General Jones’ Apology Not Nearly Good Enough
President Obama has seemingly gone out of his way to snub Prime Minister Netanyahu and to humiliate him publicly. And everyone has noticed. Everyone has noticed, also, that President Obama has gone just as far in the other direction to sanitize every decidedly Islam-inspired act of terror, even going so far as to make no mention of Islam in the report on the Ft. Hood terrorist act.
The media looked the other way when disturbing anti-Semitic associations turned up in Barack Obama’s past. They ignored his chosen church’s close ties to Louis Farrakhan, the most well-known Jew hater in America. They ignored Barack Obama’s decades-long choice of a black liberation theology “church,” among whose tenets is an undeniable anti-Semitism. They ignored Barack Obama’s links to Rashid Khalidi, known promoter of the Palestinians-as-victims story line.
Just as now the mainstream media expect all Jews and supporters of Israel to just get over this blatantly anti-Semitic joke, told by a very high ranking member of this administration.
Now, all of this reminds me sadly of a conversation I had with a Jewish friend from New York in 2007. At that time, it looked as though Hillary Clinton was the likely Democrat nominee for ‘08 and I asked my friend whether she would vote for Hillary knowing about the disturbingly anti-Semitic features of her past. My friend was shocked.
She was evidently completely unaware that Hillary and Bill’s most frequent guest to the White House during their tenure there was Yasser Arafat, the late-great leader of the PLO. My friend was also in the dark about the infamous Hillary sympathy-kiss to Arafat’s wife when she accused Israelis of, among other things, using poison gas on Palestinians. My friend seemed never to have even heard the charges made by a good many close associates of the Clintons that the harshly derogatory phrases, “Jew Motherf***er” and “f***ing Jew bastard,” were among Hillary’s favorite epithets.
In fact, my Jewish friend from New York accused me of making it all up and insisted vehemently that “all Democrats support Israel and all Democrats love the Jews.” End of discussion.
And General Jones didn’t really mean a single nasty thing by this blatantly anti-Semitic, full-of-logical-holes “joke.”
Sweep it all under the protect-Obama-at-all-costs rug, folks.
As for my Jewish friend, I implore her to refrain from saying “never again” in my vicinity as long as she and so many like her keep voting for these people. It gives me the vapors and I’m running low on smelling salts these days.
First of all the joke was stupid and more anti Taliban than anti Semitic. The trouble is that the fellow who told it, Jim Jones, one of Obama’s top advisors, is an incompetent clown in both what he does professionally as well as in his assumed role as a stand up comic.
Secondly, and to my mind far worse, is that General Jim Jones exemplifies much of what ails the Obama regime, bad advice from misinformed, inexperienced, often biased, and amazingly juvenile advisors. Sure, they are all much like their leader Obama in these regards, otherwise Iran would be suffering under crippling economic sanctions, there would be an American missile shield being set up in Eastern Europe, and Barack Obama would have given a speech in Jerusalem calling on the Palestinians to negotiate in good faith with Israel.
Finally and very unfortunately, none of these advisors and of course Obama himself, even realize the damge they are doing, damage which could quite easily plunge the Middle East into a war that will benefit only Iran.
Please see your own picture in the dictionary, just look under “naive”. Obama/advisors know exactly the implications of what they are doing and the “speech” was vetted and approved.
Obama/advisors know exactly the implications of what they are doing and the “speech” was vetted and approved.
You’re correct on that.
Maybe Ken didn’t want to be too outspoken?
Sorry folks, but I have to agree with Ken. Obama’s advisers/handlers are the most inept of any previous administration. They give every evidence of not having a clue as to what is going on from moment to moment; misjudging the American public every step of the way – then when the criticism comes in it is met with charges of racism. I offer the WH Press Secretary as an example of the typical administration member and prime example of the ‘Peter Principal’. It is truly mind boggling to think of all the really knowledgeable, talented, honest, and respected individuals Obama could have chosen for his administration – yet look at his cabinet and his zsars … unbelievable!
“Sadely they seem not to notice the damage they are doing” I beg to differ with you , they know perfectly well what they are doing and it is not to unite the Palestinians and the Jews, just the opposite in fact.
Your Jewish friend is sadly a typical leftist Jew. It seems that Israel got the right-wing Jews and America got the leftists ones. I am sorry for the USA. As an Israeli, we have to deal with our crazy left-wing brothers every day. They are slowly disappearing, thanks God, but these guys are a real pain in the (beep) and have done a lot of damages to Israel.
So good luck with them.
“but these [Leftwing Jews] are a real pain in the (beep) and have done a lot of damages to Israel.”
And the US as well.
The first time I heard that joke, it was told to me by an Israeli.
It’s not new, and it’s not something that he came up with off the top of his head.
I think you’re reading way too much into it.
