Jews gone wild: Why camcorders and booze don't mix

[IndianaGreen]

OPINION / Jews gone wild: Why camcorders and booze don't mix

By Benjamin L. Hartman, Haaretz Correspondent

The night before Barack Obama thrilled Cairo, two cameramen strolled through downtown Jerusalem and filmed a handful of drunken American kids doing their best David Duke impressions. Forty-eight hours later, the video has gone viral, linked from a hundred political blogs, and is circling the internet at a critical velocity on a mission to humiliate the Jewish people.

As someone who lives on and off in the American bubble in Tel Aviv and came to Israel on a Birthright tour like some of the kids in the video may have, this is embarrassing, shocking, bizarre, but familiar. And as someone who spent many nights grimacing at similar overheard conversations from American Jews in town for the week from Long Island, the booze-fueled hubris and uber-Zionism is not so strange at all. In the Jewish homeland for the first time, on a free trip, fleetingly experiencing a place gripped by a visceral realism and powerful sense of purpose, it's easy to let the beer overtake you.

While documentary filmmaker Max Blumenthal rejects this argument ("No amount of alcohol could make me express opinions that were not authentically mine," he says. "If anything, alcohol is a crude form of truth serum that lubricates the release of closely held opinions and encourages confessional talk."), many American Jews understand how hubris and chutzpah can flow much freer in Israel. Spared the political correctness, decorum and social morays of America (or Britain, South Africa or Australia), many find that they walk taller, step louder, and even sprinkle their speech with words they'd never say back home.

Not to excuse the behavior of those in the video, I don't believe this idiocy reflects the values of young American Jews or their opinions on Obama, but rather the way that Israel, in particular Jerusalem, can radicalize the young to the left or the right. It also proves (once again), that fools and alcohol and camcorders do not make a good match.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090967.html

[aquart]

1. Yes. Idiot Jews do exist. Is that your point?

[cliffordu]

2. Well, that and the Oriental people are good at math.....

:sarcasm:

[Sezu]

3. Went viral kinda like the Palestinians and Muslims

who dance cheered and passed out candy upon hearing of 911. Yes., every society has 'em.

[mucifer]

4. as a liberal Jew I gotta say what worries me about this going viral is tensions

that do exist between the African American and Jewish communities. Thanks for posting the article. I enjoyed it.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Unfortunately, some folks here haven't bothered to read the article

choosing instead a Pavlovian response to the posting of the article in the first place.

[CTyankee]

5. It's funny because I have known exactly two Jews in my long life that

exhibited signs of alcoholism. And I have Jewish intermarriage in my family of WASPS, plus a myriad of Jewish friends, coworkers, acquaintances and colleagues that span over 45 years. My experience is that my dear WASP relatives have a very high rate of alcoholism, including a brother, an uncle, a cousin...and those are only the ones I KNOW about. The rate goes up exponentially with regard to my WASP friends, coworkers, etc...

Well, you get the idea I am sure...

[imdjh]

10. Meh, I've known plenty of Jewish drunks (coke, meth, and quaaludes as well)

I"ve also heard a Jewish friend say pretty much the same thing, in his own charming way, that alcoholism is a "goyim" thing. It's based on a false norm of a hard working blue collar or low-merchant class (proprietorship) married Jewish male with three kids who works all day, eats dinner, goes to bed, and does religion on Saturday. In college, the only difference I saw between Jewish kids and non Jewish kids was the stars hanging from their necks as they threw down 7+7's and danced their asses off.

[CTyankee]

14. I don't know where you are from or have been living but I am and have been living

in the Northeast, including NYC with its large Jewish population, since I went to college in 1958. I have never witnessed what you say you witnessed. I now live in a heavily Jewish (Orthodox) neighborhood in New Haven. Again, I have experienced nothing like what you are describing.

Your use of language is quite revealing however...

[imdjh]

16. Twenty years difference there as well as the Orthodox thing

In college, most of my friends were Jewish from the suburbs of northeastern cities. This was 1976 to 1980. We all went out at least two nights a week and we all drank and danced. Some of us used drugs, some didn't. My parents didn't drink much and by and large theirs didn't either- but we made up for it. That's my point, the idea of the Jewish nondrinker is based in a selective perception of age, economics, and religious discipline.

Your use of language is quite revealing however...

Of what?

[CTyankee]

28. I thought your tone quite dismissive, frankly.

Some Orthodox DO drink more heavily than other Jews but not all do. What I witnessed growing up with WASPs all around me, Southern WASPs at that, was a much heavier pattern of drinking than I have seen with any Jewish community I have known. I have long felt that it was a scourge of my ethnicity. I'm not trying to indict a whole group of people but what I have seen and experienced is not what you describe...

[imdjh]

29. Naw, just my conversational posting style.

I would have thought that the Orthodox would drink less, but then I don't know any Orthodox. I would have expected that they would be like the more severe or rural Christians who don't approve of liquor, some of whom also disapprove of dancing, gambling, smoking, etc... I'm a southern WASP and while drinking isn't exactly taboo, in my home town there would be those who count your drinks for you if you choose to indulge over their disapproval.

[CTyankee]

31. It's interesting, because some Orthodox have a habit of drinking shots.

I'm thinking that they get this from their forebears who drank spirits like vodka in Russia the way folk often drink strong spirits in rural communities. The way a LOT of Americans drank in the era just at the edge of the Industrial Revolution. I remember in grad school reading a book called "The Alcoholic Republic" that spoke to this phenomenom. Per capita, Americans drank more in that era than today. Accidents on the job were common and the business community partnered with the temperance community to pitch sobriety because it was in the best interests of business in America. The religious groups came in later!

