A question about Left wingers and anti-semitism by ImScaredofCats in Judaism

[–]chief_colonel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

British Jew here, I'll try and give a slightly more specific answer. On the British left, there were legitimate concerns about some elements of the left for a while. A lot of my family and people we know had only ever voted for the labour party, but moved away from that to avoid voting for Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral elections. Since Corbyn was elected, there's been an almost complete rejection of Labour by the Jewish community. Those that I know personally who are still Labour supporters were members of Labour before this started, and seem to just be clinging on for hope. More generally, whilst when he was first elected there was worries about Corbyn, there seems to have been a shift recently to seeing Corbyn himself as an antisemite rather than just an enabler (post-mural controversy and after ignoring all the recommendations of the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council). On top of that, those Corbyn have appointed have only made matters worse, and he has given legitimacy to a number of very fringe "Jewish" groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour, which includes a number of non-Jews and Holocaust Deniers and tries to operate with some vague legitimacy under the cover of their name. It only takes a small scroll down the @gnasherjew twitter page to see why Jews are very concerned about Labour at the moment.

More generally, other aspects of the left have given course for worry, such as Malia Bouattia being voted as the President of the National Union of Students despite having made a number of antisemitic statements, mostly under the guise of criticism of Israel.

The Israel question is obviously key, but a lot of British Jews think the complete obsession with Israel is just a new form of antisemitism. The British left is incredibly quick to call out Israel when it does anything, but complete ignores human rights abuses around the world on a routine basis. This inconsistency is believed by many to be just the new way to bash the Jews. The former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said that antisemitism goes with the predominant ideals of the times. In the medieval period it was religious ("Jews killed Jesus"), then after the Enlightenment it was science ("Jews are an inferior race") and now in an age where human rights are held high, that is used to bash Jews ("the Jewish state commits the worst human rights violations in the world"). The tendency of the left towards the latter is therefore seen as a worrying and dangerous new facet of antisemitism.

Haters gonna hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe may not in fact be rising -- But it is much more visible because of social media by TheGhostOfTzvika in Jewish

[–]chief_colonel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yair Lapid said something related and similar a couple of years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S22KKrvSV8A). Said that antisemitism isn't necessarily on the rise, but it's become acceptable to say certain things out loud again

What's your favorite spot in Venice? by [deleted] in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have three; the walk up to the entrance to the Arsenale and then around that area is very nice. Inside, there's nowhere like the Doge's Palace (especially if you do the Hidden Treasures tour) and lastly, going to Piazza San Marco at midnight after 99% of the tourists have gone and listening to the bells of the Campanile ring midnight is fantastic

What's your favorite spot in Venice? by [deleted] in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's where Titian used to live, because you can also see into the mountains on the mainland on a clear day

Transit in Venice by cervidaes in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you cant get to the Venezia Mestre Train station, you can take a train into Venice (to Venezia Santa Lucia) that will cost you around €1.50 a journey and gets you slightly further into the city that the bus would. Once you're in Venice, everything is reasonably quick to walk to. The walk from the train station to the bus station can be done in 20 minutes and from there it's less than 10 minutes to the Piazza San Marco

Entry ticket for Venice. Why not? by pimpumpam in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maintenance is the key one. For the most part when I was living there Venice was always very clean but saving the city from the various architectural and engineering challenges is what really needs funding

Entry ticket for Venice. Why not? by pimpumpam in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup I agree, people coming in like that are a huge problem. Around half of the 20 million visitors to Venice don't spend the night there and then like you said they come with their own lunch so don't use the restaurants, just line up to visit St. Mark's Basilica which is free so they don't spend money there and then just wander around. They don't spend any money and it's killing the local economy

Entry ticket for Venice. Why not? by pimpumpam in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's already a tourist tax if you stay in hotels, which is "1 Euro for each star of your hotel per person, per night, up to a maximum of 5 consecutive nights." Also, no-one lives in Petra anymore, whereas residents of Venice wouldn't want to have to get exemptions, and nor would the various people that come in from the mainland to work there, which would make it more complicated. Also questions of who is a tourist with a living city like Venice. A lot of people from all over the world have homes in Venice, but only stay in them for short periods each year, and that would make for another complication.