…And you supported Livni and Kadema was exactly you…
Eh. I was just thinking that this is the sort of joke that my father or grandfather might have told. Both are Jewish. The other side of the story – Given the current administration’s near open hostility towards Israel, I’m not thrilled with any of them making jokes at all.
Yeah, it’s an old joke, and it’s not that offensive. It is, however, extremely inappropriate for a high-level administration official to be telling it at a public function. There are things that non-politicians can get away with that politicians and public officials should not even consider. This was one of those things.
He should resign in disgrace, and never plan on holding public office again. If he were Republican, that is exactly what would happen.
James Watt, who worked for Reagan, was forced to resign after he told a similar joke to a bunch of reporters while they were all on Air Force One.
That’s because Watt and Reagan were Republicans, silly.
Dane — context, timing and source are important. When I have heard similar jokes from Jews, the setting was an unspecified desert, not Afghanistan (where all the Jews have long since been driven out save for one), the terrorist was Al Quaeda or Hamas, and most important — the joke was not introduced as a true story. There is also a vast difference between members of any ethnic group telling jokes about their group to one another, and a non-member telling the joke to a mixed crowd. If nothing else, this was monumental stupdity, but then again it is no stupider than the assumptions behind the admninstration’s policy on Israel or its policy on Iran, or the surprise of the Jewish voters who called us names in 2008 for trying to warn them what an Obama presidency would be like.
Onesh
B’ydei shamayim
Al
Manat
Am Yisreal a’aseh teshuva.
Translation – Obama is a Divine punishment sent to inspire the Jewish people to return to G-d and Torah. Someone with better Hebrew grammar than mine (and that’s a very big subset) is invited to correct my Hebrew; just don’t mess up the roshei tevot (acronymn).
I listened to the joke and simply don’t see it as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. If anything, the joke was anti-Taliban. Have we really gotten so thin-skinned in our society that a joke of this nature should even be worthy of discussion? I detest our current administration, and I am a supporter of Israel and am acutely aware of a rising, world-wide tide of anti-Semitism, but this simply doesn’t qualify.
…and you voted for Obama…
Sure…mhmm! Only a joke? This is a biased administration filled with contempt for the American value. I wonder how the CBC and Sharpton would respond to a joke…say…on being black and watermelon? I’m sure the word racist would be thrown down, don’t you? Seeing they have inserted themselves in the AZ illegal immigration position at the border, and deemed this as a racist attempt at profiling minorities, why are they not screaming at the top of their lungs condemnation to the jackass white general?
It wasn’t as funny as the “How do you tell a pole at a cockfight?” joke that Reagan told in 1980, but it did get a laugh. It was topical. The negative reaction to it seems a bit overblown.
The joke was in poor taste but I think your analysis is hyperbolic.
Now what is that I keep hearing … oh yeah, how it’s terribly inappropriate, wrong, even bad to compare Obama to Hitler and his staff to Nazis. Yeah, it comes back to me now.
I wonder why I’ve heard that particularly said about Obama.
People compared GW to Hitler all the time, remember all those Bushitler posters and cartoons? It was offensive, and objected to in a general sort of way, but it got no energetic special attention.
But we are told that there is something particularly wrong with comparing Obama to Hitler and his staff to Nazis.
Well, you know the old saying — never believe anything until it has been officially denied.
“It gives me the vapors and I’m running low on smelling salts these days.
Ms. Shiver – you may be running low on smelling salts but you certainly are not running low on self-serving hysteria. Worse – by twisting an innocent joke into something it isn’t – anti-semitic – you are doing horrific damage. Like the boy who falsely cried ‘wolf’, your false accusation of ‘anti-semitism’ destroys the ability of the public to react whenever a REAL instance of it arises. Anti-semitism is a horrific evil – but when people such as yourself cheapen it with undeserved accusations, than you destroy the public’s will to fight real anti-semitism as surely as the boy’s false cries of wolf destroyed his town’s will to fight the real beasts. This isn’t something you should be proud of, Ms. Shiver.
Let’s see. A joke that implies that a Jew would use thirst in order to force someone to buy a tie, is not anti-semitic?
A joke that relies on it’s punch line the presumption that Jews are greedy and quick to take advantage of other people’s misfortune, is not anti-semitic?
“Anti-semitism is a horrific evil – but when people such as yourself cheapen it with undeserved accusations, than you destroy the public’s will to fight real anti-semitism as surely as the boy’s false cries of wolf destroyed his town’s will to fight the real beasts.”
First, as David Bernstein of Volokh Conspiracy has pointed out, the fact that something is not anti-semitic (i.e. a desire to do harm to Jews for being Jews) does not mean that does not manifest anti-Jewish prejudice. At best the general’s joke was in poor judgment.
