Good morning to all...
In my most recent blog entry, I expressed concern that there was very little response to DeSean Jackson's anti-Semitic postings on Instagram. Worse, some of his friends supported him.
In that entry, I also noted that Mitch Albom had written a lovely article in one of the Detroit newspapers expressing similar concerns. Mitch Albom is Jewish. He went to Brandeis University. In one of his books, he documents time he spent with an aging rabbi, as that rabbi wanted Mr. Albom to write his eulogy. So while it was an appropriate article, I expect Jews to be concerned about anti-Semitism.
There are two other things to note though. They give reason to hope.
1. ViacomCBS ended its relationship with Nick Cannon due to Mr. Cannon's voicing of anti-Semitic beliefs.
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actor ("Game of Death," "Airplane," and many other roles) and former NBA star, wrote a piece in the 'Hollywood Reporter.' In the article, he points out the lack of outrage from Hollywood, as well as from the wide world of sports, to the statements from Mr. Jackson and others. At the end of the article, he writes that "if we're going to be outraged by injustice, let's be outraged by injustice against anyone."
Maybe the pendulum is swinging back. As long as one is not strapped to the table underneath the pendulum*, that is a welcome thing to see.
Have a good day.
R/SCG
* Edgar Allan Poe, "The Pit and the Pendulum"
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Trying Not to Be Cynical....
Good evening everyone...
I am trying not to be cynical. Looking at some of my recent posts, I am worried about becoming expert in finding the cloud in any silver lining. As such, this blog entry has had a delay of several days in publishing.
Several weeks ago, the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints was forced to make several public apologies. His crime? He said that he would "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or (disrespecting) our country." For that, the entire world descended on him. He was told that he does not care enough to fight for justice. He was called ignorant. There was plenty more. Thank God he is now socially sensitive.
The last week has been comparatively quiet, but that should not have been the case. The opprobrium that Mr. Brees suffered at the hands of those who are woke should have been equally loud and equally vicious over the last several days. It was not.
If you blinked, you might have missed it. DeSean Jackson, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, published some significantly anti-Semitic tropes on his Instagram page. He has apologized for his screed, twice. The first apology needed some work. It took ten minutes to find the text of that apology. He said that "when I posted what I posted, I definitely didn't mean it to the extent that you guys took it."
Three questions:
1. To what extent did you intend these statements about Jews?
2. Is there an extent that is acceptable?
3. Why are you blaming the Jewish community for reading too much into quotations that you (incorrectly) attributed to a man who destroyed 1/3 of Jewish Europe, and who, by the way, refused to shake the hand of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin?
Giving credit where credit is due, Mr. Jackson's second apology was much better.
All of that being said, people have lost jobs and reputations over the last few weeks for saying things that are far more benign than this. Why did the woke crowd not descend on Mr. Jackson like they did to so many others? Why was his friend, retired NBA player Stephen Jackson, not castigated for his own remarks in support of DeSean Jackson?
I have worried over the years that I am becoming more and more right-wing in my approach to the world. Maybe, but when the social justice warriors refuse to label anti-Semitism as a hatred no less repugnant than any other hatred, it is hard to miss the double standard. Please note that Mitch Album wrote about this far more eloquently than I can. Here is a link to his article: Mitch Albom.
For the record, as much as it is in my place to forgive Mr. Jackson, I forgive him. He has apologized. He hopes to do better. Let's give him both the chance and the support.
And with that, I add the following: yes, in every respect, Black lives matter. What happened that sparked the current craziness in the US was appalling. But now, I must also add: Jewish lives matter. Women's lives matter. Men's lives matter. Mexican lives matter. Russian lives matter. All lives matter. The failure to call out hatred when it happens to someone else is not social justice. It is merely selective justice, which, in another word, is racism.
Good day everyone.
R/SCG
I am trying not to be cynical. Looking at some of my recent posts, I am worried about becoming expert in finding the cloud in any silver lining. As such, this blog entry has had a delay of several days in publishing.
Several weeks ago, the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints was forced to make several public apologies. His crime? He said that he would "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or (disrespecting) our country." For that, the entire world descended on him. He was told that he does not care enough to fight for justice. He was called ignorant. There was plenty more. Thank God he is now socially sensitive.
The last week has been comparatively quiet, but that should not have been the case. The opprobrium that Mr. Brees suffered at the hands of those who are woke should have been equally loud and equally vicious over the last several days. It was not.
If you blinked, you might have missed it. DeSean Jackson, wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, published some significantly anti-Semitic tropes on his Instagram page. He has apologized for his screed, twice. The first apology needed some work. It took ten minutes to find the text of that apology. He said that "when I posted what I posted, I definitely didn't mean it to the extent that you guys took it."
