On Tuesday, Vice President Joseph Biden referred to those who make bad loans to members of the military, to take advantage of them while they’re overseas, as “Shylocks.”...
The word “shylock,” which has been used to refer to loan sharks, is an eponym from a Jewish character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Jewish Americans have publicly challenged the portrayal as an insult to Jews for more than 50 years, according to a review of TIME’s archive, even as it remained a fixture of the modern lexicon. Today, “shylock” is considered an antisemitic slur and, after being called out by the Anti-Defamation League, Biden apologized for his “poor choice of words.”
But the vice president’s apology has confused some — perhaps because the term was, not too long ago, considered by many to be appropriate for public usage.
A quick survey of TIME’s archives reveals 119 articles that use the word. Many of those are articles about The Merchant of Venice and Philip Roth’s book Operation Shylock — but the last time it was used casually, without reference to the character, was in a 1977 story about the mafia: “A new soldier starts at the bottom, breaking in as a senior thug’s driver, bodyguard or shylock debt collector.”
Go back further and the references begin to increase in volume. Until the 1950s, it was not uncommon to see a reference to “Uncle Shylock” when the U.S. government was judged to be stingy....
The OED has an entry for "Shylock." Definition: "Allusively. An extortionate usurer. Also: a Jew; a pawnbroker; in U.S. (with lower-case initial), an abusive term for a moneylender; = loan-shark n. (These uses are considered offensive.)" From the list of quotes using the word, the most recent is from a 1978 book about the Teamsters Union: "A member who couldn't meet his shylock payments often found that the union people he ‘elected’, became enforcers against him."
Here's a Times of Israel article about Trump's use of the word: "After lambasting ‘shylocks’ in tax cuts speech, Trump says he didn’t know term was antisemitic":
Upon his return to the White House, Trump is asked by a reporter about his use of the term Shylock, and says he “never heard that” it has links to antisemitism
“I’ve never heard it that way,” he says. “The meaning of Shylock is somebody that’s a moneylender at high rates. You view it differently,” he insists. “I’ve never heard that.”
పోస్ట్లు
106 కామెంట్లు:
Does Trump have or use a speechwriter?
Joe Biden once said Barack Obama was a dream candidate because, and I quote, "He's one of the clean ones."
I learned of its antisemitic root the first time I read (Junior High? High School?) "The Merchant of Venice". Pretty impossible not to see it.
But the term has become pretty ubiquitous over time and is now used both to describe a general loan shark or...the other.
I take no offense in Trump's use, though it probably would be good to let it die.
On the other hand, given that many universities have done away with any studying of Shakespeare and our younger generation probably reads Toni Morrison in place of William Shakespeare, they are clueless to its origin.
PS- yes, it was called Junior High back then.
For this, the press will extract their pound of flesh.
Trump is right, by the way.
Grok: "A "shylock" is a term historically used to refer to a moneylender who charges high interest rates, often portrayed as greedy or exploitative.
It just so happens that a lot shylocks are Jewish, but that's certainly not Trump's fault. And pointing this out probably does butthurt them.
They could stop doing that, one supposes. But no.
I was called to account for using the term during a meeting at my workplace, back in the Nineties, but of course, Madison was ahead of the curve on such things. My apology was accepted, but had it happened more recently, I would have been cashiered.
As noted, Shylock was a Jewish moneylender in the Merchant of Venice, wanting his pound of flesh, closest to the heart.
The focus was on his predatory moneylending practices - indeed, which moneylending practices are not predatory?
Victim classes establish their victim status by portraying and highlighting words which they want to demonstrate victimhood. This is one of them.
You could connect any word in the dictionary in some way to any group who want to be seen as a victim, and construe the usage of that word as a slur.
Tcrosse for the win!
I enjoy Scrabble. Recall years ago a Jewish Scrabble player tried to play the word jew, as in try to lower a price, and was disallowed. Times change, I suppose.
The guy who obliterated Iran’s nuke facilities can use the word Shylock and not be accused of using a slur.
I think he meant to say shyster, which is more generic.
MISERLY (of Jews) thrifty (derog.)