Second, even if we restrict the use of ‘anti-semitic’ to mean a desire to harm Jews as opposed to mere prejudice against them, when the violent anti-semites come along there will always be people to tell us that we are over reacting and exaggerating the threat. The NY Times editorialized that Mein Kampf was mere hyperbole; the Germans would never be so foolish as to carry out the plans set out in that book. Pundit after pundit has told us that the Arabs did not really want to drive Israel into the sea, that Iran does not want to see the end of Israel, that Hamas and the PLO are really seeking no more than a democratic multi-ethnic multi-cultural state on the lands that Egypt, Jordan and Syria lost in the 1967 war. Sadly, the White House seems to believe this same nonsense. But even as people’s throats are being cut, the dangerously naive will always tell us that anything short of cattle cars and gas chambers is not real anti-semitism. And when people smuggled out evidence of the cattle cars and gas chambers, the good people in positions of influence in the US dismissed it as war propaganda.
Carolyn, could you please tell us what brand of stupid pills you eat?
Get over it. I am so sick of victimology in all its forms. Guess what humor is a great corrective and truth teller. To prove it
I tell my favorite Scotsman as cheap f***ers joke at every opportunity. You know the one.. about the cheap whining Scots bastard who goes into the pharmacy in Glasgow with a used condom and wants it repaired.
bwaahaahaaa..
If Jews were so concerned about exploitation and manipulation of Jewish
identity they would have marched en masse to Steven Spielbergs multi billion dollar estate and protested against a rich, insufferably smug and sheltered
Hollywood hustler exploiting The Holocaust as a means of making another 500 million dollars for himself. But it didnt happen..did it?
Thank G-d that you’re not a bit anti-Semitic. Go eat some pig.
Aside from the ABSOLUTE fact, had this ‘joke’ been told about ANY myriad of protected groups in the US, rest assured the PC jihad police would violently attack said jokesters,leaving a scorched earth policy.Not so with the ‘Joos’. It is also true that behind many so called ‘jokes’ there are hidden (or not so) messages.
The point being, Jones is an out and out anti-semite, demonstrated in his jack booted footprints all over Israeli territory for quite some time now. To be sure, any lame apology must be brushed aside by EVERY self respecting Jewish leader. Anything less would be a demonstration of unfathomable stupidity AND their acceptance of dhimmitude from the highest echelons of Washington power centers.
To be sure, the ground is being prepared for heightened anti-semitic behavior from BHO and his shock troops. It is VERY dangerous and will lead to some very dark results.
I believe you have absolute clarity…
Ditto.
The joke DOES make fun of Jews stereotyped cunning in business. Jones is a moron for telling it. Fine. Stupidity and bad diplomacy with a smack of anti-Semitism. But after all, this IS the Obama administration. What do you expect?
But what would have happened if Jones told the joke about people going to a party with Muslims, drinking too much and ending up “losing their heads”.
There aren’t many ”Islamic jokes” – there’s nothing very funny about Islam. Even the Russians had jokes about Communism’s abysmal failure.
Do you think Jones would tell ”Palestinian” jokes to an audience in Ramallah?
The bottom line, I guess, and I’m only offering my own opinion, General Jones can tell Jew jokes & be an anti-Semite if he also had pro-Israel views & policies because that is in the national interest of the US, which it is.
I do believe the joke reveals a lot about how General Jones thinks–and knowing this I believe he is not qualified for this position.
I am also amazed that a person who has reached this status in life doesn’t have the “common sense” to realize how inappropriate telling this joke in this setting was!
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS ENEMY OF ISRAEL TELLING THIS “JOKE” TO A JEWISH AUDIENCE? HOW CAN THIS “JOKE” BE INTERPRETED AS ANTI-TALIBAN? ISN’T THE TALIBAN PORTRAYED AS A POOR THIRSTY SOUL LOST IN THE DESERT? ONE MORE EXAMPLE WHY THE AMERICAN JEWS, IF HISTORY IS TO BE REMEMBERED, MUST VOTE IN OWERWHEMINGLY NUMBERS AGAINS THIS ANTI-JEWISH AND ANTI-ISRAEL ADMINISTRATION.
What was the point of the joke?
Why to let jews know that these things can now be said openly again. To make them understand that the Holocaust was not forgotten, just put on hold.
Carve the Joke on the Washington Monument. Now.
Because the real enemy is of this nation is Poltiical Correctness.
aka Cultural Marxism.
If you dislike Obama and want to use Cultural Marxism to target Jones
you are perpetuating the same force that put Obama in power.
You CANT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
WAKE UP.
You mentioned in a previous post that humor was a great corrective and truth teller. Humor is not a great corrective or truth teller by default. Humor is simply a tool and can be used to convey truth or to convey negative stereotypes that have nothing to do with truth. Mr. Jones used the joke to convey a negative stereotype. It had nothing to do with correcting any misconceptions or truth telling.
The joke however does demonstrate the mindset of Mr. Jones and the administration that has hired him. Mr. Jones is the National Security Adviser to the President. Perhaps the greatest national security concern at present is the Middle East and Israel. By the joke, Mr. Jones has demonstrated a hostility toward Israel by demeaning “jewishness” He has shown himself to no longer be an objective and neutral observer or adviser.
Demanding that he step down from office is not political correctness run amuck but simply the removal of someone who by his chosen words have shown himself incapable of objective analysis.
Then again this joke told us nothing about the man who told or his boss that we didn’t already know.
Ethnic jokes of any stripe are reprehensible! Why, in this day and age are supposedly grown adults still indulging in juvinile humor at the expense of some minority? Why is this considered acceptable? Are there not enough jokes about sex to go around?
The immaturity of the sheltered class is astounding!!!
I am as right wing and as proud of my Jewishness as anyone and no apologist for the Obama administration.
If anything the joke shows how ultimately the Jew has outmaneuvered his adversary and comes out on top.
Not a bad reputation to have in a tough neighborhood.
Its war.. people have to keep a sense of humor.. or else all is lost.. is there any groups out there that NO JOKES are directed at?
Dumb blondes, polish, jews, blacks, etc etc.. its called life and its a partion of FREE SPEECH…u dont have to like it. but you can LIKE THAT YOU CAN SAY IT.. HERE without a beheading!
Pam,
The answer to your question: “is there any groups out there that NO JOKES are directed at?” Yes, there is a group that no jokes are directed at (specially from the government) and that group is the “Religion of Peace” AKA Islam.
Personally, I don’t mind Jones’ joke but I’d also like to hear his Muslim and Black jokes for a good old sense of balance and fairness.
Can you imagine if at some Obama event, some speaker asked, “What to you call a black man who sells men’s neck wear?” Do you think the trolls would be defending it as a cruel joke on haberdashers?
It’s the double standard.
It’s the double standard.
~The term double standard, coined in 1912,[1] refers to any set of principles containing different provisions for one group of people than for another, typically without a good reason for having said difference.[2] A double standard may take the form of an instance in which certain applications (often of a word or phrase) are perceived as acceptable to be used by one group of people, but are considered unacceptable—taboo—when used by another group.~
Keep giving ‘em hell K~A. You are RIGHT on. (Pass the smelling salts…)
Godspeed and God bless America!
I do not support this administration or Gen Jones, but the joke craked me up.
Joke inappropriate for sure, but knowing the source, not surprising. He didn’t have that much respect from the enlisted Marines. Classic case of managing up, and being a kiss-a** bureaucrat.
RIIGHT! As if you can sell ties to Muslems. All Jones had to do was ask the bamster why he eschews ties. To learn the “first rule of greedy businessmen.” Do not bring coals to Newcastle. You won’t turn a profit. And, the taliban/muslem men wear no ties! Just dresses.
The joke would work better if the taliban were sold a new white dress to wear. The “tag” could be it would work just as well for making impromptu bandages.
While, yes. The media always tries to get Israel tied up in knots. They just did this with Sherlock in Dubai. Who swears the MOSSAD can’t operate without British passports! (Oh, yeah. And, the Euro is also gonna go up in value. Because? Because the song says: “Scientists can hide the decline.”)
The good news? It comes from the IRONY! How does the FUNNY MONKEY score his wins? Will the pentagon give this fool another ribbon? How about another star?
Do you think, back in the oval office, the bamster moved his lips to laugh at the general? And, if so? Did he laugh AT him? Or with him? Did anybody see Sherlock of Dubai lingering nearby?
The joke itself is not the problem. Rather, the problem is the lack of judgement in 1) Telling it; 2) Telling it to that audience; 3) Telling it in front of cameras and 4) Telling it poorly. This guy is supposed to be the National Security Adviser. Adviser!! i.e. someone who gives valuable advice. He showed no judgement and about the same amount of class as a used car salesman (apologies to used car salesmen). He should be fired, not because he is an anti-semitic idiot but because he is simply an idiot.
DD
The joke is funny. I even had a Jewish friend tell me the joke a few years back. I find too many of us way too sensitive, and a play on stereotype, though not true as I have found many Jews incredibly generous, can make for great humor. Having said that…
There is a time and place for everything. Would you get up and tell a joke about watermelon and fried chicken at an NAACP convention? How about a demeaning Pope joke at a mass? A joke of a sexual nature while counseling rape victims to lighten the mood?
I’m not so worried about the anti-Semitism of the joke as I am worried about the sense of the man telling it. This is just another indicator to me that this President and his selected cabinet members and staff so inane, so tone deaf, that they don’t just endanger the relationship America has with its closest allies – they endanger the very citizens they represent. If Jim Jones shows this lack of good sense, does it give anyone a great deal of confidence about how he might choose to deal with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
We’ve been telling each other ethnic jokes for as long as I can remember. Polish jokes, Jewish jokes, Scotsman jokes, whatever. Hey I’ve got one…What do you call an Afghan farmer who owns both sheep and goats?…Bisexual…lol
The problem isn’t with the joke. It’s a joke, ok, get over it. The problem is that the joke was told by a very high ranking member of the administration. Ethnic jokes are not the sort of things that the “National Security Adviser” should be telling to an audience. But I’ve come to expect this sort of behavior from the Obambi administration. He’s a divider not a uniter.
I am waiting for a joke about the muslims.
I am still waiting.
………………..
Here’s your muslim joke:
A muslim terrorist blows himself up trying to kill innocents but he is the only casualty.
He gets to the afterlife and his 72 virgins are all clones of Rosie O’Donnell.
Thank you, but I need the General or anyone else from the administration to crack a “muslim” joke in public.
I guess I’ll be waiting for the next few centuries…
Curse you, BiggyZ77!
Do you have any idea how much brain-bleach it’s going to take to get that image out of my head!?
The joke told by General Jones is a Jewish joke almost certainly of Jewish authorship and in circulation among Jews long before General Jones had the poor judgement to use it for a springboard into the PC briarpatch.
Does the joke reveal General Jones’s inner Arabist prejudice? As Jones told the Joke, yes. The original funny was about an Arab (generic) who comes out of the desert and begs water from a Jewish shopkeeper. The Jewish shopkeeper says he has no water but could he intrest his parched visitor in a tie for ten dollars?
In the Jones version of the joke the desert (generic) is specified as Afghanistan and the Arab (generic) is transformed into a Taliban fighter. When the Arab loses his temper at the rediculous offer of the tie he blathers, “…you Jews don’t get it,.,”
In the telling, Jones changes a triumphalist Jewish joke into something more nuanced and evenhanded. What began as a Jewish Joke turns into a Jewjoke.
Considering the venue, I think General Jones was attempting to ingratiate himself with his audience by telling this joke. How spectacularly his attempt backfired speaks volumes about his judgement. This meticulously cultivated soldier is no diplomat. The unintended consequense of his blundering into comedy are minor. The unintended consequenses of his blundering in Middle East politics could be tragic.
The odd thing is that General Jones looks so good in the role of National Security advisor. But then, if you called Central Casting and asked them to send a young African American president you’d get Barack Obama. Amateur acts have taken over primetime.
I’ve often heard (and retold) the version you cited. I’ve nver heard anyone introduce the joke the way Gen. Jones did,claiming it was a true story.
“I’d like to begin with a story that I think is true, a Taliban militant gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally arrives at a store run by a Jew and asks for water.”
First, a joke must be seen in context – who’s telling it, who is the listener, and where is it spoken. Jones is not seen either as a friend of Jews or a friend of Israel, so he gets no pass for the telling.
Now consider the joke itself:
“a story I think is true” – Really? Is it *this* story, or what it’s meant to represent?
“a store run by a Jew” – In Afghanistan? The only Jews in that forsaken country (aside from Levin) are a few serving with Coalition forces and maybe some scattered NGOs.
“and asks for water” – So now life and death for this “Taliban” are in the hands of the Jew
This joke was never told in this fashion – until rewritten for a nefarious purpose. It is a *proxy* for what Jones has worked on and believed for years. The Taliban are the Palestinians; the Jew is the Israelis. Reread in this fashion, it’s clear why folks are upset.
Henny Youngman would’ve loved the joke. “Take my wife…..Please!” and my favorite, “Sure, I’m married, but I’m not a fanatic about it.”
General Jim Jones needs to change his day job to retired army man and leave the comedy to professionals like me. Also, I thought Jim Jones died of bad Kool-Aid. I guess the mainstream media sucked back then, too.
While I like to see anyone near Obama squirm as much as anyone, I think this “gotcha” P.C. stuff needs to cease. Man I hate it, even when it provides a little fun for the good guys. On second thought, maybe we should not give up our gotchas until we make the leftists give up theirs.
For those who see no problem with this joke using the – “I tell my best friend the Italian all my derogatory Italian jokes and he laughs” – defense. Tell the same jokes to that Italian who knows you don’t like Italians and then let me know how “over the top” the reaction is.
This admin has sent every signal possible informing the world that they feel Israel is the problem and has shown little if any outward criticism of her enemies. This is the same admin who has implied openly that everything a conservative says and does is steeped in racism. This “joke”, in this hyper-sensitive era of racial politics where everything is considered a slight against someone for their heritage was in poor taste and deserves all the criticism it gets.
J Milam
Ah, the PC crystal ball, one wrong word or joke and they’ve got ya, your whole soul is revealed. Sorry but over the years I’ve just gotten over dosed on this PC, tell a job, lose your job crap.
Ever heard of the First Amendment? Are you not aware that this is the last country with our level of freedom of speech? Hard to say how much longer with people like you working to shut it down.