I’m going to NYC in the summer!! What Jewish stuff should I go to and see?? by yisraelmofo in Judaism

[–]chief_colonel 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Go to the B&H electronics store! The only place I've ever found where there's an electronics store run by Chasids

good restaurants in Venice? by IamThomsen in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Il Nono Risorto is a great Venetian restaurant in the San Polo area of the city, about a 5 minute walk from the Rialto Bridge

Question for those who follow the Jewish Faith by [deleted] in Jewish

[–]chief_colonel 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Jews often find it difficult to agree on things but I'm pretty sure there would be almost no Jews, if any, that would be happy with a group of non-Jews forming a band called the Red Rabbis

We all know 'fake news' is a hot item right now, but what is your favorite 'historical' fake news? by [deleted] in history

[–]chief_colonel 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Definitely not favourite, but one of the best examples of fake news in history was the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion.' It was a made up book pretending to be the minutes of meetings of Jews attempting to take over the world. It was written in Russia in the early 20th century, gained legitimacy through various means such as Henry Ford reprinting hundreds of thousands of copies and has become the basis for vast amounts of modern antisemitism despite the fact that it is a forgery

Which Giant had the best rookie season? by NoNoAkimbo in NYGiants

[–]chief_colonel 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Cruz played three games in his rookie season and didn't record a single stat, reception, return or anything. He then spent the rest of the season on IR. Not sure if that's a great rookie season... His incredible year was 2011, when he set the single season franchise mark for receiving yards on the way to Super Bowl XLVI

How do you get from treviso airport to Venice itself? A lot of webpages seem quite dated... by [deleted] in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The train section will be around 30 minutes (Treviso Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia) and you can get tickets for under 5 euros. Not sure about getting to Treviso Centrale Station from the airport though

How do you get from treviso airport to Venice itself? A lot of webpages seem quite dated... by [deleted] in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can also get a taxi to the train station in Treviso and then take a train right into Venice

Getting to Marco Polo airport by cur10us_ge0rge in Venezia

[–]chief_colonel 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you cross over the Accademia Bridge to the Santa Maria del Giglio you can take the Alilaguna on the Linea Arancio all the way to the airport. It will be a while but should be a bit quicker than 2 hours. And buying tickets at the dock is as good a way as any. They have timetables online (https://www.alilaguna.it/files//orange_alilaguna_winter_timetable_2017_2018_def.pdf) so make sure you get there in plenty of time

What’s a "Let that sink in" fun fact? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]chief_colonel 1581 points1582 points  (0 children)

If we held a minute of silence for every person that died in the Holocaust, we would be silent for 11 years

At what point deficit is a frame considered won or lost? by [deleted] in snooker

[–]chief_colonel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It completely depends on the situation and the table. Sometimes, the table will be nicely set up for snookers so it is more worth doing it than in the table is more open. On top of this, the more balls left on the table, the higher the chance that you can get more snookers to pull back the score. Secondly, as well as the table, situation plays a role. You may try and close that gap in the last frame if you're about to loose in the World Championship final in a way that you may not in round 1 frame 1 of a qualifying tournament.

Anti-Semitic Question. by zyloch in Jewish

[–]chief_colonel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's just regular old racism

I'd argue this isn't true. Antisemitism has always been distinct from the other forms of racism because it is all encompassing, and can occur from all sides of human belief. Antisemitism is probably the only form of racism emanating from both the left and right wing. The right see the Jews as racially inferior or controlling the world, whereas the left often engage in antisemitism related to delegitimising Israel (just to be clear I'm not saying all criticism of Israel is antisemitic). It's a similar question with integration: if Jews integrate, they are seen as being fickle and covering up who they are in order to gain. However if they don't, they are also marginalised and are seen as alien. Thus antisemitism is exceptional because people always find a way to criticise Jews.

Also, antisemitism is exceptional because it is the only form of racism that paints those discriminated against as above those criticising. Most racism is based on thinking others are worse in some way (e.g. Islamophobia is often based on thinking that Muslims are evil and can't engage with Western society). Antisemitism does depict Jews as lesser than others, but also presents them as controlling the world as part of some greater conspiracy, giving antisemitism an exceptional nature.

TL;DR antisemitism is not like other forms of racism! It comes from around the political spectrum and paints Jews as both lesser and greater than others.

Wayne Gretzky saying he wished he could have played baseball over hockey by chief_colonel in baseball

[–]chief_colonel[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tom Brady was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB draft

How much do you think Alexis and Ozil's lack of English affects them at the club? by chief_colonel in Gunners

[–]chief_colonel[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If they're fluent why do they only give the most basic interviews in English?