The right bans books,
The left bans words…
To which do we lay the greatest offense?
I doubt most people using “Shylock” ever considered or cared that the Shylock character was Jewish. In order to make it an unacceptable term, people first had to be taught that it referred not to bankers, but to Jews—all Jews, not just Jewish bankers.
Then, having themselves made it an ethnic slur, they could demand that people stop using it.
Jews find antisemitism everywhere, as part of producing a feeling of alienation that preserves the religion from assimilation. It also leads them into bogus political arguments that preserve conflict for decades by arguing the wrong thing, namely that antisemitism is wrong. Nobody tries arguing the positive things about Jews, which are many and obvious, and worth putting in front of opponents instead of accusing them of antisemitism.
Shylock = a character in Shakespeare. Not real life Jews in 2025. I like the Merchant of Venice, and I don't care if the ADL hates it and thinks its blahblahblah.
It shows how much power the ADL and the MSM have that the second anyone says anything Jews don't like (River to the Sea) its a nation wide scandal. No matter how ridiculous.
Meanwhile no one cares how anti-Christian or anti-white or Anti-American anyone is. That's because the Jews act as an organized group and look out for their interests, while white Christian are just a collection of random individuals.
As for Americans, they have more love for Israel then there own country. Open borders for the USA, secure borders for Israel.
It’s “Liver to the knee”, RC. Get with the program.
Jewish comedian: A lady comes in and buys a hundred dollars worth of fabric. I notice that she's given me two hundred dollar bills stuck together. Here's where the ethics comes in. Should I tell my partner?
"Here's where the ethics comes in" googled now gets an AI lede, if you're trying to find the exact joke:
AI Overview
The phrase "here's where the ethics comes in" indicates that a situation or discussion has reached a point where moral principles and considerations become particularly relevant and important. It signals that a decision needs to be made or an action taken that involves navigating concepts of right and wrong, and potentially balancing conflicting values.
In essence, the phrase highlights the moment when ethical judgment is required, often in the context of a potential ethical dilemma where there might not be a clear-cut "right" answer. It suggests the need to consider the impact of choices on individuals, groups, or society, and to act in a way that aligns with ethical principles. In summary, "here's where the ethics comes in" points to a situation where:
Moral considerations are paramount: The decision or action carries significant weight in terms of right and wrong.
An ethical dilemma may be present: There are potentially competing values or principles at play.
Ethical decision-making is necessary: It requires evaluating options based on ethical principles and potentially weighing consequences.
Accountability for actions is important: The individual or group is responsible for the ethical implications of their choices.
From what I can tell, High Schools around here don't try to teach Shakespeare or any of the great literature. And the libraries have reduced their books about Shakespeare or analyzing his plays to almost nothing. The Dumbos who complained about reading Shakespeare in HS (Why cant we have something easy to read, like Catcher on the Rye?) all became HS teachers and Librarians.
Not-as-free-as-we-think speech.
Shyster refers to a lawyer or according to the Book of Knowledge a disreputable petson
It comes from either "shy" or the German word for sitter.
Not related to dhylock apparently
John Henry
No one ever gets called a fagin.
BTW, money lenders back back in Shakespeare's Time (and before) were what would be considered "Predatory Lenders". We're talking 30, 40, 50 percent interest rates. That's why Shylock isn't treated well in the play.
What idiom is in your wallet?
"The right bans books,
The left bans words…
To which do we lay the greatest offense?"
The "right" does not ban books. Please give specific examples and context.
The "right" does not ban books. Please give specific examples and context."
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (banned in FL, IA, TX)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (FL, IA, WI)
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (FL, IA, TX, SC)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (FL, IA, PA)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I won't bore you with others. Grok does a good job explaining why these books have been banned.
The right does limit the availability of certain books, especially in areas where they may be accessible by children, or are literally grooming children sexually, such as Gender Queer, which shows illustrations of children sucking each others dicks.
There have been other words that have been generically used but are now considered to be unusable ethnic slurs such as gypped and coolie. I remember when in describing the outcome of a negotiation, one party was said to have been jewed down by the other party. They obviously had ethnic origins but became part of the parlance like brands such as kleenex or kodak or asperin.
