Um, not sure where the comments are in the article that people despise them in this community. Am I missing something? Or is it just a reference to previous KKK activity?

There’s a longstanding Southern Jewish culture. Jews have never been large in numbers in the US, but there are places throughout the South where there are well-established Jewish communities. Apparently this town is one of them – they’ve got a temple, and the parents of one of the family members in the story actually came from there originally. I don’t know that that town is likely to be worse for them, especially, than anywhere else outside of a big Eastern seaboard city.

Big U:

The American South is populated largely by Southern Baptists and evangelical Christians, whose unwavering support for a Jewish state (Israel) doesn’t translate into a whole lot of love for the Jewish people, especially not in their own back yards. But as the “humor” tag was intended to point out, I was being tongue-in-cheek.

KTK:

I’m familiar with the Southern Jewish culture. Memphis is just such a city. A couple of the supermarkets close to my house have large Kosher sections (which go dark on Saturdays), and a couple of my best friends here in town are Jewish (him by upbringing, his wife a converted Presbyterian — she’s way the hell more Jewish than he is…).

In truth, this town will probably be great for the Jewish residents the offer attracts — especially for Jewish families that don’t have a lot of money, but prefer a suburban or rural lifestyle. But superficially at least, “Jewish haven in Alabama” strikes me as incongruous, and therefore funny.

See also, Eureka Springs, AR, a quaint little vacation and antiquing village in the deep red Northwestern part of the state — maybe 45 minutes from Wal-Mart’s world HQ — that just happens to also be a huge GLBT Mecca.

I’m familiar with the Southern Jewish culture. . . . But superficially at least, “Jewish haven in Alabama” strikes me as incongruous, and therefore funny.

OK, now, see . . . here’s the thing, is what it is: Why do people post shit that just “strikes them”?

The Internet is a medium of factual exchange, designed for improvement of the world through mass enlightenment by the transfer and dissemination of knowledge. I don’t care so much what kind of knowledge. I believe in serendipity, “connections”, spin-off products, Velcro, Tang – all that shit. It doesn’t bother me that people have Web pages devoted to Beanie Babies, or whatever. It bothers me that they post ignorant shit about Beanie Babies.

Like just the other day. Somehow I stumbled across somebody’s Web page where she posted some cheerful heartwarming stories about the wool socks she was knitting. She also recounted the mass civilian knitting programs sponsored by the War Department in the Civil War and WWII to provide socks to soldiers, and mused about the fact that there are no longer such things. She then remarked on the difficulty of finding non-imported wool, and wondered why there was no US-made wool yarn, because she thought it would be enjoyable to knit with local materials.

Obviously, she was crying out for help. So I helped.

I Googled worldwide wool production figures and provided a link, then posted a detailed comment pointing out that the US is no longer a major wool-producing country, the area of grazing land that would be required to support a sheep population comparable to that of say, Australia’s, and the likely impact on the environment that that would have, as well as the advantages of the manufacturing-based economy that the US had shifted to after the industrial revolution. And I calculated, from her figures, the average output of home knitters during the Civil War (one pair of socks every four days – can you believe that shit!?), and pointed out the ease of acquisition of comparable mass-produced socks for military purposes today.

See, I’m trying to educate a fool here. Because she asked for the information.

Now, this is a blog I don’t normally read, so I would usually just have done my healing work and moved on, but in this case I had absent-mindedly clicked the “e-mail me followups” box on the comment form. (I don’t really care about the followups because, obviously, she simply hadn’t thought about the issue at all, so she has nothing to teach me.)

The next day, I check my e-mail, and I’ve got like a dozen angry responses from what appears to be some sort of quaint Amish kaffeeklatch/knitting biker gang. People who think half-a-sock-per-day is a reasonable output for war planning are calling me “superficial”, “uninformed”, an “ignoramus”, a “bony, fleshy sack of gristle”, and “a monkey with a typewriter in Saipan”. And the original poster – who had openly speculated about matters with a clear basis in fact – then claims she was really just interested that “humans find richness in creating”.

Yeah, well this human finds richness in knowing your goddam shit and in not saying patently stupid stuff about it. I try to create richness by upgrading the lack of knowing of shit by the many, many people in need of my help.

