Thursday, December 11, 2008

Fanfare for the Common Man

A quickie...After spending some very extended hours in my school's library basement these past few weeks studying for my finals, I have made a decision. On a whole I find that gentiles (I don't like the "non-jews" phrase) are nicer to complete strangers than frum jews are (excluding the obvious extremes such as Lubavitch shluchim etc.) Maybe it's because we are a very insular community or maybe we are just naturally rude as a people, but I would like to submit this as a concrete conclusion from my very scientific research study.

Go ahead and roast me in the comments.

SCS...F

12 comments:

  1. Nope, you're totally correct. I mean, not all gentiles are equally nice - for instance, I've lived in the midwest for a long time and can tell you that gentiles in the cornfields are tremendously nicer than those where i grew up on the east coast.

    That being said, I've heard countless stories from biological, observant Jews and Gentile friends alike that are all some variation on "and then Random Frummy Lady ran over my ankles with her stroller - and yelled at me for being in the way!" or "Small Boy with Peyot wouldn't give up his bus seat for a pregnant woman!" or "I'm a Vietnam/Crimean/French-Indian War veteran and Old Furry Hat Wearer stole my wallet!". In fact, I was almost convinced *not* to throw my lot in with the Jewish people when I realized that the sources were usually a lot more inviting than the people.

    Recently, a friend described this to me as being a culturally Jewish problem directly related to an ancient entitlement that stretches across centuries -- oh, what was it called? Oh yeah, "God's chosen people"....

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  2. Eh. I agree and disagree. No patience to explain, just wanted to preserve this for appeal.

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  3. Nemo: preserved for appeal, and I eagerly await your response.

    Nameless: I am glad you decided to throw your lot in with us despite all the stories you haveheard. I don't regret being frum (well except for the occassional fast food craving) and these stories bother me.
    You may have heard them, but being a born and bred New Yawker (although B"h not Brooklyn born and bred) I have seen these stories myself.

    This is a favorite topic of mine to rant on so you will definitely being hearing more about it. Just the tip of the iceberg....

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  4. I am sad to see my little post-naming song game has not lived up to my expectations. Oh well, its not like I am gonna stop, I enjoy it to much.

    Was hoping someone else would too, but with only 2 serial commenters (whom I am very appreciative of) what can I expect.

    Carry on....(my wayward son)

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  5. Cry me a river - I didn't have two commenters to rub together for *at least* a month. :)

    And Aaron Copland. At least I think, but I'm too tired to Google for verification.

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  6. Aaron Copland as in the classical music composer? You have my word that I don't go to the classical section for names for my posts.

    I am a big classic rock fan, and consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable in the field. Just a function of growing up in ahome where my dad played his records all the time and that was his musical passion. Bob Seger, Elton John, Billy Joel, Boston, The Doors,Bruce Springsteen, Abba,Bee Gees, Beatles, ZZ Top and so on and so forth.

    That is where the majority of my post names have come, and will continue to come from.
    Thanks for playing...

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  7. What a shame - I thought my Music 101 class was finally paying off.

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  8. Since you mentioned Music 101...

    Queens College, my esteemed alma mater, has their own music school - The Aaron Copland School of Music, where I took what is the most worthless class of my academic career to date. Music 001 Intro to Music, taught by a 6'4" gay cellist whose name escapes me at the moment.

    Thank you for dredging up that wonderful memory.

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  9. i dont think jews are ruder than non jews -
    but frum ashki jews are ruder than frum sfardi jews and jews in nyc are ruder than all other jews and most non jews, aside from new york non jews.
    and whats wrong with 'non-jews'?
    and la france est un pays arabe!
    and i hate 80's music and lawschool
    but your blog's decent so far :)

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  10. I am not sure where the 80's music diatribe is coming from as I am targeting music from the glorious decade previous to that (the title of this post is an Emerson lake and Palmer song) but you are not alone in your hatred of 80's music. I have been mocked endlessly as a result of my fondness for 'Men Without Hats' and other bands of their ilk.

    Nor are you alone in your hatred for law school and I appreciate your candor, that is what this blog is all about.

    Now, your comments about the rudeness levels of jews I can get on board with partially. I do not know if you are sfardi or ashkenazi but I do not have much data on who is ruder between the two groups, although it does make sense that the ashkenazi are worse, if only because I find them so insufferably rude that it is hard to imagine anyone beating them at their own game.

    NY jews are most certainly the rudest of all, but that is due to the fact that they live in NY, if they dwelled anywhere else they would probably be averagely rude at best.

    As for the "non-jews" phrase, it just rubs me the worng way, although not as bad as calling people 'goyim' or black people 'shvartzas'.

    ...and thanks for the compliment, I am just calling 'em like I see 'em...

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  11. Completeing passing over the actual post and going straight for the title, I actually got excited when I saw it because I love that piece, aron copland's fanfare I mean. But then I sadly discovered that you were going for the much less well cultured rip off, of which I know nothing of.

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  12. I had a brain spasm when I titled the post. I am very familiar with the Aaron Copland piece, as well as the one I was referring to, the one by Emerson Lake and Palmer. The Copland version is certainly beautiful, but the ELP version is truly something to behold. You should listen to it, you may enjoy it. If you do not enjoy it, well then you have at least opened yourself up to something new and different which is more than most people can say for themselves.

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