- Krumhorn
"Shylock" isn't really offensive because it refers to the practice of predatory lending, not the idea that the moneylender is Jewish or that the practice is somehow inherently Jewish. (Nobody thinks of "quisling" as an anti-Norwegian slur.) "Gypped" and (the verb) "jew" are far more offensive because the ethnic references are right there in the word.
Trump is a lot of things, but ant-Semitic ain’t one of them.
The characters in The Sopranos are constantly discussing their Shylock business. They are Italian mafia, not Jews.
A couple of days ago, a judge chastised a lawyer for calling the other party a “Karen” in the pleadings (or in argument) as a racist and sexist slur.
- Krumhorn
Eric the Fruit Bat said...No one ever gets called a fagin.
True, but they used to get called an Artful Dodger or a Steppin Fetchit.
Eric the Fruit Bat said...
No one ever gets called a fagin.
No, but women do occasionally get called a "Lady Macbeth," an antiscottic slur, if ever I heard one.
Dogma and Pony Show said... "Gypped" and (the verb) "jew" are far more offensive because the ethnic references are right there in the word.
Gypped is another word that required a bit of social engineering to turn it into a slur. I don't know the origins of "Gyp", except that it's British. Meanwhile, "Gypsy" is an American term. Most Europeans, including the British, call them Roma.
Gypped is to Gypsy as history is to his story.
Today's tempest in a teapot, anything may be called into service if it means scoring points against the dreaded Orange One.
Chili Palmer is referred to as a 'shylock' in Get Shorty', i.e. a loan shark, which is the most commonly-used meaning. A 'shyster', in my experience, refers to a disreputable lawyer, one that cheats his clients. Neither of these is confined to a Jewish connotation.
If a word has several meanings, all of them usefully descriptive, must we ban use of the word because one of them could be hurtful to a subset of people? Given the past dozen years, there could be a lot of Nazis running around with hurt feelings right now....
A news article long ago said somebody had used an ethnic slur against an American Indian. I didn't know any indian slurs so had to make one up: Hey wampum-nose.
Tim Maguire said
Most Europeans, including the British, call them Roma
Most Europeans have been argued into switching to calling them Roma so as not to evoke the negative connotations of calling them Cigan, Gitano, Zigeuner, or other cognates.
People who say the term “Shylock” doesn’t refer prominently (arguably primarily) to the villainous character’s Jewishness a) haven’t read the play or b) don’t remember it very well. That said, Trump is no antisemite.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (banned in FL, IA, TX)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (FL, IA, WI)
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (FL, IA, TX, SC)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (FL, IA, PA)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Each of these books are available for purchase.
Literate people know that gypped and welshed were ethnic slurs in the remote past. Perhaps Shylock is a little more recent, but not by much......I wonder if they still teach The Merchant of Venice in schools. Shakespeare gives Shylock some good lines, but, on the whole, the play is anti-Semitic. Maybe they still teach it in Arab lands but excise the good lines.......Shylock is a stereotypical character, but Shylock is not a stereotypical name. Has anyone every met a Jew named Shylock?
The burden of semantic correlations in popular culture.
In college, I was involved in a fraternity business meeting. I said I could jew someone down on a rental price and two fraternity brothers jumped on me (figuratively) for that. So I apologized and changed it to gyp, not realizing what that referred to. At the time, I had never been to church and knew nothing about religion or what a Jew was. Somehow I graduated from college.
The good news was that my fraternity was the only one on campus with Jews and Blacks/Negroes/African Americans in its membership.
What Dave Begley said.
Isn't the negative "money lender" slur linked to Jews because so many cultures banned charging interest, but the Jews allowed it? This also is why so many Jewish families ended up in banking. The ability to charge interest is a fundamental catalyst for economic growth.
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
almost english
That's Portia in drag. You know, dressed like a male lawyer.
You guys mean "loan sharking"?Jewish bankers in medieval Europe weren't bound by Christian doctrine against lending money at interest and so that association between usury and Jewish lenders became a meme. It was called usury back in more civilized times and was very much illegal. After the Reagan Revolution™ with banking deregulated (unregulated really) and today with signature loans, credit cards, payday loans etc now made with eye-popping interest rates the whole concept of usury is now essentially moot. The only difference is that Big Finance won't send goons to break your knee caps if you don't pay.
What about "baby"? Is that acceptable these days?
Son, son in law and I just got called baby repeatedly by our waitress in a 5 star Waffle House in Orlando.
Wife and dil were non.
Not a complaint, she was great.
Just trying g to clarify what is acceptable this week
Hon, not non
John Henry
"The ability to charge interest is a fundamental catalyst for economic growth."
A reasonable, low, interest rate is useful for economic growth. Usary is not. People back then thought it was immoral for someone to simply loan out money at little risk and get large amounts in return.
Lowercase jew used as a verb is allowed by the official Scrabble dictionary. There has been some controversy about this issue, but it is in the official dictionary. It is not included in the official word list of NASPA (North American Scrabble Players Association), but it can be used in tournament play.
rhhardin said...
A news article long ago said somebody had used an ethnic slur against an American Indian. I didn't know any indian slurs so had to make one up: Hey wampum-nose.
My girlfriend is Native American, and her two favorites are wagon burner and gut eater.
Didn't semite Jesus throw semite money changers out of the Temple?
I don't think it's right to ridicule guys for ED.
...oh, ShyLOCK....
Never mind...
RR
JSM
FLC
"The right does limit the availability of certain books, especially in areas where they may be accessible by children, or are literally grooming children sexually, such as Gender Queer, which shows illustrations of children sucking each others dicks."
So they are not censored. They're just not available to children who may be impressionable. That's reasonable, don't you think?
If you were borrowing money from Vinny---down at the end of Sandy Cortez's Brooklyn bar, and promised to pay back 120% at the end of a week, you were borrowing from a shylock. And those Mafiosos don't know from Moses.
When did "Shylock" become a slur. When Vito came by to collect his grand plus vig or he'd break my legs.
It isn't that the word is incorrect in its descriptive nature, it is that the Left wants to have the power to control every aspect of your existence, including speech, and uses irrational condemnatory censorship to emphasize their authoritarianism. To hell with them and to hell with that. I read my Shakespeare, and it wasn't the religion of Shylock that was critiqued with the character.
As a person of Asian extraction, I often wonder why the term "Oriental" has been deemed offensive.
It's defined as "Of or relating to the countries of the Orient or their peoples or cultures; eastern." Largely, Asia.
So what's the problem?
When i was young, my Japanese mother always referred to us as Oriental.
Great. Now secular progressive Jews will have a new excuse to continue their misguided voting patterns.
Like Brando said of Hollywood, they’ll stereotype every race or ethnicity except Jews.
Shylock is a colorful term. Get over it.
Guess we can’t call it vigorish or big anymore either. Someone’s feeling might get hurt
“I didn't know any indian slurs so had to make one up: Hey wampum-nose.“
Perhaps Tonto.
Shylock’s best line was “my daughter! O, my ducats!”
Trump is a New Yorker. He knows darn well that shylock is an antisemitic slur.
A lender, who happened to be Jewish. A merchant of redistributive change. Is there a DEIst overtone to this handmade tale?
"Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction."
Shakespeare gives his Shylock this undying testament of our common humanity, nevertheless Shylock is the villain of the piece. Revenge is his motive, and revenge is always a sin to be punished, whether the party seeking revenge is the Christian prince Hamlet, or the Jew Shylock or Marlowe's Jew, Barabas.
lonejustice, you are such a moral midget. Why do you choose this instance to condemn a minor slur when most of your party are wearing keffiyehs and chanting "from the River to the Sea"?
Why so nasty, lonejustice? Trump's use of shylock ought to make you far more favorable toward the President than before, given the Democrats are more antisemitic now than even when Fr. Charles Coughlin was their mass media spokesman.
I don't know what Time is talking about. Shylock has been a slur since the time of Shakespeare. It's been a slur my entire life and I've never used it to describe someone because of that.
It's possible that people in real-world high-pressure business, legal, political, media and entertainment circles speak in ways that would strike outsiders as horribly bigoted, but also possible that in such environments people take "shylock" and "loan shark" as essentially equivalent expressions and don't bother much with etymologies.
What happens if Jewish pawnbrokers are a thing of the past and high interest loans are provided through other channels? Are the ethnic associations still relevant?
°
The anti-Indian slur may be "redskin." Is that a horrible word? An insult? At one point "black" was regarded as impolite. Then it was acceptable and the preferred term. Then "African American" came into favor. Maybe "redskin" is already on the way to respectability.
mindnumbrobot said...
“Each of these books are available for purchase.”
One can purchase them thru the Amazon Portal link in the right hand column.
Jews worked as money lenders in the Middle Ages because while Christians were forbidden to charge interest, according to the Roman Catholic Church, Jews were free to charge interest to foreigners. Since they were forbidden to work trades, it was one of the few avenues open to them. As for charging high interest rates, chances were that if someone decided to default on the loan, the courts weren't going to have their backs. All loans were extremely risky.
Deuteronomy 23:19-20: “[19] You shall not charge interest on loans [nāšak II, verb] to your brother, interest [nešek, noun] on money, interest [nešek] on food, interest [nešek] on anything that is lent for interest [nāšak II, verb]. [20] You may charge a foreigner [nokrî] interest [nāšak II, verb], but you may not charge your brother interest [nāšak II, verb], that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.”
So why aren’t Jews in the trades now in the US?
"So why aren’t Jews in the trades now in the US?"
What's your evidence that some aren't?
chatGPT
"Here are several Jewish individuals in the United States working in skilled trades—ranging from electricians and plumbers to carpenters and general contractors:
🔌 Electricians & Plumbers
Israel Rutner, electrical contractor in Brooklyn, NY
reddit.com
+4
reddit.com
+4
reddit.com
+4
ojchamber.com
A Redditor (self‑identified Jewish electrician) shared:
“I’m a Jewish electrician. I’m not shy about it.”
reddit.com
Another user noted:
“I’m a licensed low voltage electrician… managing vendors”
reddit.com
🛠️ Carpenters & General Contractors
The Jewish Carpenter Inc., based in Asheville, NC—led by Seth Cohen, with 40+ years of experience in custom woodworking, remodeling, decks, and more
houzz.com
+1
ojchamber.com
+1
From Maine historical records (early 20th century): multiple Jewish carpenters, cabinet makers, painters, and structural steel workers, such as Valentine Abraham and Joseph Arnowitz
mainejews.org
🏗️ Broader Community Presence
Reddit users noted that many Israeli Jews in the U.S. work in construction trades—plumbing, HVAC, solar installation, etc.
reddit.com
+2
reddit.com
+2
reddit.com
+2
Another commenter observed that in insular Jewish communities (e.g., Hasidic), it’s common for men to work as mechanics, carpenters, or plumbers
anglo-list.com
+4
reddit.com
+4
reddit.com
+4
🎯 Summary
Jewish participation in U.S. trades—though often overshadowed by stereotypes about academia—has deep roots:
Trade Examples & Commentary
Electrician Israel Rutner, Reddit electricians
Plumber/HVAC Israeli-Americans in trades, family plumbing businesses
Carpentry/Contracting The Jewish Carpenter Inc.; Maine trades history
Industrial Trades Machinists, general contractors cited in Reddit threads
Sources
Is whining about stereotypes while you stereotype others a trade?
Everyone stereotypes. Not everyone whines about it.
I enjoyed Al Pacino’s portrayal of Shylock. Was that Cultural Appropriation because Pacino is a dago?
I appreciate that President Trump didn't retract or apologize for his use of "Shylock", he just explained his life experience.
I've never heard "Shylock" used in a conversation, but being an NYC real estate guy, Trump certainly did. When I was in college, I was talking to friends about "being kiked" on some kind of deal. My Jewish friend explained how and why that was a slur. I appreciated the insight and rephrased my statement.
I changed it to being "gypped on the deal." There weren't any Roma present, so it was several years before I dropped that word.
The court Jews of Europe made loans (often forced) to monarchs who might or might not repay as agreed, and the latter could (and sometimes did) blame economic troubles on them . . . and send them packing.
