Have We No Shame?
Marvin Schick, a vanguard of the old school, has a blog and posted his recent Jewish Week column to it. He asks some pointed questions about the hipster Jewish community represented by this blog and Heeb magazine. In particular regarding how we’ve been hailing Sarah Silverman as the new messiah of Jewish identity.
I wonder whether those who decide programming for the Jewish community reflect on the implications of what they are willing to do. Are there any limits to how low we will stoop? Do we care that other Americans look at what we are promoting and too many have come to believe that Jews stand for cultural degeneration? Do we care that while people may come to our programming which features dirty jokes, there is no evidence that such activities result in an even attenuated form of Jewish identity? Put otherwise, are we able to recognize that our indulgence in shmutz is for shmutz’s sake?
Food for thought. Let the comments war begin.
Lenny Bruce, anyone?
Anyone?
Marvin Schick? Vanguard of the old school? What old school?
You have been totally duped This is a guy who pays to have his “op-eds” printed as advertisements. Marvin is a crank and nothing more.
Link to the full article?
http://mschick.blogspot.com/
In any case, I agree that Sarah Silverman isn’t any kind of role model. I don’t even find her very funny, and there are plenty of other comics who are much more incisive and subversive without banking in on shock value. Any campaign to get better Jewish role models out there is A-OK with me. ;D
Lewis Black kicks ass
Marvin Schick writes in his essay: “…no other ethnic group has stooped as low as we have”
That’s an interesting statement. So I guess Mr. Schick is endorsing collective guilt ? There are a lot of directions one could go with that concept
Talking about taboo subjects in a humorous way is therapeutic for society. Marvin should read Freud’s The Joke and It’s Relation to the Unconsciousness.
Another take on “…no other ethnic group has stooped as low as we have”:
What about the urban music industry, which, as some African American community activists have pointed out, releases video after video invariably portraying Black men as ostentatiously wealthy gangstas presiding over a harem of half-naked skanky Black women? Talk about perpetuating one’s own racial stereotypes. That’s stooping much lower than featuring *one* foul-mouthed (but at least fully-dressed) Jewish comedian in a film festival.
ok, Sarah Silverman’s comedy is really not funny.
i went to see jesus is magic last week and i loved every minute of it. what schick is completely missing is the “character” silverman plays: a j.a.p. who is completely oblivious to her own racism and who can’t understand why she offends people. she reminds me of oh so many girls i meet here in jerusalem and the way they “innocently” make the most horrendous remarks about arabs. silverman’s doing a public service in a certain sense: she’s turning the mirror back on us and saying, here is the extreme magnification of yourself. and i think it’s brilliant.
the director says it himself in atlanta jewish life: “she mixes the sweet with the bitter, making fun of racists, perverts, the materialistic, the two-faced and the self-centered – by acting like them all herself.”
Sure we haven’t sunk any lower than Chris Rock, Lis Lampaneli, MARGRET CHO! please- the best known jewish comic, the Helige Jerry Seinfeld, didn’t even curse in his act, whereas other cultural comics seem to curse and employ lude humor almost exclusively (see Comic View) Larry David is now the hottest Jewish comedian and he’s clean. Shick is right and wrong: Right- jews should hold oursleves to a high standard of conduct especially when representing ourselves as jewish. Ron Jeremy is a pornstar, ok. Silverman posed AS a Jew MOCKING other (religious) Jews and did so distatsefully. Wrong- Shick is wrong in that he quotes purists who hate jews (or Jeiwsh purists who hate non-religious jews) there is little merit to his contention that jews are viewed as among the most base elements of society. Indeed, I think we can all agree that distinction lies w/ Gangster Rappers of all colors and those subscribers to urban “culture” and Southerners, they’re terrible, and any Red State for that matter. But if jews curse a little and make some lude comments that may entertain some, must we apologize to whatever religious factions decry “Jewish Baseness”? No, we don’t have to apologize for BEING. There are plenty other comics and entertainers who have beein degrading the culture of this counrty (if that is your belief). Jews don’t have a monopoly on the media nor do we have a monopoly on lude humor. Though, we should get someone on that right away!
Sarah Silverman says in her movie that porn stars should be role models because they wax their tusches. I don’t think she’s trying to be one herself. Mobius – you hit the nail on the head.
“she reminds me of oh so many girls i meet here in jerusalem and the way they “innocently” make the most horrendous remarks about arabs. silverman’s doing a public service in a certain sense: she’s turning the mirror back on us and saying, here is the extreme magnification of yourself.”
It sounds more like she is turning the mirror on the girls that you probably want to sleep with despite your feelings of moral superiority?
I’ve actually never seen this Sarah Silverman person, but nmy question is, how could any truly transgressive person date Jimmy Kimmel?
whatev! jewish people are racist. who says mobius likes to sleep with racist people?
shmutz or schmaltz.
I miss my bubbie’s cooking.
my comments on his site…
The real “tragedy” here is how you are bemoaning the loss of a Judaism that you strongly identify with while denigrating those Jews who are actively choosing to make a Jewish identity part of their lives. Unfortunately “one soul” at a time is not enough. I really hate to make this a generational issue but you seem to be focused on the concept of Jewish continuity while magazines like Heeb and other subcultures are focusing on Jewish vibrancy. It is a difference in perspective that impacts everything from programming to outreach/inreach, to paternalistic comments on your blog. Rather than focus on what you see as being “near the bottom of the barrel.” I am sorry you maintain such a negative conception of what a Jewish identity can be here in America. I wish you luck in finding your community of support, the Jews you talk about in your blog are starting to find theirs…despite your thoughts and final pronouncement of “have we no shame?”