They can’t handle the truth!

So what do I find here? “Amusing incongruity.” Dude, there are data tables stating how many Jews live in Alabama! It doesn’t get funnier than that!

The world needs me. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Whoa! Step away from the caffeine.

In any case, I must be missing your point about the data table, because it demonstrates that Jews in Alabama are far, far less common than, say, African-Americans in the US Senate. Which seems to vindicate my perceived incongruity…

P.S. The internet is a medium for porn. The rest is just window dressing.

I think KTK just jumped the shark…

Personally, I think that whole story is hilarious. But, I also recognize that for the sake of your sanity – cut your standards if you must – but, you gotta get laid SOON.

Well, OK . . . porn goes without saying.

Data tables, and porn.

And yeah, OK: Jews/Alabamans vs. Blacks/Senators – now that’s funny! In part because it involves ratios. Ratios are always funny.

But let us have no “strikings”. What we want are facts.

cut your standards if you must – but, you gotta get laid SOON.

I have standards?

Does being particular about gender count as a “standard?”

Also, the concept of the rhetorical question seems to be lost on certain perpetual graduate students.

That said, the pedant in me cringed at seeing “bony, fleshy sack of gristle,” because it seems to me that “bony” and “fleshy” are mutually exclusive.

^That said

Gristle is basically cartilage, right?

If there’s anything that can be considered both, bony and fleshy, it’s gotta be cartilage, no?

TG, are you sure you mean gender, not sex?

Well actually, the percentage of African-Americans in the Senate compared to the percentage in the US population gives you a proportion that is not far off that of the percentage of Jewish residents of Alabama compared to Jewish residents in US population.

But in any case, the fewer residents=poorer living conditions argument would not jive well with other points one might wish to make, perhaps involving African-Americans in Southern states.

I only bring all of this up because I have seen very little antisemitic sentiment in Alabama, and would have expected the post to contain something on why this scenario is so odd.

Seen on a T-shrt:

LL Readership – Undermining attempts at humor since 2002

digg:

Hear, hear.

Clarence:

The proportion of African-Americans in the Senate is five times higher than the proportion of Jews in Alabama. As for anti-semitism in Alabama, I doubt it’s any more common there than anywhere else in the Deep South. (Then again, you wouldn’t see it much even if it were common, simply because there just aren’t that many Jews there, so there’s not much opportunity to kvetch* about them.)

And of course I’m making vast generalizations, but Alabamans sure did love them some Roy Moore and some Passion of the Christ, etc.

* – Yes, this was another lame attempt at humor, by ironically using a Yiddish word to describe complaining about the Jewish people rather than by them.

“But why do they keep picking places that are literally surrounded on all sides by people who despise them?”

I’m assuming this refers to their current homeland of Israel, which is surrounded by non-Jew-friendly neighbors.

The Jews didn’t merely pick their homeland all willy-nilly, nor was it arbitrarily chosen for them by the brittish. The Jewish history in Israel dates back to several centuries BCE. Jerusalem’s Western Wall (Wailing Wall) was a synogogue. It was first destroyed by the Romans, I believe, around the year 70 CE when they sacked Jerusalem.

Jews were driven out of Israel and the middle east by centuries upon centuries of wars. Some stayed and were masacred, others stayed and fought as long as they could (ahem, Masada?), but eventually they decided that they didn’t want to be killed, and so they fled. In my oppinion, they have just as much of a right as the Arabs to claim Israel as their homeland.

Barbie -

I don’t think folks here need to be told Jews have a history in Palestine. I gather the comment was flip and that T. just found it odd that there is a conscious attempt to establish a Jewish community in rural Alabama. I really think people are making far too much out of far too little here.

BTW, the temple destroyed by the Romans in 70CE was the Second Temple, built to replace the one destroyed in 586BCE. From the way you wrote, I wasn’t sure if you knew that or not so I thought I’d mention it.

Well then, excuse me. Just making sure. Yes, I am aware of the first temple destruction being placed at 586 B.C.E. But that date is based on the bible, and knowing how particular you guys are about your source claims, I figured I go with the latter, more substantiated claim.