How is this different from the censorship at Comedy Central? An order of magnitude to be sure but censorship is all on a continuum, a straight line and it loves to move up that line. The most dangerous words in any language, “Oh, yeah, but this is different.”
Lastly, Ms. Shiver, and most importantly where are your articles when Christians and other groups, men, particularly white ones, are attacked with blatant unfairness? Is it only when your ox is gored that you react? There’s no listen for that stance.
OK, now I get it. Racists don’t think it’s a big deal to make ethnic slurs against those of other ethnic groups, while the rest of us do. Gee, it’s just too obvious sometimes.
I am still stunned how any Jewish person can work for this regime…. how does the Emanuel Brothers and Axelrod sleep at night? How can they look at themselves in the mirror? How can they live with themselves at all?
They have sold out their country, they have sold out their religious brethren, and they have sold out their souls… they are empty husks, Golems if you will….
Jew jokes were an important way for the Nazis to keep driving home their racial superiority. It worked for them. Now what?
Come on! It’s a joke! Get a life.
There’s plenty to be concerned about in this Administration’s policies towards Israel. It’s a perilous time in which Israel’s very existence is about to be threatened, and our govt is failing to support her. THAT’S the issue. We can address it rationally, because ultimately it’s about the govt’s actions – not its motives, which we can discern at best dimly. Rationality is one of the big factors distinguishing us from dems.
But attempting to diagnose people’s psychology and attacking that? Implying that Gen. Jones is anti-semitic? Based on a joke? Even one in bad taste? We conservatives get called racist all the time, usually on the slenderest of evidence. There’s nothing to gain by sinking to the same level of name calling. Frankly, it’s more offensive to me than the joke was.
Obama wants to keep the focus on Israel so the media fails to do its job.
On April.4,2009 , President Obama, speaking in Cairo, said, ” No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons.”. Just one year later we see the consequences of that statement-
new nuclear initiatives by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt and Libya.
I see no public indication of concern from either Obama or the State Department regarding these events. In fact its safe to say most Americans haven’t been informed.
The consequences of widespread nuclear initiatives in countries where America is hated should be of greater concern than any regional dispute.
The failure to contain Iran has created great anxiety throughout the middle east. Arab regimes knew Israel had the bomb but an unwritten understanding kept things in check. Obama didn’t understand or value the Israeli deterrent. He demonstrated by his actions towards Israel that he could walk away from a valuable ally.
Other countries have taken notice. That is why the race is on.
The end result is more nukes in more hands. That can’t be good for anybody.
So American medias ” 6 minutes for the middle east ” gets spoon fed to them if the act like good little boys and girls.
And life and death consequences for the planet go unreported.
The media is AWOL just when we need them the most!
Thank you, Ms. Shiver. You nailed all the points.
BS”D
We should save our complaints for real problems. Making a big deal out of this just tells the opposition we are thin-skinned. I actually printed this joke off from the Aish HaTorah website (Jewlarious link) along with a bunch of other good-natured jokes about a month ago, as I often do just prior to Shabbos.
I doubt the folks at Aish are antisemitic.
The joke was extremely insensitive & highly inappropriate.
But more frightening is that it was spoken by General Jones, a high ranking member of the Obama Administration and reflects the utter contempt that this administration harbors towards Israel.
The Obama Administration has proven to be most anti-semetic administration in decades and sadly they are supported wholeheartedly by the alleged “jews” in America that are democrats – “jews’ who have forgotten that Israel was created out of the Holocaust and ‘jews’ who have become indifferent if not downright hostile towards Israel. They do not understand that Israel is the best hope for the Jewish future.
What these alleged’ jews’ won’t admit aloud is that they wish Israel would just disappear. To them NEVER AGAIN means “never again should the State of Israel continue to exist”.
These ‘jews’ unflinchingly support the Obama administration’s positon towards Israel. They are JINO’s Jews In Name Only — and they would sell out Israel in a heartbeat without an ounce of guilt – claiming it was for the ‘greater good’.
Look at what is currently taking place in the Middle East—specifically in Iran and Lebanon. Iran is run by a cleric who’s ideas resemble Hitler. And the President of that country is a fool, similar to Hitler’s sidekick Goering. They want to wipe out Israel, and threaten Jews worldwide. God forbid if they are allowed to produce Nuclear weapons. The Hezbollah movement in Lebanon has similar goals——-to create another Shoah.
While Neville Chamberlain can be forgiven if only because he did not know better– he did not have the ability to look forward and see what the future under Hitler would bring– NOT so President Obama. Obama has the ability to look back in time, and see what Chamberlain was unable to imagine — the holocaust of 6 million Jews.
