the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

Tag: PC

Sorry, Jews: My First Retraction (Sort of)

jews2.jpg

After receiving numerous angry emails from fellow Jews, I feel a little bit like Philip Roth after writing about Jews masturbating in "Goodbye Columbus."  So, like a Supreme Court nominee, I feel it is important to clarify myself after writing my last post.

1)  I’m not really tired of other Jews.  I love Jews.  Sophia is Jewish.  My mother is Jewish.  Brooke, my long-time fantasy woman is Jewish, although she has yet to date a Jewish man.  Time will tell.

2)  I think Akaky had it right when he commented:

"Take advantage of your new ethnic hipness before the focus shifts to Armenians or Eskimoes or dyslexic Dravidian dwarves and being Jewish becomes so yesterday’s news."

Sophia, who loved the post, still said, "Neil, you are the schmendrik.  Better to be trendy and loved than hated, chased by Cossacks or Muslim fanatics."

3)  I actually think it is good that Walmart has its employees say "Happy Holidays" to its customers.  I don’t really want anyone saying "Merry Christmas" to me.  But if they do, I won’t drop dead on the spot.  But does it hurt you Christians so much to say, "Happy Holidays?"  We appreciate it.    Believe me, saying "Happy Holidays" isn’t the reason that Christmas has become such an overly commercialized, irreligious farce of a holiday.  Blame the retailers like Macy’s and the Gap and FAO Schwartz, all owned by…. uh, let’s move on…

4)  Recently I was quoted on this site.  It pretty much says what I believe:

Frankly, I think one of the things that makes our country so great is that the majority religion has tried so hard to make minorities feel comfortable. Where else have Jews and others been made to feel as equals and as comfortable with Christian holidays? Certainly not in many European countries where you are considered Jewish first, then a citizen of that country.

New York is not the rest of the country. I think it would be nice to bring back some of the religiosity to Christmas in big cities, so it isn’t such a consumerized holiday. Thank you, Christians, for being so good to the rest of us. You can now celebrate Christmas a little more openly.

However, things are different in smaller cities and towns around the country. Those places have a habit of mixing up religion and public policy. It is places like those where I don’t think it appropriate for the public sector to promote religion symbolism and ideology.

I think it is perfectly fine to have your friends and co-workers wish you a "Merry Christmas."  What’s the big deal?   But a "public" store like Walmart isn’t really the place  for religious exclusiveness.  And is Christmas in such trouble that it needs Walmart to save it? 

5)  I’m not into political correctness, but that doesn’t mean everyone should act like an asshole.  Unlike whatever Bill O’Reilly feels, I’m all for going all out with trying to respect minorities.  Christmas is not "under siege."  Look outside your window.  Christmas decorations were up five minutes after Thanksgiving.  Talk about shoving it in people’s face.  Sorry, but you’re the fucking majority and it’s up to you to be nice.  When the world is taken over by the billions of Chinese — and it will happen — let’s hope they respect us Americans as the minority.  (see Planet of the Apes for an example of what happens when the tables are turned).  Isn’t the whole point of the Judeo-Christian ethos to do unto others…

6)  Attacking political correctness has become so rampant that I firmly believe the MOST politically incorrect thing to do today is to defend it.  I had a long email conversation with Anne about whether Sarah Silverman is funny.  We both agree that she is.  But she is a professional comedian with a clever wit.  My fear is that every asshole will now think it is cool to tell slavery and Holocaust jokes at the dinner table and think they are the best thing since sliced challah.  I have a fear that everyone will laugh, not wanting to appear unhip, and the one who says that it isn’t funny will appear like a stick-in-the-mud. 

Sometimes, a little political correctness — when it doesn’t become the ruling party itself — can be good.

It’s weird that I use Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Silverman in the same sentence, but they are both talented entertainers making big money by saying outlandish things for people to blog about.   But in the real world, it is nice for people to say "Happy Holidays" and wrong to make racist jokes.  

Of course, as a high-paid blogger, I include myself as someone who can say whatever he wants without consequence.

7)  And finally, I’d like to apologize publicly to big-time blogger Andrew Krukoff.  I’m still not sure who you are, but congratulations on becoming a man.

Today on Blogebrity:  How to Tell if Your Cowboy is Gay  (about not only but also)

Sophia vs. Lavalife

fight.jpg

Whenever a couple separates, it is inevitable that one of them is going to take a stab a dating again.  Sophia went to bat first.  She decided to try her luck this weekend on Lavalife, famed for its slogan, “Where Singles Click.” 

Now, Sophia is flamboyant, not only in real life, but in her writing.  She has a literary bent and wasn’t happy just writing a boring ol’  profile.  Instead, at the end of her profile, she wanted to add a tongue in cheek item that I once used for a post a couple of months ago.   Actually, I stole it from her.

Over 15,000 men responded to this sexy personal ad in an Atlanta newspaper:

“SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I’m a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I’ll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-xxxx and ask for Daisy. I’ll be waiting…”

They found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8 week old black labrador retriever!

Sophia submitted the profile.  A little while later, she received an email saying that her profile had been rejected.  Why?  Because she had written that it was a single BLACK female, and someone from the African-American community might be offended. 

Sophia thought this was silly, but took out the word “black” and resubmitted the profile.  

A few minutes later, she received another email.   Sophia had been rejected again.   This time it was because Sophia used the name “Daisy.”  Lavalife’s rationale:  someone on Lavalife who is named “Daisy” might be insulted by being compared to a dog.

Sophia took out the name “Daisy.”  The “single black female” item was getting less and less funny, but Sophia is not the type to give up easily.  She resubmitted the profile.  Here’s what the humorous item looked like now. 

Over 15,000 men responded to this sexy personal ad in an Atlanta newspaper:

SINGLE FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I’m a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I’ll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-xxxx and ask for me. I’ll be waiting…

They found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8 week old labrador retriever!

It is rejected again. 

“Thank you for your email.  We have read your profile and see that it was rejected as you mentioned the Atlanta Humane Society in your profile. It seem a bit too specific.”

Sophia emailed a supervisor.  The supervisor suggested that Sophia send the profile to her office directly.  Sophia deleted any mention of Atlanta and emailed it off.   The humorous item now ended like this:

They found themselves talking to the local Humane Society about an 8 week old labrador retriever!

The supervisor sent back an email stating that Sophia cannot mention the Humane Society at all because they are a real organization and they might be offended.

Sophia called me up and we both took a look at the Lavalife site.   We saw photos of naked women.  We saw photos of men showing their erections.  We saw posts about how a guy “will fuck a woman’s brains out.”  This was OK, but it wasn’t OK to tell this stupid joke about Daisy, the black labrador retriever.

Sophia wrote to the Lavalife again.   Lavalife responded:

“Please make the necessary changes to your profiles as soon as possible as this can cause your account to be suspended or removed from the site.”

Sophia finally gave up with this item, but being the creative type, she decided to go for something else — a benign light-hearted quote at the end of the profile:

John McEnroe once said to a woman he was instructing: “Lady, sometimes you just have to stick your racquet out and good things will happen.”

As Sophia emailed Lavalife for the final time, she spoke to me on the phone.

“If this is what online dating is all about, I might just have to get back together with you.”

Just then, Sophia got an email from Lavalife:

“The profile was rejected as your stated the name John McEnroe.

We appreciate that this may not be a real name, it could however,identify someone whose real name it is. So if you could select another nickname that follows this guideline, we can approve that for you. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial