Saturday, January 6, 2007

Prejudice and the Personal Experience

I deal with anti-Semitism daily. It's my fault generally, I don't hide being Jewish. I mean, I should be able to be Jewish without getting picked on, but sometimes I pick fights online with people that are anti-Semitic. I don't do flaming contests, but I try to prove them wrong, and when that fails, I try to just show the world what fools they are. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere, though. My username on YouTube makes it clear I am Jewish, and sometimes when I put a comment on a video I get people replying to my comment with anti-Semitic hatred, which is not deserved by my comment. I am polite and respectful to all people, but I don't often get the same from them .

To give a more dramatic example of what I am talking about, I will tell you that I was once attacked on the street by a neo-Nazi for being Jewish. So I have lots to be afraid of. But I still try to be decent and kind to all people. Another example of prejudice comes from my own family. My grandpa is German and is a Holocaust survivor. And he's racist. He dislikes my mom because she's Indian and Japanese. He was probably hoping my dad would settle down with a nice white Jewish woman. Well, I'm Jewish, but not white. I have to wonder sometimes if he'd be more affectionate if I were white, want to visit more. Usually my race isn't a problem, just my religion, but it seems neither is really acceptable..