But Obama doesn’t care and sadly neither to his ‘Jewish’ supporters. General Jones remarks serve no other purpose than to perpetuate the ugly Jewish stereotypes that continues to feed the rage & hatred of Arabs and frankly far too many Europeans – which in turn allows this administration to turn its back on Israel without fear of worldwide condemnation.
Compare and contrast the reaction to the South Park self-censorship of skewering Muslims and General Jones’ freedom of action in the face of the Jews. No-fear, Jones? Why not? Because Jews aren’t Muslims and not matter whether they were thin-skinned or insensitive to the joke’s implications, Jones was in no danger of being emasculated or dismembered.
For once I have to regrettably defend National Security Adviser James Jones. As an aside, the joke is merely a variation on an old “man lost in desert” joke. Additionally, I thought Jones actually delivered it quite well: I laughed out loud upon first watch.
But what’s important is that some Liberal AND Conservative (sigh) Jews think the joke was not only in poor taste, but “antisemitic”. I simply disagree — and I’m a Neo-Con Jew who is HYPER-PRO Israel! I grew up with antisemitism around me, and I felt that this joke was simply not that.
I’m NO friend of Jones (as he is clearly NO friend of Israel) and there exists an abundance of serious reasons with which to disagree with him. Furthermore, I happen to have quite THIN SKIN when it *does* come to antisemitic jokes! I’m *very quick* to “correct” the teller, irrespective of whom it might be (even a boss).
But to call this joke antisemitic is, in my opinion, an exaggeration. I can see some people, even myself perhaps, thinking it is somewhat “off-color.” And there’s even a stronger argument for the joke being told in the wrong setting. But by no means was the joke “antisemitic.” So to use this insignificant joke as a means for attack is, in my opinion, just misguided.
It’s misguided because the “Jewish merchant” character was not “money grubbing” but rather polite and patient (if you listen to the joke carefully). If anything, the “butt of the joke” was the Taliban.
Fellow Israel supporters, let’s please keep our powder dry for the real battles that lie just around the corner.
The joke was not the problem the teller was -
“As the National
Security Adviser, General James Jones is not known as a friend of the
Jewish State. It was Jones who put together the team of Brent Scowcroft
and Zbigniew Brzezinski to meet with the President and advise him to
impose a solution on Israel.”
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/04/obama-nsa-advisers-vile-antisemetic-jokes-to-dc-audience.html
Err, sorry, this is not the battle to pick as your major fight. There are more important things in foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel than this. If you harp on every little slight (real or imagined) like this, then noone’s going to be listening to your screeching when its important.
Richard, you are without a doubt, absolutely correct. And “Paul Revere” and other who are so seemingly upset, consider, if you would my argument (please).
Many TRULY DIFFICULT battles lay ahead. If we waste our ammunition on… what amounts to trivial nit-picking like this, we *erode* our position Vis-à-vis less vehement Israel-supports (think non-Jew Independents who generally support Israel but, like MYSELF, a Neo-Con Jew, found the joke simply funny, period, full stop). It’s ultimately self-defeating to “go after” Jones on *this* – if we *are* going to “go after” him, we should do it based on *other* more substantive issues.
We have a no-bullsh*t Israel-hating President in office with, what, at least 2.5 years ahead and an obvious desire to “ram things through” either the “American People” or “those Israelis” if he thinks “they deserve it.” In other words, he’s acting like a full-out dictator, not a leader, who like Bill Clinton, at *least* clearly wanted to stay in office enough that he *changed* his policies according to the will of the people (polls, etc).
This is simply *not* the “issue” (if one can even call it that) to cry “anti-Semite” — which, Jones very well may be (I’m not saying he isn’t!) — what I *am* however saying is that his telling of *this* particular joke in *this* particular setting does NOT him, an anti-Semite make.
“D-Day” for “us” Isra-Philes will be “Iran-Attack day.” And it is THEN that we should prick up our ears and listen VERY closely to what is said and what is done by this administration. That is the day we should open up with a full barrage if there is not full support. We blow our strategically (and admittedly disproportionately) high and influential position by appearing to attack this relatively minor joke with such vehemence.
1 -Gen. Jones has been known as an anti-Semite, anti-Israel person for years;
2- This is an old Jewish joke, with all the elaborate setting inserted for effect;
3- It was not “off-the-cuff”, clearly planted;
4- BHO evidently hates Jews and Israel – he sends a mouthpiece to say it, in thinly-veiled style;
5 – Why did nobody stand up and say, “Don’t quit your day job, Gen. Jones”?
as someone said above, the problem isn’t the joke (which is funny), it’s the situation it was told in and the teller.
first of all, you really shouldn’t be telling Jewish jokes unless you’re Jewish. that goes for all races and religions.
having said that, tho, if the Obama adminstration was a staunch supporter of Israel, and Jones himself a friend, that would be one thing. that, however, is not the case. this president is the most anti-Israel in memory, and his people, OF ALL PEOPLE, should not be telling Jewish jokes.
but it’s not surprising that they know nothing about comedy: this is the most humorless bunch of maroons I’ve ever seen.
