Speaking at a conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, Vice President Biden spoke of his son's experience serving in Iraq hearing from other soldiers in need of legal help back home, "...people would come to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being...I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas"
To quote another of Biden's famous gaffes, his use of the term Shylocks is a "big fuc**ng deal," especially to those in the Jewish community.
The term Shylock comes from Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice. Shylock was a evil Jewish money lender who is defeated at the end of the play, and forced to convert to Christianity. The name Shylock came to represent the negative stereotype of Jewish people held throughout the world that Jews are heartless, demanding bankers.
Even ADL National Director Abraham Foxman who usually places his support of progressive politics before the organization he serves chastised the Vice President for using the offensive term:
Shylock represents the medieval stereotype about Jews and remains an offensive characterization to this day. The Vice President should have been more careful.So far the Vice President hasn't responded to the criticism.
When someone as friendly to the Jewish community and open and tolerant an individual as is Vice President Joe Biden, uses the term 'Shylocked’ to describe unscrupulous moneylenders dealing with service men and women, we see once again how deeply embedded this stereotype about Jews is in society,” Foxman said in a statement.
For those who are not familiar with the "Merchant of Venice," the video below is a scene from Al Pachino's portrayal of Shylock.
10 comments:
And I'll raise you two Macaca's!
I had a similar childhood. My father would whip me with a 3" black leather belt until he was exhausted, often. My mother enjoyed egging him on when he had no particular reason to beat me. I grew up an angry person. At age 16, after a whipping, I pulled up my pants, turned to face him, firmly shoved my fist in his chest and told him "this is the last time you will do that". I felt a welling up of hatred filling me with power. If he would have made a move on me, I probably would have killed him. He was astonished, then turned and walked away. That was the last time. When my parents died I felt nothing, zero, no emotion. Finally I could put it to rest, and I did. As a father of two wonderful kids, I never inflicted any corporal punishment on them. Like you, I broke the cycle.
Biden's hair plugs were put in too deep.
He'll get a pass from most of the media, just like he always does.
Biden's critics responded by saying "We will have our bond!"
I was one of those kids who was spanked maybe 3 or 4 times in my life, and I remembered every one of them. I felt the same anger and hatred that you did at the time.
Some kids can hack it; others can't, and I'm in the latter category. I think my parents eventually learned that because it never happened again after I was about 10 years old.
Has nothing to do with the color of the skin... My mother was lily-white and beat me every chance she could. I have no relationship with her and she does not know her grandchildren. I have worked diligently to not to do my children what she did to me.
I am a supporter of the State of Israel, and have no animosity whatsoever towards the Jewish people. However, I often use the term "shylock" to refer to loan services that charge outrageous interest rates.
Am I insulting them by implying they are Jews? Of course not. I'm insulting them by saying they are unscrupulous money-lenders. Anyone trying to twist around my intended use of "shylock" is just another grievance-monger, or a propagandist trying to score cheap political points.
Joe Biden has done a lot of stupid, dishonest things in his life. Focusing on this one is just a waste of time. Rather than the Jewish people get their panties in a twist over their OWN interpretation of "shylock", why don't they instead go after the Administration for their support of anti-Semitic entities in the world?
' Sometimes I joke that my Mom had the "quickest hand in the east." '
Your mom and my mom must be related. I never had kids... I decided I didn't want to do to someone else what was done to me.
Jews, and I'm one, need to admit that unfortunately at least part of the negative stereotype of us being misers is the result of some of us being...well, misers.
Only yesterday there was a story in the Israeli press about how an Israeli kiosk was kicked out of a New Zealand mall for using "Shylock" type practices:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/kiosk-selling-dead-sea-products-ejected-from-new-zealand-mall/
Who are we trying to kid in pretending that there aren't any Jewish "rip-off merchants"?
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