Sorry, as much as I loathe the MFer, this is the exact same kind of pearl clutching we get from the MAGAtards when a Democrats says something stupid. I understand what a Shylock is, and while he was a Jew in the Shakespeare play, I have always understood it to mean a usurious lender or a a crooked lender. Other than the ethnicity of the individual in the play, I can honestly say I have never considered it to be an anti semitic pejorative (or ever heard it used as one). The next thing you know, the Left will pull a MAGA trick and start a censorship program, with Shakespeare the first to be parsed. What a fucking joke. All the truly horrendous shit going down at this very moment and the snowflakes on both sides of the divide having a meltdown over semantics. Jeezus, the moron in the White House is playing the Left like a drum......and they can't react fast enough.
I think the point here is Trump and the administration are going after colleges and universities for being anti-Semitic because they are allowing pro-Palestinian protests.
Just a tongue in cheek at Trump's innumeracy after all the men who couldn't do math solemnly assuring me women can't do math because something. And yes I am a math nerd. No offense intended.
I absolutely opposed censoring Shakespeare or anyone else but Shylock is an anti-Semitic trope. Believe me, any Jewish person would hear it so. Not pearl clutching. Like calling Mexicans drug dealers.
This. And it's stupid. Just because you support the people of Palestine, does not mean you support Hamas. The Trump administration also takes it as being against Israel, or choosing Palestine over Israel, but that's also foolish. Israel is our ally and military wise we will back them. I get that. One can not be in support of Hamas or the leadership of Israel but still hope the best for the people's of both countries equally.
At this same Iowa campaign rally, Trump did a vicious caricature of President Biden while cult laughed and applauded. Trump is a sociopath with no empathy, decency or basic good manners, as is well known. He also gives permission for his cult to do likewise. Look, all of us are assholes at time. I don't mean murder or other real crimes. Just being assholes. Snap at someone for something not their fault. Cut in front of another vehicle on freeway because it is more important for us to get where we are going than them. Trump tells them they need not feel guilt or shame for assholery, they should celebrate it And New York Times sanewashed speech by merely saying Trump took victory lsp. Ignored caricature of Biden, I hate Democrats, impossible math.
I played Shylock in high school and I just thought of him as a greedy money lender. A million movies have been made with Irish or Italian loan sharks...doesn't make the filmmakers anti Italian or Irish...it's just a character portrayal. Maybe in the days of Shakespeare it was meant as an anti Semitic role but I never read it that way....Shylock just happened to be Jewish. It's like writing a play where the jeweler is Jewish...is that also anti Semitic? I'm asking for clarification because I don't see it the same as you do. In my view all races of people have greedy people in their ranks...this one character isn't definitive of race as much as the profession. Shylock could just as easily have been Donald Trump.
It's not just Trump doing this, it's both political parties. And they know full well it doesn't equate to supporting Hamas, but they have no counter argument so they straw man the entire movement.
I know I'm gonna get hammered from all sides, but why does being anti-Israeli (or anti-Zionism) equate to being anti-Semitic??? As far as I'm concerned, the Israelis are bullies who are using every excuse and trope to try and excuse their inexcusable actions. The world doesn't like them starving and bombing children? No problem, the world is anti-Semitic. The world doesn't like Israeli expansion? No problem, the world is anti-Semitic. Just because I don't have much if any respect for the Israelis doesn't make me anti-Semitic. It's almost certainly based on millenniums of persecution, but it seems like too many Jews are too quick to play the race card rather than taking a step back and reflecting on their own actions that bring unwanted reactions. Assholes are assholes. They don't need ethnic labels. And Netanyahu is the biggest asshole on the world stage next to Donald Trump....... Patiently waiting to be lectured on my "ignorance"..........
I'm sorry, @riverman. I usually agree with you but you are wrong. Shylock is an anti-Semitic slur. I would hav trouble finding any Jewish person who doesn't react that way. Sure, Godfather had Italian loan sharks. But they have not been mobs screaming death to the Italians because those in power convinced the mob Italians and not those in power were responsible for their oppression.
First thanks for the response. I still think in theater or film or literature that writers will portray Irish firemen. Chinese opium den owners or Amish dairy farmers etc without racist intent but based on historical references I thought Shylock was a nod to biblical references to Jesus and the temple of money lenders. I always thought Shakespeare referenced that for Shylock but I will respect your take on it
My point exactly. But too many people with their own agendas are too quick to use the anti-Semitic card against others who disagree with what the Israelis are doing. Maybe we should dispense from calling Israeli's "Jews" and the anti-Semitic bullshit will go away? I am anti-Trump. so does that make me anti-German?? I'm anti-Musk. Does that make me anti-South African? Playing the race card has gotten to be too easy these days. Too often anymore it's a bullshit way of cutting off productive and informative debate so that shitty behavior can continue.
I can only hope that this political climate will defeat the GOP soundly in the midterms. They better before those MAGA idiots rig the voting process
Also, don't want to beat this into the ground, but can anyone seriously believe Trump knows Shakespeare? That he ever read Merchant of Venice? Unlikely! This is someone who welcomes as dinner guests anti-Semites who don't deny the Holocaust, they praise it. Someone with a history of racism. Yeah, I think he meant the slur. It's quite possible a high school drama coach to avoid controversy would portray Shylock as someone who just happened to be Jewish. My mother was an English teacher and Shakespeare buff and that just isn't how he wrote it. Not neutral. Got her complete works of Shakespeare, after she died my father thought I was most likely of the siblings to actually read it. Read the whole thing during Covid.
