UPDATE — Here’s the REAL scandal:
And there is enormous pressure to do as little as possible in terms of original content, and original research.
That’s simply the reality of the newsroom and my chief complaint about journalism professors is how distant they are from a real newsroom (or, even any newsroom at all, one admitted to me he had only spent 6 months as a reporter 20 years ago). …
(My ORIGINAL POST follows):
“I’m okay making people feel uncomfortable about some topics, but not this one.”
So what in the world did he write, you ask?
His original post begins:
“Citizens in Britain were startled recently when a religious-studies exam featured the question, ‘why do some people hate Jews?’
“The question was immediately blasted as inappropriate and quickly withdrawn.
“But it’s an interesting and important question.”
***
Well, duh. I thought that was a fairly commonplace puzzle:
Why has such a tiny (and frankly, smart, creative and productive) group of people inspired such rabid and frequently fatal loathing for thousands of years?
(The obvious answer lies between those parenthesis above.)
But of course, I’m borderline Aspergers and don’t understand the fuss about any question.
Words are just words, after all, and truth is the most important thing, no?
I often forget the basic fact that most people are stupider than I am.
So from what I can make out, many many people didn’t want Blodget to ask this question (even though it has been asked by hundreds of people for thousands of years.)
However, along with his lengthy apology for daring to do so, his equally apologetic “Note”s and “Updates” to the post are now both longer than the “offensive” original, and unintentionally hilarious.
Honestly, I hate to indulge in such cliches, but satire really has become impossible…
NOTE: The original photo in this post was of a couple of jovial Orthodox Jews, one of whom was wearing a traditional hat.
Some readers found that needlessly provocative. One suggested I replace it with a picture of Natalie Portman. So I have.
NOTE 2: The original title of this post was “Why Do People Hate Jews?” That made a lot of people angry. Folks seem more comfortable with the current title, which, admittedly, is less direct. So I changed it.
UPDATE: Now I see why Britain was startled when this question appeared on that religious-studies exam. Apparently, it’s not a question you’re supposed to ask.
***
Great job, everybody, helping destroy those old stereotypes about “clannishness” and “controlling the media”!
UPDATE:
