Yid Moments

In Grandpa's Fight an episode of Aaron McGruder's Boondocks, main character Huey Freeman considers the significance of his granfather beating up an even older man. He refers to the shame felt not only for himself but also for his people as a "nigger" moment. Seemingly, any minority, racial, religious, or sexual subgroup could point to an instance when the misbehavior of one of its members makes as big a statement about the group as it does about the individual resppnsiblke for the act. Enter the most gropingest governor this side of the Sierras, Elliot Spitzer, the man responsible for my recent yid moment.

 

Forget he cut his political figure by casting himself as a figure of probity. Who cares about this in the context of his career? Certainly, I feel bad for the women in his life, but, hey, the guy is the 21st century dirty Jew - cheating on his wife, doing so on the taxpayers' dime, then having the chutzpah althewhile to go after New York state legislators for misuse of state funds. This is not a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. It is a sad day to be a Jew. 

 

In my people's history, there have been lots of sad days, but we are only two generations removed from protective covenants, university admissions, the taboos of a white-bread, milquetoast America where direct involvement in politics was a sucker bet for minorities. However, though ethnic and racial groups assimilate into the national culture, though they enjoy greater legal protection of culture and expression than before, one slip up rewinds, even for a little while, the gains any one of those groups have made in the public eye. Any transgression by an unwhite or unChristian person has a compound effect. The peril lies in condemnation for the act itself, as well as associating such behavior to the group rather than the transgressor. This benighted thinking seems less prevelant in a politically correct society where the fear of repercussion for insensitivity mitigates the expression of what people really feel. Yet, it is equally insideous. Merely because no one hears back lash of the racist sort does not mean the underlying tension and prejudice does not exist. Even America has had institutional anti-Semitism, though not as violent, as overt, or as state sponsored as 'liberal' European nations. So, should Jews worry about it when one of their own has gone wild?

 

David Berkowitz killed lots of pretty white girls. No pogroms. Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, the Kristols and Norman Podhoretz were either architects or advocates of the ongoing Iraq War. 4000 American combat troops have died. Many others have suffered mental and physical trauma. No book burnings, no Night of Broken Glass. Maybe the haters have lost their spine. Hence, worry might seem premature, but the moral of Malamud's The Fixer that Jews cannot afford to be 'unpolitical,' that eternal vigilance is the price of survival as well as liberty, should still merit attention. 

 

However, the best way to work through this recent crisis of cultural faith might be the way Jews have coped for years: laugh. The man screwed up his family life. He ruined his political career. How is that funny? For starters, he paid for a hooker by wire. For a Princeton man, he sure is daft. Did he ever prosecute a hooker while he was an NYC DA? Did he believe he was the inspiration for Michael Moriarty's character in Law & Order? The man's name will forever be a punchline. At least, the joke will only be funny while late night television hosts deem it to be, fifteen minutes if we're lucky.