Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Sometimes I'm so happy to be living in Israel, surrounded by other Jews, because (among other things) I don't have to deal directly with people like this Ingrams guy. Mind you, we have a lot of other unpleasant characters of various types.

The Ingrams person says

I have developed a habit when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name. If so, I tend not to read it.

Considering the amount of very vocal pro-Palestinian Jews in Britain, it makes you wonder. Is this why so many Jewish people in Britain have felt the need over the years to change their names to non-Jewish sounding names? After all, this guy won't even read their letters to the editor, assuming he knows what they are about to say based on the coincidence of their name, or judging by their lack of forsight in not changing it in time.

Thank you, Dad, once again, for liberating me at an early age from that land of darkness, where, it seems, I would have been forever forced to hide my roots and my identity had I wished that Mr. Ingrams and his ilk read my letters to the editor.

By the way, interesting debate developing on Ampersand's comments on this issue. One commenter, John Isbell, says "I guess I'll add, rather tendentiously: whenever I see a letter on black issues with a black signature, I tend not to read it.
Of course, black signatures are so much harder to spot. The way they blend in with the community. Jewish names you can spot a mile off."