Defending Rabbi Lapin
Tom Paine at Silent Running is highly critical of Rabbi Daniel Lapin's recent anti-Hollywood rant. Apparently, Rabbi Lapin complained that some Jews in Hollywood have produced movies that resemble antisemitic stereotypes. Calling attention to that problem appears to be a no-no in some quarters.
The rant was inspired by Meet the Fockers. I've been informed that this movie is not only tasteless (which is forgivable) but the tastelessness was portrayed as being connected to Judaism. In the absence of that characteristic, we should merely ignore the movie. Given the attempt at connecting the tasteless behavior to Judaism, people will think of antisemitic stereotypes anyway, and this way Rabbi Lapin can point to the lack of connection to real Judaism.
Besides, we can't complain about the reluctance of Muslims to denounce their jerks if we ignore ours.
Addendum: Organic Fertilizer! It looks like real antisemites have discovered this.
1 Comments:
Interesting, thoughtful article.
And Woody at his worst was breathtakingly hostile to Judaism. One need only recall how many of Woody’s films portray Jews, not to mention rabbis, as loathsome liars, desperate psychotics, pathetic perverts, and ridiculously lecherous losers.Actually, Woody at his worst was breathtakingly hostile to just about everyone. I think his worst depictions of Jews are simply accurate depictions of the crowd he hung out with. I wonder if the same kind of projection isn't responsible for the things Rabbi Lapin talks about.
I'm guessing that part of the fix genuinely religious Jews find themselves in comes from the fact that Jewishness is seen both a religion and an ethnicity. There really isn't such a thing as an ethnic Mormon, which makes it tough for a Mormon to riducule Mormonism and still be viewed as a Mormon. Instead, he is seen for what he is - an ex-Mormon with an axe to grind. It's too bad that ethnic Jews can get away with being antisemitic bigots with an axe to grind.
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