Anti-Semitism is alive and well and living in America

[River]

Turkish coffee is intense. I've never had it adulterated with anything though; the Serbs just do it up straight and call it "usual". That and Nescafe is what you get for coffee in that part of the world. It's usually served in espresso size cups which is about as much as you want. But my MIL also has normal-sized mugs for Nescafe. Last time I was there, S teased her about the coffee cups she served the usual coffee in being too small for me (I don't know where he got this from because believe me, considering how potent the usual coffee is, the serving size and the cups it comes in are fine). So she started serving me coffee in the big mugs, but still with the typical serving size and then S told her she was supposed to fill the cup so between my husband and my MIL I spent most of my time in Serbia hyper-caffeinated. I couldn't get them to stop - in fact, she started making herself and S these massive coffees as well.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

Who puts pumpkin in coffee?

Who puts GARLIC in coffee?

[Frelga]

Garlic? My cousin. Brewed coffee, mind, I don't recommend dropping a clove into your cup! It's actually pretty good - you can't taste the garlicness, it just gives the coffee a bit of a bite. Pumpkin? Well, Anthy did, so it must be the right thing to do.

[RoseMorninStar]

Tea for me.. although I am not a tea bagger.. or a tea partier.. or.. well,.. just tea, please.

I get thoroughly annoyed at the phrase 'small town American values' as if anyone who lives in a town larger than 5-10,000 people is horridly depraved. Small town people are just better at denial & sweeping it under the rug.

[anthriel]

I like lattes. Drank one just yesterday. Does that make me a northeastern liberal elitist, perish the very thought? Or does the fact that it was a pumpkin latte make it less posh and elite, and therefore more appropriate for a southern conservative christian (surely the pumpkin flavoring lends an appropriate soupçon of hick-ish-ness to the idea of the haughty latte) to drink? I sure would hate to have to give up my lattes...

I think pumpkin flavoring makes it even more sophisticated.

I love Frelga!!

I don't do lattes. That's all right, though, I don't have to, I'm not northeastern.

Whew! That must be a real relief.

And I like Turkish coffee, brewed, not dripped. Brewed with a dash of salt and a bit of sugar, and on a very occasional indulgent day honey that creates a thick layer of sweet coffee mud at the bottom of the jezve. A cousin of mine used to drop in a bit of garlic, too.

Having dated four years worth of Greek guys (two guys, two years each), I am also a Turkish coffee fan. Yumm!

As for elitism, it would be silly to say that only liberals are intelligent. Conservatives get bad PR from the vocal anti-science, anti-intellectual groups that are largely drawn to the conservative side of the political spectrum, which at times drown out conservative intellectual voices.

Elitism is an interesting concept. As Prim points out, it sure isn't a one way road. I have become increasingly aware that there is a certain anti-scientist elitism in my own church, which aggravates the Sam Hill out of me, me being a scientist and all. My pastor had a talk about "Is God who He says He is", and quoted many athiests to be able to counter their arguments. One of the athiests he quoted was a biologist, and in one of those isn't-this-funny comments, he said "I'm going to read you what he wrote, which is just proof that biologists need to stay in the lab".

Nice.

So, yeah. Liberals do not have a unique hold on the elitist label. Although there are those who give it a good run.

[RoseMorninStar]

Anthriel.. oooh... we just had one of 'those' write a letter to the newspaper about the horrible state of our public schools lying to our children... (her husband is on the school board) and in part of the letter she talks about how our children are not being taught that men & dinosaurs walked the earth together.. just a few thousand years ago, because we all know it's no older than that.

[River]

Ouch, Anth. I'd probably have walked out if I were in the audience and if anyone asked I'd tell them I was going back to my lab.

[anthriel]

Rose, if that is her religious belief, I guess that's fine with me. Most people won't agree with her, but there you go. I don't like the verbage that the schools are "lying", though. Surely there's room for more than one viewpoint.

River, I thought about it later, and probably should have walked out. I was pretty shocked, and sat there stock still for many a long moment, trying to digest what he had just said. I'm not one for drama, usually, preferring generally to NOT be the center of attention. I was just frozen numb.

As it was, I probably had a dozen people snap their heads around to me when he said that, people who know what I do. They all looked really embarrassed for me. I actually blushed.