Three questions:
1. To what extent did you intend these statements about Jews?
2. Is there an extent that is acceptable?
3. Why are you blaming the Jewish community for reading too much into quotations that you (incorrectly) attributed to a man who destroyed 1/3 of Jewish Europe, and who, by the way, refused to shake the hand of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin?
Giving credit where credit is due, Mr. Jackson's second apology was much better.
All of that being said, people have lost jobs and reputations over the last few weeks for saying things that are far more benign than this. Why did the woke crowd not descend on Mr. Jackson like they did to so many others? Why was his friend, retired NBA player Stephen Jackson, not castigated for his own remarks in support of DeSean Jackson?
I have worried over the years that I am becoming more and more right-wing in my approach to the world. Maybe, but when the social justice warriors refuse to label anti-Semitism as a hatred no less repugnant than any other hatred, it is hard to miss the double standard. Please note that Mitch Album wrote about this far more eloquently than I can. Here is a link to his article: Mitch Albom.
For the record, as much as it is in my place to forgive Mr. Jackson, I forgive him. He has apologized. He hopes to do better. Let's give him both the chance and the support.
And with that, I add the following: yes, in every respect, Black lives matter. What happened that sparked the current craziness in the US was appalling. But now, I must also add: Jewish lives matter. Women's lives matter. Men's lives matter. Mexican lives matter. Russian lives matter. All lives matter. The failure to call out hatred when it happens to someone else is not social justice. It is merely selective justice, which, in another word, is racism.
Good day everyone.
R/SCG
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
When Enough Is Enough...
Good evening everyone....
You may remember that back in May, a woman in Central Park called the police on a black man who was bird-watching. He had asked her to keep her dog on a leash, in accordance with posted signage.
This turned into a whole big mess. The woman lost her job. She temporarily lost her dog. This week, the DA in NYC filed charges against her for falsely reporting an incident.
Mr. Christian Cooper, the gentleman who was the victim of her racist tirade, publicly forgave her soon after the incident. Today, the New York Post reported that he has refused to cooperate with the DA in the investigation.
"She's already paid a steep price."
Mr. Cooper, thank you. Thank you for taking a public stance about forgiveness in a world that seems to have lost that ability.
Have a good evening everyone.
R/SCG
You may remember that back in May, a woman in Central Park called the police on a black man who was bird-watching. He had asked her to keep her dog on a leash, in accordance with posted signage.
This turned into a whole big mess. The woman lost her job. She temporarily lost her dog. This week, the DA in NYC filed charges against her for falsely reporting an incident.
Mr. Christian Cooper, the gentleman who was the victim of her racist tirade, publicly forgave her soon after the incident. Today, the New York Post reported that he has refused to cooperate with the DA in the investigation.
"She's already paid a steep price."
Mr. Cooper, thank you. Thank you for taking a public stance about forgiveness in a world that seems to have lost that ability.
Have a good evening everyone.
R/SCG
Monday, July 6, 2020
When Does It End?
Top of the evening to all...
Jewish Law forbids bowing down to statues. I wonder if the vandals who keep toppling statues everywhere realize that they are helping to avoid the challenges of idolatry.
The latest...
A statue of Frederick Douglass was toppled damaged beyond repair in Rochester. Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave. He spoke eloquently at the 1848 Seneca Falls convention for women's suffrage, believing that he could not advocate for his own suffrage without advocating for others. I do not get this one.
They also got the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Written on the statue was "racist fish." One wonders who the target of that graffiti might have been. That was English. It would have been "racistiske fisk" in Danish, if google translate is correct.
Given the destruction of one and the damaging of the other, I have realized that other statues and monuments must go the way of the world.
We go then from Copenhagen to Brussels. In the town centre, there is a statue called "Manneken Pis." It is a statue of a small child answering the call of nature. This statue is glaring sexism. Men do not have to wait in long lines to go to the washroom. It must go.
Michelangelo's "David" must go, as it is anatomically incorrect.
In the Boston Public Garden, there is a statue of a mother duck and her ducklings. The statue comes from the story "Make Way for Ducklings." The statue must go, as it points to the absolute lie that the police could ever be so nice. By the way, I would like to add in that the statue and the story are both sexist. Ducks mate for life. Where is the father? Something is a-fowl here.
The legend (probably not right) of the naming of the city of Buffalo is that it got its name from French explorers. Upon seeing the Niagara River, they exclaimed "what a beautiful river!" They would have said that in French though - "quel beau fleuve!" Say 'beau fleuve' a few times. It probably did not happen, but since a statue was defaced with the words "probably racist" thereupon, we need to rename the city just in case. Explorers were horrible to indigenous populations.
We must also rename the Nobel Prize. While it is named in fact for the man who first endowed it, that man did extensive work in military-grade explosives. His sins in creating weapons of war far outweigh the utter change of heart based on a newspaper mistake.