As for revenge, it makes the world go 'round, and I am not above it myself when opportunity offers. I find it more satisfying than forgiveness.
This exposition by Frederick J Stimson in 1910 on view of Jews in England in the post Norman invasion period is illuminating if you aren't triggered like modern liberal arts/law students are about early 20th century writers.
"I should perhaps add another reason why interest was so disliked in early England: There was very little money in early England; and it mostly belonged to the Jews. It was a good deal as it is in Russia to-day; the Jews were persecuted in Russia as in early England, because, in the country districts of Russia, the Jews have all the money, and money-lenders are always unpopular. So in early England. The great barons had their land and their cattle and crops, but they had little money. When they wanted money they got the value of it out of their tenants. Nobody carried large sums of money around with him then, any more than a woman does to-day —she relies on her husband or father; they went to the nearest Jew. When the king wanted cash, he also extorted it from the Jews. One of the early Henrys said seriously, that he regarded the Jews as a very convenient sponge. That is, they sucked all the money in the kingdom and got it into a place whence he could easily get it out. But it made the Jews very unpopular with the masses of the people and with the Parliament; hence, their great dislike of usury. I doubt very much if they would have cared much about usury if one gentleman had been in the habit of loaning money to another; but all the money came from the Jews, who were very unpopular; and the statutes against usury were really made against them, and that is why it was so easy to pass them — they based it, doubtless, on the references to usury in the Bible. Thus they got the notion that it was wrong to charge interest, or at least extortionate interest; more than a certain definite per cent; and this is the origin of all our interest and usury statutes to-day. Although most economists will tell you that it is ridiculous to have any limit on the rate of interest, that the loan of money may well be worth only four per cent, to one man and twenty-five to another, and that the best way for everybody would be to leave it alone; nevertheless, nearly all our States have usury laws. We shall discuss that later; but here is the first statute on the subject, and it really arose because of the feeling against the Jews. To show how strong that prejudice was, there was another statute passed in the interest of liberality to protect the Jews — a statute which provided liberally that you must not take from a Jew "more than one-half his substance." And a very early commentator tells us of a Jew who fell into a privy on a Friday, but refused to be helped out on Saturday because it was his Sunday; and on Sunday he besought the Earl of Gloucester to pull him out, but the Earl of Gloucester refused because it was his Sunday; so the Jew remained there until Monday morning, when he was found dead. There is no prejudice against Hebrews to-day anywhere in Europe stronger than existed even in England for the first three or four centuries after the Norman Conquest; and had it not been for the protection given them by the crown, probably they would have been exterminated or starved out, and in 1289 they were all banished to the number of 16,160, and their movables seized. "
--Popular Law-making: A Study of the Origin, History, and Present Tendencies of Law-making by Statute, Frederic Jesup Stimson (1910)
I always thought Shylock was one of the most sympathetic characters in Shakespeare.
“ I am a Jew. Hath
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.”
And if you doubt that cultural customs and traditions from near a thousand years past continue, I would refer you to the fact that the practice of a "letter of recommendation" from an employer continued in the US until the late 1980s was imposed by the 1388 Statute of Richard II modification of the 1349 Statute of Laborers. Though it was no longer a legal requirement even in England where those laws were repealed until 1869.
Or consider that there are many ceremonial practices in the US and British armies that have their roots with the werods (armies) of the kings during the Heptarchy in the first millennia after Rome withdrew from Britain.
Three and a half more years of this stupid shit from the left?
Put them in a padded room already so the rest of us can live normal lives.
Trump is a New Yorker. He knows darn well that shylock is an antisemitic slur.
Ah. Once again, the 'conservative' blesses us with his mind-reading skills.
re @JK Brown
Things have definitely changed since the "letter of recommendation" days. At many companies, current employees are prohibited from providing references for current or past colleagues. HR will only verify dates of employment. Screening prospective re-hires can be challenging because their past performance reviews at the company are restricted.
FormerLawClerk: these books are not banned. They are not included in the reading and library books by the state's Regents. Manybooks are not included for many reasons. If you want your child to read them, go to any chain bookstore in Florida or order them on Amazon.