“I don’t think folks here need to be told…”
Wow, that’s hubristic.

Barbie:

I’m not talking about whether or not they have a right to be there. I’m talking about whether or not it’s a good idea. Remember, I’m ever the pragmatist. If I discovered that I had a family right, handed down through the centuries, to some primo land in Waziristan, I still wouldn’t go live there. But that’s just me.

Wow, that’s hubristic.

Not exactly. LarryE is a long-time reader and commenter, so he knows us, and he knows that we’re pretty up-to-snuff with our history most of the time. And, he’s absolutely correct that people are taking this shit wayyyyyy to seriously.

Digg:

You say “painfully sincere” like it’s a bad thing.

What would happen if someone had made the same type of comment about blacks moving into neighborhoods where everyone hates them and then said they were only joking,? i have a strong feeling that KTK, tgirsch and LarryE may have a different opinion than they are expressing right now when the joke is relating to Jews.

Just a thought.

Big U:

Be careful what you assume. I named my cat “Snoop Dogg” specifically because he’s a black cat. And only then because my wife wouldn’t let me call him “Jolson.”

Actually, there’s an interesting divide for me on racial humor. Humor that make fun of racism is great; humor that is inherently racist is bad. It’s a fine line, but one I have no trouble with.

BU, could you clarify what you’re thinking here?

Could you give an example of a joke about blacks moving somewhere where they’re hated that we would find insulting to blacks?

Or are you thinking that this is some sort of insult to Alabamans here?

Barbie -

Wow, that’s hubristic

It’s hubristic to say – as I in essence did – that it’s pretty common knowledge that Jews have a history in Palestine? That’s a rather odd understanding of the word.

I am aware of the first temple destruction being placed at 586 B.C.E.

Okay. It was just the way you used the word “first” that made me unsure if you were aware that it was the Second Temple. As for the First Temple, there is some controversy about it among archaeologists, but I was under the impression the big issue was how grand it was, not if it existed at all. Am I wrong about that?

Big U -

Seems to me you’re straining way too hard to find some hint of a non-existent anti-Semitism here. If that’s not what you were trying to do, I have no clue what your comment is supposed to mean.

Tgirsch: it was the use of “pick” that I thought sounded ignorant, so if you didn’t mean to pose that argument, I retract my thusly trite statement. I’ve been in several arguments (face to face) with people who deny that Israel/Palestine was ever a jewish homeland. Then again, here in TX, even in Austin (little blue dot in a sea of red), teh jew is very exotic to most people.

Larry: It wasn’t the scope of knowlege of teh jew that I thought sounded hubristic, it was “the guys here don’t need to be told…” part of the statement. But I wouldn’t put it past myself to imply too much of a certain tone to things I read. My general oppinion is that one will never go broke betting on the stupidity of people. Not that I’m saying I think you guys are stupid. I don’t visit here to troll or be a pain, I visit here out of curiosity, as a former liberal – though I was not nearly as liberal as you all – to get an idea of how you guys break down the issues. I’m very easily bated, if you can’t tell.

WASP neighborhoods! Look, given the history, I can see why black people feel how they do given their history and why they want to be able to move wherever they want. But why do they keep picking places that are literally surrounded on all sides by people who despise them?

There. Changed a few words. Based on what I have read on these boards, there is a significant amount of racism in WASP neighborhoods. Now, based on that presumption, my comment is in line with the opening comment so should be seen as just as “funny”. However I don’t think it will be. Perhaps I will be wrong.

BU,

notwithstanding that the humor side of this all is actually pretty weak (sorry, TG), but i think its entirely true that it’s just as funny. in both cases, the humor is in pointing out how insular, bigotted groups have a history of blaming the result of their bigotry on the victims.

Maybe I misread him, but I think TG was making fun of the Souths reputation for bigotry, not the Jews reputation for being involved in racist wars. Same goes for your modified version: it mocks WASPs for being bigots, not blacks for wanting to move somewhere.

If anything, your analogy suggests support for the Israeli state.

Dan M:

Somebody gets me! Huzzah!