Racism in the oddest places

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IronDuke

Ancient Mariner
I'm in graduate school. To save expenses, I'm living with three other grad students in an apartment close to campus. We're basically the United Nations scaled down:
There's me, the Canadian (Masters in Environmental History)
The Nepalese Med student (he's actually already a doctor, but he needs more training to be licensed in Canada)
The Mexican Business student (already has an MBA and is now studying for a Masters in International Business)
The Indian Chemist (studying for a PhD in chemistry)

I don't mean to brag by including myself here, but as you might expect we're a pretty intelligent group of guys, as our academic achievements attest. Aside from a few cultural classes (ie Asians not using toilet paper), we all get along very well, and plan to keep in touch when we go our separate ways. We drink beer together weekly, and even cook for one another (especially our respective "national" foods).

Now here's where it gets weird. Except for me, everyone in my apartment is an anti-Semite. The Mexican, the Indian, and the Nepalese hate Jews with a passion I thought only white supremacists were capable of. I enjoy a funny racist joke as much as the next guy, of course, but I don't believe in the sentiment behind them. These guys not only tell jokes about Jews, but also seem to earnestly believe in them!

I've often tried to discover just what it is that made this weird international mix of otherwise intelligent guys hate the Sons of Aaron. They aren't exactly from countries renowned for their ethnic intolerance, toward Jews or anyone else (I'm not saying racists don't exist in their countries, just that they aren't exactly famous for racial strife). Aside from the Mexican, I don't know when they'd ever even encountered a Jew. None are particularly religious, so I don't think the conflict comes from there.

What really bugs me, though, is the fact that they don't see anything wrong with hating Jews. I asked the Indian once if he thought the same about Pakistanis (or Muslims in general), blacks, Han Chinese, etc. He thought it was abhorrent to dismiss an entire group as inferior.Why would a Hindu hate anyone?

The Nepalese guy is pretty easy going about it, but still thinks that he "could never trust a Jew." I don't think he'll be asked to work in Tel-Aviv any time soon.

The Mexican is a really interesting case. He did his MBA in Ohio, and thus was probably subject to bigoted hatred himself from idiotic American racists. (Actually, he makes "wetback" jokes all the time...he really hates his countrymen.) And yet he refuses to acknowledge that Jews are as good as anyone else.

Obviously, education and intelligence do not always mean enlightenment.

So is this distrust of Jewish people common outside of Canada? Am I really so naive that I've never seen this among my many other friends from around the world? I know the Islamic world has some understandable reasons for not exactly being on friendly terms with Jews (understandably, but not justifiable, of course), but what's up with the people I'm living with?
 
YOu know Duke, making jokes doesn't mean you hate a particular group of people. My favorite kinds of jokes are racists and religious, SPECIALLY about Mexicans and Catholics. I can't speak for  your other roommates, but I might be able to explain why the Mexican might SEEM racist (maybe he is, who knows). In Mexico saying "Pinche Negro, Indio, Puto, Pendejo... etc" (Damn Black {not nigger}, Indian, homo, dumbass...etc." IS NOT a racist remark. People don't identify it as such, it could be ignorance of political correctness, but that is not exactly the case, not in most cases anyway. People here, in general are very foul mouthed, thus I doubt the mean half the stuff that comes out of their mouths. However I don't doubt that he might indeed harbour some animosity towards the Isrealites...
 
So, by making a racist joke does not actually make you racist? I can see what you mean, Onhell, but to make fun of someone purely based on their race/religion/whatever is still racism in an underhand way. The joke would not exist had it not be based on race.

This may well be just plain ignorance, but it is still racism. Or perhaps it's just a difference in culture.

Personally, I've not meet anyone who has so much hatred about someone else based on their religion until I spoke to one of our former programmers at work. He was a Hindu and his loathing of Muslims was so strong it almost made his blood boil just to talk of it.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely anti-Semitism is a religious discrimination, not a racial one?  Yes, Judaism is a very endogenic religion (more so than, say, Islam or Christianity), but there are Polish Jews, Israeli Jews, American Jews etc. who are classed as having different ethnic backgrounds, right?

Anyway, this kind of generalised hatred is quite intolerable.  It's not even as if there's any substance to the generalisations; for example, I would argue vehemently with any Christian if I can throw decent arguments against their faith (although I would not debate unless they prompt one).  I would say I'm anti-Christian, but the flip-side of that coin is that I have many Christian friends who don't fit the stereotype of hypocrisy or ignorance, so I'm content to bite my tongue and not cause any arguments.  Anti-Semitism, on the other hand, is more based in ignorance, stereotyping and paranoia than any real moral objections.

Simply put, the idea that you can know what an entire group of people will do, or say, or look like, based on the actions of a few, is ridiculous.  That such intelligent friends are so anti-Semitic is quite strange; perhaps you're over analysing the situation, or perhaps the anti-Semitic propaganda around has worked its wonders on them.
 
You are right, Raven, it's not racism - but religious discrimination. Though, let's not get bogged down with semantics again. ;)
 
The point about racism vs. religonism is wellt aken but it was early in the morning for me when I wrote this. Now I've had too much to drink and am not entirely sure why I'm posting on this forum. Meow
 
This is real blind since its a book cover judging thingy. Jews are people too, and for me, I will not use religion as an excuse to not meet new people, since this can be stereotyping if you judge all muslims, christians, jews, etc, as fanatical. Religion has been always used as an excuse for everything, but for me, religion is something you guide your life with, not take literally and use it to bash others. Religions teach us to get along with EVERYBODY, yes?
 
Raven said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely anti-Semitism is a religious discrimination, not a racial one?
Click to expand...

Actually it's both, and people usually make fun of/discrimminate Jews because of their ethnicity, not their religious beliefs.
 
I think that intolerance to the jewish ethnicity comes, as you might think, from the lack of culture, please, let me explain myself here.

As an example, by listening to racist jokes and laughing at them, you may start to believe in them, I mean the ideological content of the joke, therefore, if the individual does not have the capacity of differencing what the joke really means, he/she will inherit this ideas.

I hope I'm clear enough to say what I believe.
 
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