The fam out to lunch today and we somehow started talking about how Australia and France outlawed either the wearing of Islamic Religious Apparel (Hijab, Burqa, etc) or all Religious Clothing. Don't know why I used all those caps. Anywho, my folks were like, "good thing they started cracking down on those crazy Muslims," but I was like, "don't you see how those countries pretty much fucked themselves over by probably angering them even more?" And also how it's a shame that a country which used to be a formal penal colony is not allowing religious freedom and is acting fairly fascist.
My dad starting going off about how Muslims are prone to violence in pretty much every other part but he wondered why they weren't like that in America. So I made the point, or observation, that we don't need crazy Muslims here because we have plenty of crazy Evangelical Christians who murder abortion doctors and we have white supremacists that shoot up Holocaust Museums.
And then I started saying some crazy shit, like how i'm not surprised that muslims today are prone to violence as their religion is young and that it's cyclical how every religion goes through violent phases. When i started talking about christian crusaders riding through jerusalem and lopping off the heads of muslims and jews, my parents were pretty much like "wtf, why are you talking about that? CHRISTIANS DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE [emphasis mine]".
I was just like, "dudes, have you ever heard of the motherfucking KKK?"
THEN I realized my parents also have fucked up notions of freedom. They were telling me this story about a Muslim woman who wanted her driver's license photo taken with her burqa on. They wouldn't let her, so she filed a law suit. She lost. My mom said (and i guess my dad agrees with her), "you can't change the rules, and if you don't like 'em, move somewhere else!"
My response was, "the woman's actions, while albeit stupid, were totally within her rights. we can try to change the laws if we want, no matter how stupid our claims are. But to disallow an ATTEMPT to do something you want is fucked up."
Phew.
7/10/09
Matrilinearity
This sweet article was posted on Jezebel the other day about "half-Jews". My first reaction was, "hey, something I actually give a shit about is on this site." The article cites The Jerusalem Post and talks about how in Israel there is a lot of debate about how one's "Jewishness" is defined. Apparently half of Israel thinks it only matters if one parent is a Jew, either the father or the mother, which goes against the age-old matrilineal (which, according to firefox, I am spelling wrong) qualification.
My thoughts:
I guess I'm technically a half-Jew, father's Jewish, Mother's not. But I've never identified as Half-Jewish, and would honestly agree that there isn't really such thing as a half Jew; I mean, what's the point? Either you're Jewish or you're not. And I'm Jewish. I guess it's kind of insulting to deny my mom's heritage - but she doesn't have much of one. I was raised completely Jewish. Why would I identify as half-Jewish? Why would anyone identify as half-Jewish?
There were a lot of comments by "half-Jews" who say they were denied admittance to Birthright trips, which is really sad, especially since I got to go. There was even a dude on my trip who was Korean and he was adopted by Jewish parents. I'm inclined to believe, then, that Birthright is disqualifying people on the basis of how "Jewish" they were raised, since both Sam and I had had Bar Mitzvahs and the like. Unfortunately, I think Birthright will still give preference to a full-blooded yid over a mischling, despite how "Jewish" or not the upbringing of the former's may have been.
The author of the article also told a story about how a fellow Jew once told her that "It's people like your father who are ruining the Jewish religion". This is fucking preposterous. It would only be a crime if the author's father did not raise her as a Jew. Would the person still pass that asinine judgment if the author's mother were a Jew but the author knew nothing about her religion or heritage or culture?
My thoughts:
I guess I'm technically a half-Jew, father's Jewish, Mother's not. But I've never identified as Half-Jewish, and would honestly agree that there isn't really such thing as a half Jew; I mean, what's the point? Either you're Jewish or you're not. And I'm Jewish. I guess it's kind of insulting to deny my mom's heritage - but she doesn't have much of one. I was raised completely Jewish. Why would I identify as half-Jewish? Why would anyone identify as half-Jewish?
There were a lot of comments by "half-Jews" who say they were denied admittance to Birthright trips, which is really sad, especially since I got to go. There was even a dude on my trip who was Korean and he was adopted by Jewish parents. I'm inclined to believe, then, that Birthright is disqualifying people on the basis of how "Jewish" they were raised, since both Sam and I had had Bar Mitzvahs and the like. Unfortunately, I think Birthright will still give preference to a full-blooded yid over a mischling, despite how "Jewish" or not the upbringing of the former's may have been.
The author of the article also told a story about how a fellow Jew once told her that "It's people like your father who are ruining the Jewish religion". This is fucking preposterous. It would only be a crime if the author's father did not raise her as a Jew. Would the person still pass that asinine judgment if the author's mother were a Jew but the author knew nothing about her religion or heritage or culture?
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