Please note: some of what is written above is tongue-in-cheek.
There are no perfect people. If the only people we wish to honour in our statues, our currency, our stamps, and our building names must all have been perfect, then we will remember nothing about our past. Demanding perfection will only leave us in a void, unable to build a future due to lacking a past.
I support having statues of imperfect people. I would even like to consider a statue that is quite out of the ordinary. A statue of Mikhail Kalishnikov would be appropriate. In his closing years, he wrote a letter to the Russian Patriarch: "I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed other people's lives, then can it be that I, a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?" That is a man whom we should consider. He was accomplished, and troubled by his accomplishments. He struggled. That is real. That is human. And that is coming to terms with the imperfection of humanity.
Have a good evening.
R/SCG
Jewish Law forbids bowing down to statues. I wonder if the vandals who keep toppling statues everywhere realize that they are helping to avoid the challenges of idolatry.
The latest...
A statue of Frederick Douglass was toppled damaged beyond repair in Rochester. Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave. He spoke eloquently at the 1848 Seneca Falls convention for women's suffrage, believing that he could not advocate for his own suffrage without advocating for others. I do not get this one.
They also got the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. Written on the statue was "racist fish." One wonders who the target of that graffiti might have been. That was English. It would have been "racistiske fisk" in Danish, if google translate is correct.
Given the destruction of one and the damaging of the other, I have realized that other statues and monuments must go the way of the world.
We go then from Copenhagen to Brussels. In the town centre, there is a statue called "Manneken Pis." It is a statue of a small child answering the call of nature. This statue is glaring sexism. Men do not have to wait in long lines to go to the washroom. It must go.
Michelangelo's "David" must go, as it is anatomically incorrect.
In the Boston Public Garden, there is a statue of a mother duck and her ducklings. The statue comes from the story "Make Way for Ducklings." The statue must go, as it points to the absolute lie that the police could ever be so nice. By the way, I would like to add in that the statue and the story are both sexist. Ducks mate for life. Where is the father? Something is a-fowl here.
The legend (probably not right) of the naming of the city of Buffalo is that it got its name from French explorers. Upon seeing the Niagara River, they exclaimed "what a beautiful river!" They would have said that in French though - "quel beau fleuve!" Say 'beau fleuve' a few times. It probably did not happen, but since a statue was defaced with the words "probably racist" thereupon, we need to rename the city just in case. Explorers were horrible to indigenous populations.
We must also rename the Nobel Prize. While it is named in fact for the man who first endowed it, that man did extensive work in military-grade explosives. His sins in creating weapons of war far outweigh the utter change of heart based on a newspaper mistake.
Please note: some of what is written above is tongue-in-cheek.
There are no perfect people. If the only people we wish to honour in our statues, our currency, our stamps, and our building names must all have been perfect, then we will remember nothing about our past. Demanding perfection will only leave us in a void, unable to build a future due to lacking a past.
I support having statues of imperfect people. I would even like to consider a statue that is quite out of the ordinary. A statue of Mikhail Kalishnikov would be appropriate. In his closing years, he wrote a letter to the Russian Patriarch: "I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed other people's lives, then can it be that I, a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?" That is a man whom we should consider. He was accomplished, and troubled by his accomplishments. He struggled. That is real. That is human. And that is coming to terms with the imperfection of humanity.
Have a good evening.
R/SCG
הא גופא קשיא...
Top of the afternoon folks...
The phrase in the title is a common phrase from the Talmud. It means that there is some sort of contradiction between two or more statements.
That was one possible title to this blog entry. The other was going to say something disparaging about the mayor of New York City. We have had enough disparagement over the last several weeks.
Instead of disparagement, I will refer to articles I have read. I will then ask pertinent (or perhaps impertinent) questions.
The contradiction to which I refer is in the New York Post.
Part A:
1."My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."
2. Referring to the rising number of shootings in New York City, the shootings "were directly related to all the dislocation we've seen over the last four months," and "people have been pent up for months and months."
Part B:
1. The Supreme Court of the State of New York said that it was unconstitutional for the state to permit outdoor gatherings of up to 150 people while limiting outdoor religious services to 25.
2. In order to respond to the increase in shootings, "of course, it's going to take neighbourhood policing" and efforts of "the clergy."
Uhhhh, Mr. Mayor, it seems you should check your statements against your other statements before speaking. If I may....
1. You told the Jewish community not to gather (while actively encouraging protestors, but that is another issue).
2. The State tried not to allow minyan, mass, and the like.
If I may ask, precisely what efforts of the clergy did you have in mind when the state seems hell-bent on denying my colleagues full use of their pulpits and you seem hell-bent on criticizing congregations that meet?
