<< The topic is fine .. geesh, how politically correct does one need to be these days? >>
I agree with this person, although I may be one of the few, apparently. A person is a person, as i see it, skin color, religion, any of the above has zero effect on my decisions during the day, or in the world.
I wish everyone thought the way I did. Does singling out Jewish people because they cannot eat pork make me a bad person? If i had a religion that prevented me from doing something that had absolutely zero effect on any actual matter, this topic would not bother me in the slightest. Say my religion said i could not drive a white car. Then someone made a post that said "I'd hate to be a <Seph>." Then when you got in, it said "I love my white sports car." Well, I'm happy with my red sports car. If it was another stereotype, such as "I'm glad I am not a woman, because I couldn't get as good of a job as i have," something that is very true in society, (women get paid a dollar less on average than a man, and it is sickening) but still completely offensive, I would understand these flames. Either way, how did we ever get to the holocaust? How did we get to the stereotype of jewish people being cheap? These things had absolutely nothing to do with my post, whatsoever. And you see, it bothers me that these things were brought up in the first place. What difference does it make in the "I like ham and Jewish people cannot eat it, therefore i am glad I am not Jewish" argument? How about this analogy: "I like cable TV, I am glad i can afford it."
You see, bias is being upheld by these actions. You see, probably 15 people that thought i was a perfectly normal person now dislike me because I made a comment that, to the everyday person, was amusing and not degrading. But there are always the people that take things too seriously and make me out to be a racist/bad guy/immoral person. Do you think that if people did not take things as seriously, racism would not be as big of a problem? I've been called things before. A black girl in my 7th hour class Freshman year called me her "Number One Cracker." Did I take offense? Why would I? I thought absolutely nothing of it, so little, in fact, that i am surprised I can even remember it for that statement.
Does the fact that you are unable to eat pork by your religion make you less of a person? Does it affect you in any way whatsoever in the business world? In the social world, a simple joke such as this should not have any effect on someone, either.
Perhaps it's my enviroment. My parents have probably 10 jewish friends, most of which are highly educated and over half love to tell jokes. One came in and told this joke the other day -- "How many Jew(ish person)'s can you fit in a Mercede's Benz? 15, 5 in the seats and 10 in the ash tray."
Now THAT is an offensive joke. I took offense to that, but the Jewish guy and my parents laughed like there was no tomorrow. I didn't understand how it was funny. Could it be that they are even less politically sensitive than I am? Probably. With jokes like this being told by Jewish Doctors, a person would think that a ham joke was not out of line in any manner.
I'm speaking my mind -- If i am pissing anyone off, i apologize, but I am trying to understand how you are processing the things I said. I do not understand because I apparently thought that religion and racial prejudice were not still in most people - they aren't in me, but I find it sad that there are this many.