Why is BF.net anti-Semitic?

[imaji]

I'm curious as to why my avatar was yanked. Because I'm a Jew, and proud of it? Why are avatars of black people allowed? God forbid a Jew can claim his heritage and be proud of one of our own, Ryan Braun. Will he be banned also fo being Jewish?

[Team Canada]

Yes, your avatar could only be taken as completely complementary..

[Brian the Automator]

I'm curious as to why my avatar was yanked. Because I'm a Jew, and proud of it? Why are avatars of black people allowed? God forbid a Jew can claim his heritage and be proud of one of our own, Ryan Braun. Will he be banned also fo being Jewish?

You've got to be kidding me. Brewerfan.net removes your avatar that says "jewboys", and now we're anti-semitic? I've banned people for making anti-jewish comments before, so before you make your blanket accusation in public, maybe you should have just responded to the private message to you that had already been sent by another staff member.

[imaji]

Perhaps the site should let you know when there are messages in your inbox, instead of me having to go look for one after my avatar is gone...?

 

Why is my avatar any less complimentary than that of the Hebrew Hammer? Why is the word "Jew" considered inflammatory, but "hebrew" is not? I wear my Jewboys shirt around town proudly, I paid 30 bucks for the damn thing. Jewboys is the name of my teams in all fantasy sports leagues that I play. Yahoo has never had a problem with it. I've never heard one single complaint before today. I play an online wargame with a group that calls ourselves the Jewboys, and the only complaint we ever heard was from a self-professed Nazi admin, who banned us, only to have the site owner reinstate us. So are you Nazis?

 

Did it ever occur to you to ask me about it before arbitrarily yanking it? Even the tone of the PM I received was aggressive and confrontational...

 

You need to change your avatar. If you don't do it, it'll likely result in your being banned from the site.

--1992casey

 

Sounds pretty anti-Semitic, to me.

 

 

edit: brettac1 - avatar makes political statement re: Fascism, clearly forbidden in site rules. THAT is ok, Jewboys is not? I see.

[brewers255]

I agree completley with imaji. Every person has a right to show off an avatar. So if hes Jew, he can;t show a JEw avatar? Doesnt make any sense.

[imaji]

Yahoo Fantasy Sports

 

Auto Racing

Jewboys Racin

• Ratpac Racing

• big pimpin

 

Baseball

Jewboys

• G'Rays Baseball

 

Football

Jewboys

• Vinnie the Cheap Dutchman

 

My Yahoo leagues. You want a family tree, a picture of the menorah my inlaws gave me, or what?

[imaji]

I'm not done ranting, now that you've yanked my circumcised crank. Why is it ok for Italians, Irish, African-Americans, etc etc to glory in their heritage, but not the Jews? Did some Jew here claim to be offended, or were you just being hyperactively protective for the poor, weak, downtrodden, persecuted Jews? We're so freakin' pathetic that we need protection from an avatar? My people get blown up all over our home country every damn day, I don't think a picture is gonna cause much distress in the big picture, even if it WERE intended as some sort of slight. The Journal ran a sidebar on page 2 of the Sunday sports section 3 weeks ago about the best Jewish hitters in MLB history (Hank Greenberg, Shawn Green, and 3 desperate reaches). They even called them JEWS. The horror!!!

 

This is a freakin' joke.

[Brian the Automator]

The assumption on the staff's part was that the avatar was anti-semitic. We were trying to be sensitive to Jewish culture and heritage, not the exact opposite as you suggest.

 

And I can't believe you're asking me if we're Nazis, when I _just_ mentioned I've banned people for making obvious anti-semitic responses before... not to mention that members of our staff are of Jewish heritage.

 

And the brettac avatar is clearly a tongue-in-cheek reference... Do you really think he's promoting facism?

 

I'll restore your avatar since we made a mistake on this one.

[imaji]

I appreciate it. Sorry to rant so vehemently. I have had at least 8 people ask me where they can buy a Jewboys t-shirt since I got mine, not counting the 6 I bought for my wargame teammates. They're *extremely* cool, imo. BTW, No Mas is the company that makes them, they did a special run for me after I saw a blurb in Paul Lukas' Uni Watch column on ESPN.com about the shirt he was wearing to a convention in Dallas. They have since sold out (again) of the blue ones, and they are down to only M and XXL remaining in white. Oh, and they raised the price 2 bucks since I started the new rush on them. =) Too bad I don't get a cut.

http://www.nomas-nyc.com/regseason_shirts.html

I appreciate your desire to be sensitive, but I hope you'll understand why that seems condescending. Nobody defends the Italian Stallions, why should the Jews need it?
We survived the Holocaust, daily bombings in Israel, and everything else so far, we're a lot tougher than most people assume.

BTW, if any of your Jewish staffers like hockey, these are the coolest looking Jerseys on the planet atm imho...
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-88428257664372_1956_1127331
http://yhst-88428257664372.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

[Brian the Automator]

I'm not going to go into my admiration of the Jews, because it will cross into both religious and political discussion. But just realize, I'm a big fan.