If I may ask, where exactly did the clergy fail in responding to everyone being pent up? My colleagues did not make that decision. We have been doing our best in a bad situation. We would respond to suggestions from city leadership, if there were any. Furthermore, if the failures are not those of the clergy, can you please explain clergy's role in clean-up? There is a role, and I am sure that I can articulate it. I want to know if you can.
If I may ask, since New York City's most recent budget eliminates more than $1,000,000,000 from NYPD's operating expenses, and since that budget eliminates two classes of recruits, and since the utter lack of support from City Hall leaves NYPD paralyzed and short-staffed, where do you anticipate finding the people for neighbourhood policing? In answering that question, you may also wish to address the spate of NYPD retirements as a result of the violence and lack of support.
May the best of the day be yours.
R/SCG
The phrase in the title is a common phrase from the Talmud. It means that there is some sort of contradiction between two or more statements.
That was one possible title to this blog entry. The other was going to say something disparaging about the mayor of New York City. We have had enough disparagement over the last several weeks.
Instead of disparagement, I will refer to articles I have read. I will then ask pertinent (or perhaps impertinent) questions.
The contradiction to which I refer is in the New York Post.
Part A:
1."My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."
Mayor Bill de Blasio, April 29, 2020
2. Referring to the rising number of shootings in New York City, the shootings "were directly related to all the dislocation we've seen over the last four months," and "people have been pent up for months and months."
Mayor Bill de Blasio, July 6, 2020
Part B:
1. The Supreme Court of the State of New York said that it was unconstitutional for the state to permit outdoor gatherings of up to 150 people while limiting outdoor religious services to 25.
2. In order to respond to the increase in shootings, "of course, it's going to take neighbourhood policing" and efforts of "the clergy."
Mayor Bill de Blasio, July 6, 2020
Uhhhh, Mr. Mayor, it seems you should check your statements against your other statements before speaking. If I may....
1. You told the Jewish community not to gather (while actively encouraging protestors, but that is another issue).
2. The State tried not to allow minyan, mass, and the like.
If I may ask, precisely what efforts of the clergy did you have in mind when the state seems hell-bent on denying my colleagues full use of their pulpits and you seem hell-bent on criticizing congregations that meet?
If I may ask, where exactly did the clergy fail in responding to everyone being pent up? My colleagues did not make that decision. We have been doing our best in a bad situation. We would respond to suggestions from city leadership, if there were any. Furthermore, if the failures are not those of the clergy, can you please explain clergy's role in clean-up? There is a role, and I am sure that I can articulate it. I want to know if you can.
If I may ask, since New York City's most recent budget eliminates more than $1,000,000,000 from NYPD's operating expenses, and since that budget eliminates two classes of recruits, and since the utter lack of support from City Hall leaves NYPD paralyzed and short-staffed, where do you anticipate finding the people for neighbourhood policing? In answering that question, you may also wish to address the spate of NYPD retirements as a result of the violence and lack of support.
May the best of the day be yours.
R/SCG
Sunday, July 5, 2020
Cheap Laughs....
Top of the evening everyone.
Those of you who have been in my office know my little brown coffee pot. I have had that little coffee pot longer than I have had my children. It lived in the apartment that my student pulpit maintained. It has lived in five offices. That little coffee pot was a gift from a coffee company for starting to get my coffee delivered. More than 20 years later, it still makes a great cup of coffee. It was used this morning.
It is to this morning's events that I dedicate this blog entry. First, a picture of the coffee pot...
Those of you who have been in my office know my little brown coffee pot. I have had that little coffee pot longer than I have had my children. It lived in the apartment that my student pulpit maintained. It has lived in five offices. That little coffee pot was a gift from a coffee company for starting to get my coffee delivered. More than 20 years later, it still makes a great cup of coffee. It was used this morning.
It is to this morning's events that I dedicate this blog entry. First, a picture of the coffee pot...
Take note. If one wishes to fill the back part with water to make the coffee, one must open it from the left side of the pot. Then, one pours in the water holding the carafe in one's left hand. As a lefty, this is a dream. Come to think of it, not only is it a dream. It is such a dream that for years it never dawned on me that this particular pot was a left-handed pot.
My medium child wanted to make a cup of coffee this morning. He is decidedly right-handed. He is also very scientific, such that he is the total killjoy on the literary and theatrical journeys my other two children will take at the kitchen table. "That would never work because (insert scientific claptrap here)." It was thus quite the laugh watching him try to figure out how to open the top. He finally figured it out. Then, rather than pour the water with his left hand, he turned the pot so that he could pour with his right hand.
Having lived in a world that is designed decidedly for the right-handed, it is nice to realize that every once in a while, something is there for us lefties. It is also nice to enjoy the cheap laugh as my otherwise-brilliant son could not figure it out.
Have a good evening everyone.
R/SCG
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