Ron: of course. I even know a Jewish long-haul truck driver. I've worked with a few Jewish construction workers. None of this is a surprise. Give it a rest.
Jesus threw the money-changers out of the Temple—because they were in the Temple.
It's also worth recalling that in the “Parable of the Talents” (e.g., Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus positively recommends a high (100% over a year or two!) rate of interest, while condemning one of the recipients for hoarding and not lending out his money to earn interest at such a rate.
Moreover, each “Talent” so-called in antiquity (up to 5 Talents are distributed in the parable) meant some 60 pounds of the valuable glittering metal—which is to say, a very considerable fortune—some $3 million per Talent at modern prices for that weight in gold.
Beyond that, it wasn't the Jews who were famous “usurers” during antiquity, but the Romans.
Historian Paul Veyne writes about ancient Roman money-lending and usury practices, in his chapter on “The Roman Empire” in the intriguing History of Private Life, Vol. I, From Pagan Rome to Byzantium: {quoting…}
The social and institutional character of the Roman economy was so different from that of our own that it is tempting to call it archaic. It sustained, nevertheless, a high level of production and was as dynamic and ruthless as capitalism. For, if Roman aristocrats distinguished themselves by their culture and their interest in philosophy, they were still avid for profit.
The greatest nobles talked business. Pliny, a senator, in letters intended to be specimens of the finest in the genre, held up his behavior as a wealthy landlord as an example for others to follow. When a noble wished to get rid of old furniture or building materials, he held a public auction. (Auctions were the normal way for private individuals to sell their used belongings; the emperors themselves auctioned off unwanted palace furniture.)
Money was not supposed to lie idle. Even loans to friends and relatives earned interest (not charging interest on such loans was considered a mark of special virtue). A woman's father had to pay interest to her husband if transfer of her dowry was delayed.
Usury was a part of daily life; modern anti-Semites might have made ancient Rome the object of their obsession instead of the Jews. In Rome commerce and money-lending were not left exclusively to professionals or to any one class of society.
Any toil, no matter how pleasurable, merited payment. One picturesque aspect of amorous customs among the Romans was that the female partner in a high-society affair was paid for her trouble. A matron who deceived her husband received a large sum or, in some cases, an annual income from her lover. Some cads reclaimed these gifts when affairs were broken off, and on occasion the courts became involved.
The practice of accepting gifts from lovers was considered not prostitution but work for hire. The woman did not give herself because she was paid, the jurists held; she was rewarded for giving herself of her own free will. She who loved best was most handsomely paid. Women sought the wages of adultery as eagerly as men sought dowries. {…}
The usurers of the time were not bankers but notables and senators. Every family head kept a strongbox, or kalendarium, which contained a calendar of due dates on loans along with notes of hand and cash awaiting borrowers. The Roman expression for “setting aside money for loans” was “put it in the kalendarium.”
Every man had his own strategy when it came to money-lending: some lent only a small fraction of their wealth, others a much larger proportion; some lent small sums to many borrowers, others large sums to a few borrowers. Notes passed easily from creditor to creditor, either by formal dation or, more simply, by outright sale. They served as a means of liquefying debt and as an object of speculation: an expandable supply of currency. A man could bequeath his kalendarium and, with it, claims on his debtors and capital intended for usury to one of his heirs. Usury was considered a noble means of acquiring wealth, the same as farming, dowries, and legacies.
{/unQuote}
“Like Brando said of Hollywood, they’ll stereotype every race or ethnicity except Jews.”
A ridiculous assertion. There is probably no group that is more stereotyped in Hollywood than Jews, except maybe Italians.
"A ridiculous assertion. There is probably no group that is more stereotyped in Hollywood than Jews, except maybe Italians."
Brando didn't say Hollywood "Sterotypes everyone except Jews". Brando said Hollywood would portray Indians in a bad light, and never do the same for Jews.
And since Jews Controlled Hollywood, and we're the greatest people in the world, they should have known better.