[mothershipconnection]

Jeesh, I sense another banned user around the bend. This is how it always starts.

[pitchleague]

I actually find that user name funny. Sorta. Just because I heard guys in college calling each other that name in a joking-around manner with their buddies.

 

But at the same time, I can very much see clearly how the mods were just going with the cautious angle on it. Perhaps they needed to contact you BEFORE they pulled it? Or did they? The above posts aren't too clear.

 

Anyways, watch out that you don't go overboard on Jew issues anymore or you could get banned. We get it--it's a user name you use all over the net.

 

BTW, welcome to the boards! I've already noticed some pretty decent and well thought out posts by you!

[imaji]

"Jeesh, I sense another banned user around the bend. This is how it always starts."

 

I wish I could get odds...I'm an old man now, with 5 kids. I doubt there's any topic at BF that can get me riled up enough to get banned. I fought my internet flame wars 10+ years ago, I don't get very far into "debates" that have an ugly tone, at least not in public. I have been banned from several boards over the years, but none in the past 7 or 8 years I'd guess. If I want to go off, I know how PMs work. =) I like sports a lot, maybe even still love them, but I don't live and breathe them anymore, too much else has surpassed them in importance in my life.

 

"Perhaps they needed to contact you BEFORE they pulled it? Or did they? The above posts aren't too clear."

 

Apparently the PM I cited telling me to change my avatar preceded the actual yanking, but the site doesn't appear to give you any indication that there are messages in your inbox, I didn't find it until after it was yanked, when of course I looked to see if perhaps I had been given some reason. I found no reason, just the cited msg telling me "change it or be banned".

 

"BTW, welcome to the boards! I've already noticed some pretty decent and well thought out posts by you!"

 

Thanks for the welcome, I'm not much for reading forums of any kind anymore, perhaps a reaction to the aforementioned flame wars of my past. As a rule, the things I enjoy discussing most, like religion and politics and philosophy, are not welcome except in forums dedicated to those subjects...and the problem with those is that almost nobody you come across is looking for meaningful dialogue, they're generally looking to flame opposing views or to get mindless praise from those that agree with them. I chose to join BF and post after a couple of weeks of lurking/reading, because (a) I like the Brewers a lot, and (b) the community seems vibrant, active, and filled with a diversity of reasonably intelligent people of all opinions. I found BF thru FireNedYost, and while I'm not a big fan of Ned's and think the Brewers are hindered by his 'style' and sometimes ineptness, I'm not *generally* hateful towards the guy. I don't want him fired just for the sake of firing him, I want him replaced by someone more competent like a Joe Girardi. Don't Rehire Ned Yost is probably the "attitude" I'd pick if a gun were to my head.

 

That said, I enjoy reading the posts here at BF defending Ned, and I *try* to use the opinions expressed therein to evaluate my own feelings and reactions on a given specific situation. The last thing I want to be in ANY aspect of my life is an automaton, blindly parroting an opinion I have settled on without basis. The unexamined life is not worth living is a quote I hold near and dear.

 

I enjoy the joy/despair of the homegrown, lifelong Brewer fan, being a transplant to the Milwaukee area. Being from Chicago (but living here 16 yrs now), and a White Sox fan, nobody was happier to see the Brewers make the move to the NL than I was, since I can now root for a Brewers/Sox World Series every year in good conscience. I couldn't ever bring myself to root for a Brewers/Cubs series, I detest Cubs fans (like my wife's entire family) almost as much as I detest Packer fans. Understand I do not _hate_ the Cubs or the Packers as organizations, per se, I believe each represent cornerstone franchises of their respective Leagues, and respect them on that basis. I just don't like either one particularly much, and their fans (generally) not at all. And before it gets asked, I'd root for the Brewers over the Sox in my wish WS, because (a) the Sox have one in my lifetime already, and (b) I live HERE.

[pitchleague]

"but the site doesn't appear to give you any indication that there are messages in your inbox"

 

Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. I liked how the old site had it right on top of the forums and it was pretty obvious when you had a message. Maybe I'm just missing something on this Yuku thing.

[brewers19]

The gray navigation button in the top right turns ugly blue when you've got a message, or so I'm told.

[Team Canada]

Yeah, there needs to be something far more obvious ("You have new messages!"), rather than having to know that a different color on the navigation button means you have messages.

[1992casey]

I feel badly that Brewerfan apparently made the wrong initial decision on the avatar issue. About a half a dozen of mods and staff members looked at it and were concerned that the graphic would be offensive to those of the Jewish faith. I have a question: is the term, Jewboys, something that can be used by non-Jews? As a non-Jew, it doesn't seem to be something that I'd feel comfortable saying.

 

Just a thought here… a lot of our members like to switch avatars fairly frequently. Based artistic quality, I think the Star of David in the hockey jersey looks super-cool. Yuku allows members to upload and store an unlimited number of avatars, so it's easy to switch back and forth based on what you happen to like at a given time.

 

Count me in among those who feel the new message notification leaves a lot to be desired. I know a Yuku staffer is working on something new, but I also know it's been in the works for quite a while. It has to either be considered a low priority, or it's something that's more difficult to implement than those of us on our end might think.