For cryin’ out loud, it’s just a joke. Big deal! Get a life. Relax.
The joke was hilarious. Stop acting like a bunch of whiny, P.C. progressives and lighten the heck up. Ethnic humor is some of the funniest stuff going. The left has absolutely no sense of humor. They are miserable, foul creatures. Let’s not emulate them.
Right wingers have nothing better to do than scan the Internet for anything, however minor and inconsequential, that they might be able to turn into a BFD if they rant, rave, and scream loud enough. This was only a minor joke, and not all that bad.
Speaking of jokes:
One day a 20 yr old conservative college student calls up his older, liberal brother.
“Hey, I can’t get any of the smart, really attractive girls on campus to go out with me. You were always good at this stuff — any advice?”
His older brother replies, “Smart, really attractive female college students don’t date Republicans or conservatives in general. I already told you that.”
The student, frustrated, asks again, “That can’t be it. C’mon — at least give me something I can try.”
The older brother hesitates, then says, “Alright, this is going to sound odd, but girls will be girls, regardless of ideology: try putting a potato in your pants.”
The his younger brother goes, “No, you’re just kidding me.”
To which the older brother replies, “No, seriously, just try it. You’ll be surprised.”
A week later the student calls up his older brother again, angry. “What the hell! I tried that and all the girls ended up blowing me off, and not just the smart, attractive ones. Liar.”
His older brother loudly sighs, and goes, “Yeah, one of your friends told a friend of mine what happened: next time try putting the potato in the front of your pants.”
James Jones echoes the sentiments of Barack Hussein Obama II the most dangerous man in the world!
This comment is prejudiced because I am an ethnic Jew and a religious Christian.
When God came to earth in the form of a man, He chose to be a Jew. God is a Jew.
Still hate Jews? Still want to disparage, disrespect Jews?
Scripture is clear that Christians are spiritual Israelites- Jews.
Stll hate Jews? Still want to foster hostility toward them?
If so, go for it! Bring it on! And see what is waiting for you…
I’m disappointed in you, Kyle-Ann. I’ve liked everything else of yours that I’ve read, but you really lost it here.
As a member of the only “unprotected” group, a White man, I’m getting really tired of all this fake outrage. To all you victims: get over yourselves. Neither your race, ethnicity, religion, sex nor sexual perversion makes you untouchable. There are some people who consider you less than divine. Some people actively dislike you, for whatever reason, or no reason at all. It’s their right.
The joke is just a joke. The butt of the joke is the Arab, not the Jew. To that extent only, it is an “anti-Semitic” joke. Some of my favourite people (blondes) are often the butt of jokes, but they handle it with a lot more class than the people agonising over this joke.
I despise all those obligatory disclaimers (“I’m not a racist/sexist/homophobe/anti-Semite”) that usually precede any comment on any “controversial” subject. Those labels are meaningless, and intended only to delegitimize any comment by demonizing the commenter. It’s the tactic being used in this thread by the likes of Bruce Stein. So go ahead, Brucie, hang a label on me if you like. I’m immune to them. If you have nothing to contribute to the discussion but name-calling, maybe you’re not ready yet to talk with the grown-ups.
Saw the video. Ho Hummm. Did you hear the one about the Rabbi, the Irishman, and the Black Guy??
Calling this anti-semitic debases the real meaning. This knee-jerk reactions engenders hostility. We can see that !
John Lennon got a letter from a student at his former high school while he was writing lyrics for “I Am the Walrus.” The letter said that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles’ lyrics.
The fact that people were putting so much effort into analyzing Beatles lyrics both amused and annoyed Lennon, who then set out to include the most confounding lyrics he could in “I Am the Walrus.” When his old friend and former Quarryman, Peter Shotton, was visiting him, he asked Shotton about an old playground rhyme, from whence “Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog’s eye” became part of the song. “Let the f*ckers work that one out!” he told Shotton.
Like that English master, I think we’re putting far too much effort into analyzing a simple icebeaker joke. Of course, Gen. Jones was kidding when he said, “I think this story is true.”
As a serious American Jew, I wasn’t the least offended by the joke. I *am* offended by the ignorant and obnoxious foreign policy of the Obama administration, especially with regard to Israel and the “peace process.”
Let’s concentrate on what’s really important, and leave trivia and political correctness to the Lefties.
BTW, have you heard this one?
Two aliens beam down into Jerusalem. The first one says to the second, “Hi, I’m 42871. You?”
The second one answers, “Hi, I’m 73618.”
The first one replies, “That’s funny, you don’t *look* Jewish!”
He, who is among you who has never told an inappropriate joke… cast the first aspersion.
It is impossible to have a position of power in government unless you are a rabid Jew-hater. It is the number one requirement.