Openly Jewish man in London

Taser the coont.

 

That's your answer to almost every situation

 

Fookin reet

 

OK you've asked for it, here's another of Smug's stories from the olden days

I'm working on the door at Rock City Nottingham and the head doorman, Dale, has been to the US to meet some of his gangster mates. He smuggles back something we'd never even heard of called 'Tasers'. He thinks they're just what we need if there's a major incident.

So we're in the foyer of the club, before 'doors open' for the U2/Simple Minds gig having the 'pre match' team talk. Dale brings out these tasers and we all want to know how they work. He hands out one each to each pair (We always worked with a regular partner.) and asks us to taser each other in turn. So each pair tasers the other and we both drop to the floor.

It ends up with all eighteen of us writhing around on the floor having been electrocuted ...

... as we drag ourselves up we look outside the doors at the huge queue for the gig.

Never has the phrase 'open mouthed' been more appropriate

 

Aye, yer not allowed any fun these days

 

Have to say the term openly Jewish is incredibly worrying, the police was likely doing the right thing but communicated terribly.

 

I initially had some sympathy for the Jewish bloke, but come on, by complete coincidence he's the head of a political Jewish organisation which is pro-Zionist and anti-Palestinian. So it's bollocks that he was innocently walking home from the synagogue, he deliberately went there to create the situation.

The reason Sunak - and if Starmer was PM he would have done the same - has stuck his oar in is because Britain is an ally of Israel and doesn't like the pro-Palestinian marches. Right from the start of the marches the Tories (and the Labour leadership) have been looking for excuses to brand the marchers extremist, violent, racist, etc., when they are not.

An absolute loads of bollocks given one of the main organisers of the marchers is Jewish and there is always a Jewish block on the march. Not all Jewish people support Israel. To oppose Israel is not to be anti-Semitic, in the same way if you hated apartheid South Africa you weren't anti-white, but the Israeli government always trots out this tired boring old line.

 

Just a question but why is the term worrying was this man trying to hide that he was Jewish ??? No he was happy for people to know he was Jewish so there is nothing wrong with the officers terminology. Did the officer say openly Jewish in a spiteful or hateful manner or with disgust or venom in his voice! no there fore he used the term openly Jewish as a descriptive of the man and not as a hateful or angry slur.
I get annoyed at people for this perception that words are wrong it is the motive or meaning behind the words that are wrong.
As an example, my 8 year old grandson got in trouble at school for describing his friend as black (they are very good friends and play together regularly) as the teacher asked him who he was playing with at break and my grandson replied Kyle and the teacher asked which Kyle as there were 2 in the class. That is when he said the black one.
My daughter got called to the school because the teacher had said my grandson was using inappropriate racial language and the teacher had said he should have used the word coloured. She told me the story and I was incensed because all Oska did was describe his friend. There are too many people out there trying to sound right by putting other people down for what they perceive are mistakes or injustices. As it turns out the little black lad's father turned up at the school as well and declares that he has no problem with Oska and that kids say what they see and he told the school that he tells his son to be proud of who he is and also told them not to use the term coloured as he finds that term offensive as we are all coloured people.
In short the officer has done nothing wrong apart from trying to stop a situation from escalating !!

 

I studied English at Uni with modules in creative writing, went into copywriting as a young man and am currently working on my second novel. I feel like I have a decent understanding where words and the power behind them are concerned.

I'm talking about the sentiment behind the phrase openly Jewish. I get what you are saying with your grandkid and his use of Black as a descriptor but its actually not the use of "Jewish" I find problematic.

"Openly Jewish", in the context it was used, to me suggests it would be fine if he was secretly Jewish.

That's just not something the policeman should have said. It's incredibly loaded and of course people are going to take offence.

As I said, I feel like the policeman was indeed doing the right thing but I disagree that he's done nothing wrong. I maintain what he said was badly worded and I'm completely not surprised offence was taken to it, though I myself take no offence to it.

It's not a black and white matter and I'm not condemning either side of the argument, there's far too much nuance to definitively state one was right and one was wrong.

But "Openly Jewish" was a really foolish choice of words.

 

I agree and disagree at the same time, the officer was in a potentially hostile situation and dealing with a man who had decided to be antagonistic to the point it may have put himself or the officers in danger. He used the term openly Jewish to describe the man in front of him as he was dressed and spoke with a Jewish accent and wore common Jewish clothing so in context was openly Jewish, the officer was trying to point out that in this situation he was informing the man that in this instance that could cause problems. If everybody had to stop and choose words as carefully as some people would like especially in pressure situations like this then I am afraid we are all doomed. No malice or hatred was meant and as such there should not even be a discussion about it. We are only discussing it because of some ill conceived notion of injustice which IMO did not exist in this instance and is being created to help push a different agenda and take away the fact that the Jewish man was trying to put himself and others in possible danger. Whatever his motivation he was trying to elicit conflict and now people are playing the anti Semitism card to deflect from this mans obvious actions.
I still find it hard to think why the term openly Jewish should cause offence, the man had a Jewish accent and was dressed in a Kippah (I think that is what they are called) which is a traditional head piece so to all intents and purposes was openly Jewish so maybe I am getting a bit old but I do not see a problem here. If somebody were to call me openly British I would not be offended.

 

Completely understand that and like I say, I'm not offended in the slightest but you and I don't get to decide what offends people.

And if matters and words aren't handled sensitively you're going to get a whole lot of idiots coming out the woodwork saying they've been mistreated when realistically it's just not the case.

The entire thing was avoidable is all.

 

I think the issue is that describing someone as being "openly" anything carries negative connotations. Being "openly homophobic", "openly anti-semitic", "openly hostile" are all criticisms and also suggest that if you feel that way, you should at the very least hide it. "Openly" is rarely, if ever, used in a positive sense. You wouldn't describe someone as "openly kind", you'd just say they were kind.

That leaves the door open for people to claim that "openly jewish" is a negative, even though it is unlikely that the policeman meant it as a negative.

The policeman was under pressure and his choice of words was clumsy. He was, however, without doubt doing the right thing and trying to prevent an escalation. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people are desperate to be offended and any clumsy turn of phrase or use of the wrong terminology in the heat of the moment will be leapt on.

 

Good post.

 

Rubbish!

 

There are far too many people around now who decide what offends others....even if the others aren't actually offended.
The only avoidable thing here is if the Jewish lad never turned up.

 

Spot on.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think that people should put thought into what they say and attempt to be considerate of other people as far as is possible. What I object to is the weaponisation of their offence in the name of being 'kind'.

Kind would be understanding that the policeman in question was just trying to do his job and didn't intend any offence through his choice of words. Equally, though we can't have a situation where British citizens feel they can't go about their daily business wearing the symbols of their faith.

No one comes out of this situation a winner.

 

Is it?

 

I think what the Policeman was saying is that others would instantly recognise his presence in the vicinity, which they may see as provocational,potentially leading to some disorder.
The analogy has already been drawn on here. If I was to walk down Grey Street in my Sunderland shirt before a match against the Mags, I could be apprehended by Northumbria's finest who would request I leave on the grounds that I am "openly Sunderland",in an attempt to avert the inevitable trouble. I could say I was only there to do a bit of shopping,but it would be completely understandable for the Police to want to remove me from the scene. They would only be doing their job.

 

I think it’s a lot more pleasant than, you look like a typical Jew.