<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well, firstly, he's obviously not very smart. Secondly, I'm not sure he used the word "crafty" first. From the article it appears that another reporter might have introduced that word into the conversation .. something like, "You don't mean to say they're crafty, do you?" And he just went along with it because he's not too bright.</div> Well I still disagree, but I guess its just a matter of personal opinion. I agree that the dude's more ignorant than hateful, though.
Henry Abbot from TrueHoop blogged about the reaction to this (mostly from Jews). It seems most weren't offended by it, and think he was trying to compliment them. Here's another blog entry entitled "Jews for Michael Ray". A snippet: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> I really can’t think of any better way to illustrate that Michael Ray is the opposite of a racist. Confronted with the reality of Israel he abandoned preconceived notions and evaluated people on how they actually behaved. Michael Ray has done that in every country he’s been to. And that’s why he’s been loved all around the world. Now because he has the temerity to say that Jews are good lawyers, Jews are industrious people, Jews use their wits to get ahead in a world where they are more often hated than loved, we are going to excommunicate him from basketball like he’s Tim Hardaway or Al Campanis.</div>
<div class="quote_poster">og15 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't know how anyone would get him hating Jewish people from what he said. I think he actually seems to show some sort of admiration for them in what he's saying. The problem comes in him sounding ignorant in what he's saying, and also the huge lack of political correctness in all that.</div> And he continued, "They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean?" he said. "Which I think is great. I don't think there's nothing wrong with it.
I don't know, I wouldn't find this the least bit offensive. Nowadays, you can't say anything without it being blown up. This reminds me of what KG said about getting his guns ready or whatever during the 2004 playoffs. It's not the least bit similar in regards to what they exactly said, but neither meant to say it in a way that offended other people, and ultimately, people got offended. With his Jewish comments, he blatantly stated that he wasn't 'knock[ing]' them; it's not like he's Tim Hardaway and he's saying he straight up hates a certain group of people. He actually was trying to compliment them, just went about it the wrong way. If you want real Jewish opinions on the matter, one of the (better) columnists over at Slamonline, Sam Rubenstein, is Jewish and he didn't find it offensive at all.
What's funny is that people probably subconsciously thing about these stereotypes and comments, daily, but as soon as someone says them out loud they are crucified for it. This is not as big a deal, IMO, as its being played out to be.
I'm Jewish, and I don't think what he said is really offensive. It was more of a compliment IMO. Numerous times he said that he wasn't insulting the Jews. "Crafty" isn't an insulting word, to me at least. He did stereotype the Jews, but everything is stereotypical nowadays...
