I remember when I was in Middle School, at a time when South Park and Family Guy were very popular, kids were using “Jew” as a casual insult. I was in a very small town in a weird part of the country and to my knowledge there was a single Jewish family in town at the time, and they had a child either in my year or the year below me. And they found out about what the kids were saying and I remember we had several class periods mostly dedicated towards telling kids that antisemitism was wrong. Of course the kids weren’t really being anti Semitic, they were just repeating something they heard everybody else saying. I guess I can’t speak for all my classmates, but at the time I didn’t really know what or who a Jew was. I mean, I knew they were a religious group that were victims of the Holocaust, but even that didn’t mean much to me. Even the Holocaust was just something I’d heard about in passing. I hadn’t yet read any survivors or victims’ accounts, I hadn’t seen any Holocaust films even. Anyway I’m glad my school took the time to say “stop being assholes,”
For the record, I never called anyone a Jew as an insult. At the time I thought it was a cuss and I thought children who cussed got in trouble so I wouldn’t do it.
Of course the kids weren’t really being anti Semitic, they were just repeating something they heard everybody else saying.
And then a decade later, half of the kids calling people "Jew" as a joke had been doing bigotry for laughs so long that they became earnest bigots. Especially after they went online and rubbed shoulders with neo-Nazis who very deliberately use joke bigotry as plausible deniability.
Oh for sure, it’s a slippery slope. Actually, I know at least one guy I was friends with in High School is a genuine antisemite today and I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t know any actual Jewish people.
I don't think it was either of those but I definitely first found out about Jewish people from an American cartoon where they were portrayed very badly.
Tens of millions of South Park and Family Guy fans had never met a Jew in their lives. That was their introduction.
I remember when I was in Middle School, at a time when South Park and Family Guy were very popular, kids were using “Jew” as a casual insult. I was in a very small town in a weird part of the country and to my knowledge there was a single Jewish family in town at the time, and they had a child either in my year or the year below me. And they found out about what the kids were saying and I remember we had several class periods mostly dedicated towards telling kids that antisemitism was wrong. Of course the kids weren’t really being anti Semitic, they were just repeating something they heard everybody else saying. I guess I can’t speak for all my classmates, but at the time I didn’t really know what or who a Jew was. I mean, I knew they were a religious group that were victims of the Holocaust, but even that didn’t mean much to me. Even the Holocaust was just something I’d heard about in passing. I hadn’t yet read any survivors or victims’ accounts, I hadn’t seen any Holocaust films even. Anyway I’m glad my school took the time to say “stop being assholes,”
For the record, I never called anyone a Jew as an insult. At the time I thought it was a cuss and I thought children who cussed got in trouble so I wouldn’t do it.
And then a decade later, half of the kids calling people "Jew" as a joke had been doing bigotry for laughs so long that they became earnest bigots. Especially after they went online and rubbed shoulders with neo-Nazis who very deliberately use joke bigotry as plausible deniability.
Oh for sure, it’s a slippery slope. Actually, I know at least one guy I was friends with in High School is a genuine antisemite today and I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t know any actual Jewish people.
I don't think it was either of those but I definitely first found out about Jewish people from an American cartoon where they were portrayed very badly.