 

Here's information on new message notifications, including information about the usefulness of the Yuku Firefox extension. This will eventually go into the Usability FAQ. Unfortunately, migration came too quickly for the FAQ to be updated on time.

[Brian the Automator]

Yeah, out of curiosity I asked some non-Brewerfan people what their first impression was when someone showed up with a "Jewboys" avatar. I asked if they thought it was anti-semitic or not, and their initial reaction was "yes". Lesson learned for us, I guess.

[uecker9]

I love the jersey and am gonna order one today!

[imaji]

I feel badly that Brewerfan apparently made the wrong initial decision on the avatar issue. About a half a dozen of mods and staff members looked at it and were concerned that the graphic would be offensive to those of the Jewish faith. I have a question: is the term, Jewboys, something that can be used by non-Jews? As a non-Jew, it doesn't seem to be something that I'd feel comfortable saying.

I dunno either, to be honest. I'm sure different Jews would feel different about it, kinda like how black folks feel about the "N-word". I have 20+ yr friendships with black guys (whether I was in the Army with them or whatever), and I can call them "my n***", and they say it to me as well. A stranger who didn't know me/us/our relationship could easily be offended...it actually came up in a job situation once, where a black employee of mine who actually started calling me the "whitest n*** on the face of the earth" had to defend me from a racism accusation to HR because an employee on another shift heard us jawjackin each other. Afaik, the NoMas shirt is based on the designers love for this band:

 

http://www.kinkyfriedmanstore.com/files/Blake/jewboys_front.gif

The band's website doesn't make it clear if they intend it as a slur, and basically I don't care. I have chosen to embrace the term, especially since my Mom (recently deceased) always called me "her little Jewboy" (I was adopted as a baby by my parents, who got me from a married orthodox attorney and his secretary...oops). Illegitimate children weren't SO common in the '60s, and especially not in the orthodox Jewish community in Chicago.

 

The point is, just as NWA, PE, and many other "gangsta rappers" chose to embrace a term originally meant to have a negative context, I have chosen to embrace and grown to love the term Jewboy, and turn a negative (if that's indeed what it was intended to be) into a positive. It's not as inflammatory or confrontational as, say, "Kike", which I don't think could be justified in any context. I'm a Jew, I'm a boy (man), so it works for me, and I'm just glad I'm in America where I can wear my Jewboys gear freely without bombs going off. However, if anything ever happened to my wife and kids, I've made a vow to emigrate to Israel and join the IDF.

 

"Yeah, out of curiosity I asked some non-Brewerfan people what their first impression was when someone showed up with a "Jewboys" avatar. I asked if they thought it was anti-semitic or not, and their initial reaction was "yes". Lesson learned for us, I guess. "

 

I completely understand your POV on the situation, my real complaint was just that, from _my_ POV, it was yanked without discussion or a chance to defend it. THAT was the reason for this post. I didn't even think to check my inbox here on the site until after I had posted, and even then, as I said, there wasn't much 'discussion' offered, just a yank it or face the consequences-type ultimatum. Although I love my avatar, I'm actually jealous of Hebrew Hammers now, I think it's even a tad spiffier.

 

And Uecker, glad ya liked the jersey, I *just* found them like 4-5 days ago, and I'm still trying to calm down and decide on either the home or away, since my wife will go apescheiss if I buy both. =p My IIHF T-shirt is already en-route tho. =)

 

[brettac1]

Kinky and the Texas Jewboys is Kinky Friedman's band. He is actually Jewish himself.

 

And since for some reason I got called out for my avatar by you, which was pretty lame if I do say, the picture in mine is a close-up of Woody Guthrie's guitar. I honestly thought that pretty much everyone would know that, but whatever, though.

[brewerjamie15]

As long as we are throwing out opinions and feelings about that specific avatar, I am speaking out by saying I do not like it. I find it insulting and inflammatory. It's your avatar, not mine. I don't have to like it, and I don't. I think that it's over the top and I'd ask that you consider other people's points of view and perhaps change it. You don't have to change it, but I would certainly appreciate you considering it.

[patrickgpe]

the first time i saw that avatar it caught my eye too, and of course i had no idea whether you were mocking the jewish religion or not. I do know that I would never use my religion as part of my fantasy football nickname, but thats me.

 

That would be like if Marquette actually did change their nickname to the jumping jesuits as the students wanted a few years ago.

[SeriesFinale]

I was aware of Kinky Friedman, etc before this avatar business but it still struck me as pretty provocative.

[TheBwaz]

I'm about as Jewish as non-member of the tribe can get. Growing up my very Irish Catholic family belonged to the Jewish community center (it was open on Christmas and the daycare was awesome). I'll be standing up in a Jewish wedding over Labor Day, Sunday so we don't have to start so late.

 

Something like this, coming from a Jewish guy, is about as offensive as a WWJD bracelet. Besides, is Jerry Jones Jewish (I really don't know) or Romo?

 

If you can be offended by the avatar you better know what 18 really means.