sense of rhythm!

   David Ehrenstein (2289f8) — 4/3/2007 @ 3:57 pm

   
   

3. I’m not a fan of political correctness, but I think we need to be careful about being so resistant to political correctness that we give in to overly broad stereotypes that are as inaccurate as the P.C. attitudes. Not all Arabs are violent; just a subset are. And I betcha there’s the occasional non-shrewd Jew out there somewhere as well!

   Patterico (23121f) — 4/3/2007 @ 3:58 pm

   
   

4. Commentary magazine agrees. See here .

   James B. Shearer (fc887e) — 4/3/2007 @ 4:15 pm

   
   

5. And I betcha there’s the occasional non-shrewd Jew out there somewhere as well!

   This reminded me of the following bit from Family Guy:

   Peter Griffin: “So what you’re saying is that I should get a jewish person to handle my money.”

   Cleveland Brown: “Peter, not all jews are good with money.”

   Peter: “Well not the retarded ones, but why would you go there? Jeeze Cleveland, there’s edgy and there’s offensive.”

   Scott Jacobs (e3904e) — 4/3/2007 @ 4:56 pm

   
   

6. All things being equal, you need three things to succeed in business:
   1-A Jewish Accountant;
   2-A Christian Banker; &
   3_A Rottweiler for an attorney.

   Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/3/2007 @ 5:32 pm

   
   

7. My initial reaction was the same as Chafetz’s. A lot of Jews are crafty–don’t you know that, Patterico? You’re a lawyer.

   He wasn’t saying that Jews are crafty in a bad way, or that they take advantage of others, or that they only care about themselves. He just said they were crafty.

   That’s like saying “Arabs have great hospitality. I’m going to the mideast next month and I expect to receive some great hospitality.” Of course it’s not true 100% of the time, but getting upset over it is silly.

   Daryl Herbert (4ecd4c) — 4/3/2007 @ 5:55 pm

   
   

8. I think it would be interesting to see the continuation of the series. Will we see someone saying: yes, my group drives terribly? And another saying: yes, my group is loud in movie theaters?

   Patterico (af5412) — 4/3/2007 @ 6:05 pm

   
   

9. And why must we hear all this from members of the groups themselves?

   Isn’t there a KKK Grand Dragon somewhere who would be only too thrilled to share a number of uncomfortable “truths” with the public in one convenient piece?

   Patterico (bcfa86) — 4/3/2007 @ 6:27 pm

   
   

10. Naah! I don’t think it’s anything like that. I think that after the The Oslo Accords the Jews have been fighting an uphill battle to disprove that they can be as stupid as everybody else.

    nk (37b8ef) — 4/3/2007 @ 7:05 pm

    
    

11. 8,9

    Patterico, so everybody should just pretend even obvious differences between groups don’t exist?

    James B. Shearer (fc887e) — 4/3/2007 @ 7:07 pm

    
    

12. JBS:

    Nope.

    Once you start, though, you will end up stereotyping negatively as well as positively. And the problem with that is, you end up painting with too broad a brush and offending (and rightfully so) the members of the group as to whom the stereotype does not fit.

    Such stereotyping should be avoided except where necessary — life and death situations come to mind — and always with the recognition that it’s not 100 per cent correct.

    Outside of life and death situations, such discussions can profitably take place in the context of public policy. But it’s a delicate matter. There are some hard and important truths to be told. Jack Dunphy’s recent column about absent fathers is one of them. I don’t think I’d start with “Jews are shrewd.” But maybe that’s just me . . .

    Patterico (588630) — 4/4/2007 @ 7:49 am

    
    

13. I think it would be interesting to see the continuation of the series. Will we see someone saying: yes, my group drives terribly? And another saying: yes, my group is loud in movie theaters?

    Speaking on behalf of the Irish, we will drink your ass under the table. 😉

    As for the Jews (and for many other stereotypes) that is not without a basis in reality. Ashkenazi Jews have the highest IQ of any ethnic group. Where we get into trouble is when we begin to look at generalities as absolutes.

    Pablo (08e1e8) — 4/4/2007 @ 8:27 am

    
    

14. He wasn’t saying that Jews are crafty in a bad way,

    Jimmy the Greek didn’t say that black people are athletically gifted in a bad way. And nobody has said that Barrack Obama is articulate in a bad way.

    Of course it’s not true 100% of the time, but getting upset over it is silly.

    True, but since when did that matter?

    McGehee (5664e1) — 4/4/2007 @ 9:55 am