Please note: the above member, who is the very model of a modern major-general, with information vegetable, animal, and mineral, has retired from BnA and won't be able to answer any follow-up questions. If you really need to speak with him, use the PM function. Please direct all Schengen visa questions here. Likewise, expat questions go here. Remember to vote tiger penis. Oh, and if possible, be kind to Jester and Stoo.
Posts: 1999 | Location: Retired. | Registered: 30 June 2005
Originally posted by static: Now I wonder what kind of Jew the person was. Ashkenazi? Sephardi? Mizrahi?
So far, my best guess is that this fellow is of an early 20th century, non-practicing Ashkenazim variety on his way to Burbank to star in one of those new talking pictures. Vaudeville being dead, of course, a Yiddish showman must now look for work in the newly-emerging American cinema. That, to the best of my knowledge, is how far back the "zem" stereotype goes.
Please note: the above member, who is the very model of a modern major-general, with information vegetable, animal, and mineral, has retired from BnA and won't be able to answer any follow-up questions. If you really need to speak with him, use the PM function. Please direct all Schengen visa questions here. Likewise, expat questions go here. Remember to vote tiger penis. Oh, and if possible, be kind to Jester and Stoo.
Posts: 1999 | Location: Retired. | Registered: 30 June 2005
Originally posted by Not the first Travis: Along with all of that....it's just a very uninteresting rant/story. Why write it?
Another excellent point. Many here have several plane stories that are much more exotic. Mine rely a good deal on my being mistaken for what my president refers to as "those who hate the freedom."
I see your couple with a baby and raise you a U.S. marshal with a 9MM.
Please note: the above member, who is the very model of a modern major-general, with information vegetable, animal, and mineral, has retired from BnA and won't be able to answer any follow-up questions. If you really need to speak with him, use the PM function. Please direct all Schengen visa questions here. Likewise, expat questions go here. Remember to vote tiger penis. Oh, and if possible, be kind to Jester and Stoo.
Posts: 1999 | Location: Retired. | Registered: 30 June 2005
Yea i read it this morning. also wondered why his being jewish mattered. And I agree w/ NFTF that this was not a remarkable story. If i were the editor at BnA, I would not have published this.
I don't understand why pointing out that the man was Jewish was at all relevant. And, to call it out - with m-dashes no less - was even more pointless.
"But what about the people you end up sitting next to on that plane? Sometimes their intention seems to be to make your trip as difficult as possible."
I wonder if the air-sick father, who happened to be Jewish, was thinking the same thing.
One mod has already expressed his distaste for the article's Jewish reference (see above). I may be mistaken, but I imagine few of the mods take part in editing the articles section of the site. Hardly fair to ask them to speak for BnA as a whole or as a "company." (And I use the term "company" as loosely as possible, as from what I understand it's pretty much a fridge full of beers, a computer, and a desk.)
Google the author and contact her directly if you'd like. As for BnA's side, PM Sean and/or email the editor if you really feel it's necessary. Personally, I find the article as a whole rather silly, but not grossly offensive. Certainly not anything to get lathered up about.
The boards themselves are filled with far more off-kilter rants and ridiculous comments. I know, because I am responsible for many of them.
Please note: the above member, who is the very model of a modern major-general, with information vegetable, animal, and mineral, has retired from BnA and won't be able to answer any follow-up questions. If you really need to speak with him, use the PM function. Please direct all Schengen visa questions here. Likewise, expat questions go here. Remember to vote tiger penis. Oh, and if possible, be kind to Jester and Stoo.
Posts: 1999 | Location: Retired. | Registered: 30 June 2005
BnA allows a wide variety of potential writers publish their work on its site. The people come from a variety of background, cultures, and sensitivities and want to try their hand at writing. It really isn't the position of BnA to coddle and shape what writers should or should not be saying in their work. BnA does make a cursory determination to ensure some pieces are not published, but errs on the side of letting the author's voice heard. That said, the author has spoken, and is probably reading your feedback right now. Maybe they will incorporate your constructive criticism into their next work.
Posts: 2694 | Location: US | Registered: 21 June 2004
Well said, Slip. Everyone has a voice, whether we agree or disagree. Authors have the right to tell their stories the way they experienced them. I don't always like what I read, but that doesn't mean the writer is wrong because they see things differently from me.
That being said (rather written), I found the article to be an honest portrayal of what occurred. Even the flight attendant was disturbed by the couple's rudeness. Would it have made a difference if the couple were Christians, Muslims, Buddhists?
Posts: 25 | Location: Portland, Or | Registered: 16 June 2004
Would it have made a difference if the couple were Christians, Muslims, Buddhists?
I think that's the point. There was no reason to cite that this man was of a certain religious/cultural background. Rather than add to the story, it detracted from it and gave it an inappropriate skew.
I hear you, Annie, and I respect your perspective. For me, the focus was on the couple's expectations and mannerisms, not their religion or background.
Posts: 25 | Location: Portland, Or | Registered: 16 June 2004
There is a difference between writing "A Jewish man sat beside my seat" and "A man — a Jewish man — sat beside my seat."
The dashes set it apart to signify some sort of importance. THAT is why people have taken issue with this, Traveller, because the author made it a point to call that out.
I understand, traveller, and that's what I took, as well. However, I would like to know the neccesity of calling in out in the way described by Justin. The article would have been much more effective had she just said, "the man who sat beside me."
Originally posted by Traveller At Heart: Authors have the right to tell their stories the way they experienced them.
And BnA editors have a right to keep it off of their site, and BnA members have a right to blather on about it if BnA editors don't reserve that right, and BnA editors have a right to respond with "meh," and so on and so forth. With so many rights, how can we go wrong?
quote:
It looks as though the editor has taken "something" into consideration here. I see a change.
Well, he's no longer "a man - a Jewish man" but he still speaks like Major Strasser. That, apparently, is tantamount to the story and to his innate Drewishness.
Please note: the above member, who is the very model of a modern major-general, with information vegetable, animal, and mineral, has retired from BnA and won't be able to answer any follow-up questions. If you really need to speak with him, use the PM function. Please direct all Schengen visa questions here. Likewise, expat questions go here. Remember to vote tiger penis. Oh, and if possible, be kind to Jester and Stoo.
Posts: 1999 | Location: Retired. | Registered: 30 June 2005
I had followed this thread as it developed but just read the article yesterday. I found the change indicated by the post above and I can understand why it was changed.
As a whole, I didn't really care for this story. I felt like the author made herself quite unsympathetic. It felt like I was being dragged into a temper-tantrum and being told I had to agree with her. If I were another passenger on this flight I would have found the author "plane annoying". All in all, the author's is a perspective I don't find interesting to follow. I understand a previous poster's view of not having to like or agree with what you read, however, I found the only value to this piece would be if I agreed with the author and felt justified in venting about this particular set of the woes of air travel. I didn't feel that way and subsequently could not connect with the article.
Maybe this piece could be used by the author to, once removed from the situation, think clearly and honestly about how she treats others. As an interesting travel piece, I don't think it works.
--------------------------------------- I don't want to be fearless, I want to be brave.
Posts: 2052 | Location: Portland, OR | Registered: 22 April 2005
