Borderline antisemitism [follow-up] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The ADL press release didn't include the full Limbaugh quote, which is
as follows:

"Look, folks, there are a lot of people who when you say "banker,"
people think "Jewish."  People who have prejudice is the best way to put
it. They have a little prejudice about them. So for some people,
"banker" is code word for "Jewish," and guess who Obama's assaulting?
He's assaulting bankers.  He's assaulting money people, and a lot of
those people on Wall Street are Jewish.  So I wonder if there's starting
to be some buyer's remorse there."

Limbaugh is making it clear that the association between Jews and
bankers is a sign of prejudice, and he is talking about prejudiced
people.

While the rest of the quote may be dumb, for the ADL to extract it from
context was a mistake.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Victor Steinbok
> Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 9:04 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Borderline antisemitism [follow-up]
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Borderline antisemitism [follow-up]
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Politico posted a story reflecting an underlying ADL report slamming
> Rush Limbaugh for "borderline antisemitism", but the link provided
> appears to lead to a different page, so the official ADL statement
will
> likely appear later. Still, this is worth bringing into the discussion
> of the Harry Reid "Negro dialect" comment (not racism) and TZ
> (ignorance).
>
> Here's the original Rush Limbaugh quote that was highlighted.
>
> http://bit.ly/8aPKQV
> > To some people, banker is a code word for Jewish; and guess who
Obama
> > is assaulting? He's assaulting bankers. He's assaulting money
people.
> > And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if
> > there's - if there's starting to be some buyer's remorse there.
>
> Abe Foxman's response:
> > Limbaugh's references to Jews and money in a discussion of
> > Massachusetts politics were offensive and inappropriate. While the
> > age-old stereotype about Jews and money has a long and sordid
> history,
> > it also remains one of the main pillars of anti-Semitism and is
> widely
> > accepted by many Americans. His notion that Jews vote based on their
> > religion, rather than on their interests as Americans, plays into
the
> > hands of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.
>
> Personally, I don't think there is anything borderline about this--the
> statement is not based on ignorance or some kind of verbal confusion.
> The intent is quite clear even if the language does not contain any
> specifically offensive words or phrases. In contrast, some patently
> offensive language could be inadvertently used in a benign
> context--largely out of ignorance. Then there are blends--Harry Reid
> used somewhat archaic phrasing that caused an interesting
overreaction,
> while TZ risked offense for the sake of expressing his ignorance,
> contempt and sarcasm all at once.
>
> There is no deeper point here--just an observation that there has to
be
> one.
>
> VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org