#Jews
Ah, Sweden. Birthplace of Ikea. Home of Abba. Case-study in government use of social media gone terribly wrong.
It seems that the Swedish Tourism Board thought that turning over the official @Sweden Twitter Account to regular folks from around the country would be a great way to expose the rest of the world to all the country has to offer. I’m not sure how long the Curators of Sweden program has been running, but it got a boost of publicity this morning when the current curator, Sonja Abrahamsson, tweeted the following:
Whats the fuzz with jews. You can’t even see if a person is a jew, unless you see their penises, and even if you do, you can’t be sure!?
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
In nazi German they even had to sew stars on their sleeves. If they didn’t, they could never now who was a jew and who was not a jew.
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
Once I asked a co-worker what a jew is. He was “part jew”, whatever that means. He’s like “uuuuh… jews are.. uh.. well educated..?”
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
Where I come from there is no jews. I guess its a religion. But why were the nazis talking about races? Was it a blood-thing (for them)?
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
Im sorry if some of you find the question offensive. Thats was not my purpose. I just don’t get why some people hates jews so much.
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
I thought it was a good idea to ask the question when so many well educated people all over the world can answer. But no. Bad idea.
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
The question seems to be sensitive and complicated. And a little bit…..… infected. So…. yes. See you later, I have stuff to do!
— @sweden / Sonja (@sweden) June 12, 2012
I can’t be the only one reminded of Henry Blodget’s similar question on Business Insider at the end of last month, although there’s clearly a difference between tweets from someone who self-identifies as an under-educated woman from a little isty-bitsy village and the CEO of a respected publication. But I’ve got to wonder myself if there’s something about this moment that’s bringing “the Jewish question” back into public discourse.
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it doesn’t seem all that racist, just well-meaning ignorance.
—KRG · June 12th, 2012 at 10:23 am
There are stupid people everywhere.
—Adam · June 12th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
If you go back a bit, there’s also a few other gems:
“Oh strawberries… dripping with milk an urine. So tasty… “@MalinVK: @sweden mmmm.. Lunch efterrätt! pic.twitter.com/itWWfPcA”” (twitter.com/sweden/status/212486962228101120)
“I found some pics I’ve shopped on da computer. This pic I call “hungry gay with aids”. yfrog.com/ke3mfwej” (twitter.com/sweden/status/212482408942010368)
“Sometimes I just look at my children and think about the time when they had my vagina round their neck.” (twitter.com/sweden/status/212440361199616000)
—Charles · June 12th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Another Gem from Sonja: twitter.com/sweden/status/212482408942010368
—Anon · June 12th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Y’know, if someone dropped their trousers and revealed multiple penises, I imagine I’d be wondering about a few other things before their religion.
—Alana · June 12th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Poor Sonja. I’m fine with the Swedish social media effort though. I like Swedes and Sweden.
—Jew Guevara · June 12th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
This cracked me up, but looking at her name again – Abrahamsson – I’m wondering if this is a Borat-ish prank.
—em · June 12th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
How… bizarre…
—Liam · June 12th, 2012 at 9:32 pm
@em Nah. I’m sure she’s as dumb and ignorant as she claims. I blame the Swedes. Blame the Swedes!
forward.com/articles/157711/swedens-tweeter-for-week-missteps-on-jews
—adam davis · June 13th, 2012 at 10:54 am
Alana-
Clearly she’s been reading Eli Valley cartoons.
—BZ · June 14th, 2012 at 11:53 am