Maybe telling you guys about it will give me the courage to address it directly to him. I know he was trying to be "funny", but he wasn't. Maybe he needs to visit a lab sometime. I think he would be surprised how many people of faith he would find there.

Anyway, sorry, none of this is about anti-semitism.

[vison]

Since I don't belong to any elite whatsoever of any kind, allow me to say I like my coffee black and not too strong, do not particularly care for latte or espresso or cappucino, adore pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake but would faint with horror at pumpkin/garlic coffee and am certain that if I showed up at the door of any of the northeastern liberal elite or northeastern conservative elite houses I'd be shown to the trade entrance. My working class ancestors would be horrified if I went in the front door. I'd be "getting above myself", you see.

Jeez, I HATE this sort of thing. I HATE it. I like smart people no matter what they are, liberal or conservative. I HATE it when otherwise smart people fall for labels, or, worse, give up their thinking process and swallow crap. No matter who's selling it, crap is always crap.

Wherever our brains came from the one crime I find almost unforgiveable is when a perfectly good brain doesn't get used. When it turns into a regurgitating machine. When it is lashed down with fear and paranoia and ignorance.

[Faramond]

Sam Rubin drops editorial hammer on CNN, Sanchez

I think hubris is exactly the word that describes Sanchez.

[axordil]

Anyway, sorry, none of this is about anti-semitism.

I see a pretty strong connection, actually. Anti-intellectualism and Antisemitism are hardly strangers, historically speaking. Moreover, they share some of the same tactics: you isolate someone as "other" and blame things on them they have little or nothing to do with.

[vison]

Sam Rubin drops editorial hammer on CNN, Sanchez

I think hubris is exactly the word that describes Sanchez.

Did you read the comments below the article?

Unbelievable. Sickening, most of them.

Who are those people? Why would they post such hateful things?

[Faramond]

I had no idea. I feel like I should take away the link. Seriously, I wouldn't complain if someone wanted me to take it away. Those comments make it look like I linked to a neo-Nazi site.

Of course, if you ever wanted evidence that Anti-Semitism is alive and well in living in America, there it is.

[vison]

I had no idea. I feel like I should take away the link. Seriously, I wouldn't complain if someone wanted me to take it away. Those comments make it look like I linked to a neo-Nazi site.

Of course, if you ever wanted evidence that Anti-Semitism is alive and well in living in America, there it is.

Yes, you're right.

I didn't mean to imply that you knew about that stuff. I don't usually check out the "comments" after reading an article, but for some reason I did this time.

Leave the link. It is educational, I think.

[Inanna]

Anyway, sorry, none of this is about anti-semitism.

I see a pretty strong connection, actually. Anti-intellectualism and Antisemitism are hardly strangers, historically speaking. Moreover, they share some of the same tactics: you isolate someone as "other" and blame things on them they have little or nothing to do with.

As are almost all Anti-one-word stances... and the principle is exactly as you said, isolate someone with a stereotype, and plop things on their head.

[WampusCat]

If anyone was still questioning the premise of this thread, the comments on that story should be persuasive. And unfortunately, they are not unusual.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I had no idea. I feel like I should take away the link. Seriously, I wouldn't complain if someone wanted me to take it away. Those comments make it look like I linked to a neo-Nazi site.

Of course, if you ever wanted evidence that Anti-Semitism is alive and well in living in America, there it is.

Faramond, I am quite confident in saying that no one thinks that you posted that link because you wanted to link to a neo-Nazi site, or to in any way support a neo-Nazi agenda. I'm glad that you posted the link, though I have purposefully avoided reading the comments.

[yovargas]

One should generally avoided internet comments...it's amazing how often stories only vaguely related to, say, blacks will quickly become filled with N-word smeared hate speech.

[Primula Baggins]

What yov said. You are hardly responsible for the execrable quality of those comments; it's the site that is responsible for allowing it. You said the place was worth a look; it's their sloppy housekeeping, not anything you did, that is responsible for the roaches in the basement.

[WampusCat]

The comments on my paper's website are horrendous. They try to police the comments,and often shut down comments entirely. But hateful stuff shows up all the time.