The ADL and various other Organized Jewish groups then said to Brando: "Thank you Mr. Brando, Jews are the greatest people in the world. But saying 'Jews control Hollywood' is an antisemitic trope, and if you don't take it back and grovel, the Jews in Hollywood will make sure you never work there again."
And so to continue working in Hollywood and not get cancelled by the Jews who control Hollywood, Brando said "Jews don't control Hollywood" and groveled.
Should be:
Brando: And since Jews Controlled Hollywood, and they're the greatest people in the world, they should have known better.
Unlike Catholicism, which along with the Orthodox church, was the main Christian denomination for 1300 years, Judaism has never banned usury and never thought it was immoral. Except Jews weren't supposed to practice usury with other Jews.
And its only after the Catholic Church banned slavery in Europe between Christians, that the Jews in Europe also banned Slavery. Jews outside the Catholic Church zone of control continue to practice slavery toward non-Jews. Its not the Jews who were the abolistionists in early 19th century - it was the UK protestants.
Despite having read my share of Shakespeare, I don't think I've ever actually read The Merchant of Venice. I probably only learned that some people considered "shylock" to be a slur well after attending grad school a few decades ago.
The funny thing is that I always assumed "shyster" to be an anti-semitic slur, and today I find that usually it is not considered to be one. Shows you how much having three Ivy League degrees gets you.
Hollywood stereotyped blacks forever. Then when Spike Lee stereotyped Jews, they whined.
When is the Harvey Weinstein biopic coming?
Shakespeare wrote "The Merchant of Venice" around 1596-1599, a time when there were no practicing or openly Jewish people living in England. Expelled in 1290, so they had not been living there for about 300 years, and were not let back in until 1656, mostly for economic reasons. Despite the inspiring speech about Jews being human beings ("Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?... If you prick us, do we not bleed?" — Shylock, Act 3, Scene 1) Shakespeare recognized that the audience expected the play to portray Jews as villains, so Shakespeare complied with their tastes. Shylock was a villain, he is mocked, he loses his wealth, he is forced to convert to Christianity, he is destroyed. The audience is satisfied.
The point I am making for the Jew hating whiners here is that antisemitism has been so deeply embedded in Christian culture for so many centuries that it has entered the language and produced common expressions which are still used by people who are unaware of the bigoted origins. This was true in Shakespeare's time and is still true, 450 years later. But antisemitism isn't real, /sarc.
You could spend a lot of time here correcting the nonsense spewed by RCOCEAN II, and others, but it wouldn't be worth the time because their antisemitism is likely passed down from their ancestors and is embedded in their ego structure.
The mob calls their loansharking business their “shy” business.
Antisemitism is just anything Jews, sometimes just one jew, doesn't like. I'm not interested in a whether Shakespeare was an "antisemite". Don't like him? Don't read him.
Just don't censor and gatekeep the rest of us.
we are more offended by someone spotlighting bad behaviour then the behaviousr itself....USUARY was banned and illegal back then in Europe and it was a dirty racket...but mentioning it and we hang the person.
we are more offended by someone spotlighting bad behaviour then the behaviousr itself....USUARY was banned and illegal back then in Europe and it was a dirty racket...but mentioning it and we hang the person.
I was not claiming Shakespeare was an antisemite, on the contrary. He was stating that Jews are human beings like anyone else, suggesting they should be treated as such. But he was also aware of the prejudices of his time and his play reflects those expectations.
If you share those same prejudices you might be an antisemite.
What people are calling “usury” is simply any lending at any interest rate, whether 1% or 100%. Jews went into money lending both because they were kept out of other professions and Christians were not allowed to charge interest. Rates were high because the loans were risky. A few Jews like the Rothschilds became wealthy, but many did not. (The Rothschilds got rich mainly from lending to governments, not so much by “usury.” There’s plenty of high interest rate lending today for personal loans, because they are very risky. There’s nothing inherently wrong or predatory about it. It’s a competitive business. If rates are high for some kinds of loans, it’s because those are the rates the market provides.
Could have twisted the talk to be able to use "Hymie" As in Hymietown. Or "Diamond Merchants" or, to keep up with the times, Zionist supporters.
Would the D party applaud? Would MSNBC offer him a program?
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