I'm a racist and antisemite

[ahousekeeper]

Well, at least according to some commenters hereThe reason: there was lots of whinning about "Russians taking over LJ", so I replied: "Actually Jews, not Russians", and then the heaven and hell broke on me, especially when I used the words "Italian mafia" and "Irish gangs" to illustrate the difference between the understanding of nationality in

Comments

[ahousekeeper]

Well, the original version is: "I hate racists and Jews" :)

Now we both are dead meat.

[kali921]

As I clarified in the thread that you linked to above, I'd like to retract my initial categorization of you as a racist. I think what we had was one of those cultural misunderstandings that happens on the virtual highways of the internet. You seem to be using "he's a Jew" as a culturally neutral statement, whereas, as I pointed out, that kind of phrasing in an American context can imply some very, very troubling subtext, since it's so often used as a negative statement here by right wing fanatics and/or racists. No matter how sophisticated we think we are in traversing cultural differences in online dialog, sometimes these surprisingly imperfect cultural and linguistic interfaces manifest.

So...hamantaschen and enchiladas as a peace offering? :-)

[ahousekeeper]

I'm fine with a peace treaty, too :)

«Мир, дружба, фестиваль» ©

> So...hamantaschen and enchiladas as a peace offering? :-)
I had to visit Webster again for those: yeah, that's perfect! :)

BTW, LJ announced a party in SF area, I guess that might interest you:
http://news.livejournal.com/104900.html

Gotta go to sleep, it's 2:30AM here. Good night!

[kali921]

Good night! And I often go to the club where that party is being held, so I'm laughing out loud that they picked that for a location. Sleep well!

*feeds you enchiladas and salsa verde*

[ex_viraboff]

Implying a negative meaning from one're remark that one's Jewish, is racist per se, regardless of the national cultural context. This creates a perception that US citizens are all latent anti-semites always ready for a pogrom, circumstances allowing. We all know this is not the case, hence, your statement is logically flawed, and should be retracted altogether as insulting the entire American nation. If one's Jewish or Armenian or Irish, one's exactly that - Jewish, Armenian, or Irish, and no further conclusion should be made about the speaker. In the alternative the critics themselves can be accused of xenophobia. Have I made myself clear enough?

[mojuba]

Не читал всего того треда, но наткнулся на одну неточность у тебя. По-моему nation(ality) означает гражданство во всем мире, кроме Russia-dominated world :) В СССР национальность писалась в паспорте, и она что-то означала. Собственно до сих пор означает. Но во всем остальном мире давно отошли от этого, и nationality означает только твое гражданство, а этническая принадлежность обозначается мягким словом origins или же ethnicity, и формально никого не интересует. Так что выстрел в сторону US-dominated world некорректен, по-моему - это не столько US, сколько здравый смысл ;)

[ahousekeeper]

Блин, ну вы дадите мне лечь спать, а? :)))

Many people are puzzled to learn that I am British by birth, Syrian-Palestinian by nationality, Muslim by faith, and American by upbringing.
Source: http://www.rhodes.edu/about/4147.asp

China is a country accommodating 56 nationalities. Among them, Han nationality is the largest one, taking around 85 percent of China's whole 1.3 billion people, so the other 55 nationalities are always called as minority nationalities, or minorities.
Source: http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/chinatours/aboutchina.htm

Arabs and Chinese that makes more than just "Russia-dominated word", isn't it? :)

[mojuba]

Ok, I give up :) All I wanted to say was, nationality as citizenship is widely accepted in some part of the world, not necessarily US-domintaed, although the idea itself might have originated from there - no clue about the history. The thing is, the idea is very humanistic and anti-racist anyway.

[ahousekeeper]

RE: The "racist" name calling game :)
http://ahousekeeper.livejournal.com/137013.html?thread=1668661#t1668661

[karazorel]

I think some of the conflict came because your use of the word is interpreted differently in a lot of western, especially american, culture