When I was a kid, I lived in a small town and I didn’t know any Jewish people. Of course, because I didn’t know any Jewish people, my Jewdar was so bad that Mr. Goldberg could have invited me over to enjoy some matzo ball soup and I would have still had no idea he was Jewish (No, really, I’m not kidding).
Because I had no experience with Jewish people as a kid, I was particularly perplexed by anti-Semitism. Obviously, a lot of people in the world hate Jews and very occasionally, I’d hear an anti-Semitic comment. The reason I did not understand this was every stereotype I’d heard about Jews was positive. It was like, “Those Jews! They’re so frugal! They’re always working hard and reaching the top of their fields in banking and entertainment! In fact, they’re so crafty and Machiavellian, they’re practically super human!” Granted, some of the compliments were delivered in a backhanded manner, but to me, Jews sounded great. Bizarrely, now that I have gotten older and have had a chance to meet quite a few Jews, I often find them to be wonderful and competent people, but if anything they don’t live up to the nearly superhuman stereotypes of the people who hate them.
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