The point is that farm work is hard labor and drinking effectively alleviated muscle pain from a hard day's work. It makes sense, doesn't it?

[BlooInBloo]

6. (shrug) Hope they don't come back. There's enough of that here as it is.

[Scurrilous]

11. After seeing this video all over the internets...

...they might be too embarrassed to come back.

Especially that polysci major.

[IndianaGreen]

12. The one that didn't know who Benjamin Netanyahu was?

Those of us that enjoyed watching Jay Leno's sidewalk interviews are not surprised by this idiocy.

[azurnoir]

18. So much for the quality of American "edumacation"

but I can hope that at least on pf her Professors sees that video though

[MADem]

25. I like that cat, though! nt

[Cirque du So-What]

8. ...'social morays'?

Especially gregarious eels?

Sorry, but errors of that sort are unforgivable from a linguistic point of view.

I don't read too much into the drunken rants of teenagers - or adults, for that matter. I don't buy the notion that alcohol is 'truth serum.' IMO it's just the brain's reaction to a toxic substance.

[MADem]

21. That very well could be a stupid editor. They do exist. nt

[imdjh]

9. So unlike the idiots easily found on any given Sunday in the permaprotests.

[laststeamtrain]

13. Yep. Somethings is universal. I like a coupla extree pulls on the jug before a 'night ride'.

:sarcasm:

[TomClash]

15. Stupid, racist morans

If they are lucky, life at a Five Towns kosher deli counter awaits them.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. Considering some of them threatened the President's life

Life in a federal prison may await them when they return to the US.

Yeah, I doubt whether any of these little shits actually are a serious threat to the President. But neither was the drunk who made a vague reference to a "burning Bush" in a bar a few years back. And they locked his ass up.

[MADem]

19. Ah ha ha ha ha!!!!! The "Big Finish" is freakin' BRILLIANT!!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

This video either proves that drunk Americans are starting to resemble Kahanists, or Israeli far-rightists have achieved the rhetorical brilliance of drunk American Jewish yahoos in town for a week. Talking to drunken American Jewish 19-year-olds to gauge Israeli opinion on Obama is like using Mormons to measure American public opinion on gay marriage. You're speaking to the wrong crowd and at the wrong time of night, only in a country where there is no closing time or public drinking ordinances. One can only imagine what would be caught on film in an American college town under these circumstances.


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Voice for Peace]

30. do you have a link to the video? ooops duh never mind nt

[azurnoir]

20. I heard enough right wing mantra about Obama

to think that what this video captured was a bunch of youth who had their "brain to mouth " filter removed by alcohol, but does this video accurately depict all young Jews I certainly hope not

BTW I do not seem to remember even half of the parsing and excuse making when Mel Gibson went on an antisemitic drunken tirade , guess it just depends which foot the shoe is on

[MADem]

22. Well, that's because Mel IS an antisemite and a drunk.

And these kids that were interviewed are racist, drunken jerks.

But no one is saying that all Americans raised in Australia, like Mel was, are anti-semites and drunks.

The suggestion IS being made in this video that all American Jewish teenagers who make a pilgrimage to the homeland are right wing assholes. That's just not true. In fact, those kids break the paradigm totally--they are probably the stupidest Jewish kids I've ever seen--drunk or sober.

The "political science major" was particularly amusing. Thick as a brick and proud of it!

[azurnoir]

23. Thats pretty much what I said

but in addition I also pointed put that very few made excuses for Mel

[MADem]

24. Mel didn't make a whole group look bad. These kids besmirched the reputation of

every Jewish kid who goes off to the Homeland for a little history lesson after high school. Guilt by association, and all that.

Mel only shamed himself--he wasn't "letting down the side" as it were.

[azurnoir]

26. I do not think that they "besmirched" the reputation

of every Jewish kid who goes to Israel, at least not to anyone capable of critical thinking, Blumenthal admits he edited 3 hours down to 3 minutes that leaves 177 minutes up for grabs, oh as to the poli sci student as I said earlier I hope one of her Professor's sees that video cause the mark was missed somewhere

[MADem]

27. I do. I don't think that was their intent--but I do think they damaged the reputation of Jewish

teenagers and young adults in a very real way. People are all too willing to generalize. They do it about Arabs, Iranians, Afghans, and they do it about Jews as well.

If YOUTUBE required an IQ test to view videos, or if "the internet" required the same for some assholes to forward videos, there wouldn't be a problem. The sad thing is that "critical thinking" is optional.

No one cares about the two hours and fifty seven minutes of normal stuff we didn't see--people get a kick out of believing the worst.

I hope that POLISCI woman's school dean sees the tape and forcibly changes her major to basket weaving, or something. She's a sad disgrace.

[Howardx]

36. these kids are american right?

no one should be shocked that drunk american teenagers said something stupid.

[MADem]

38. They're Americans with birthrights. If they want to stay in Israel as citizens, they can.

And see, that's why they make the majority of kids, the normal kids who don't stay out all night getting stupid-drunk, look bad. It's not shocking, it's just unfortunate.

Part of the problem is that the drinking age there is lower (I am guessing a lot of these kids aren't 21 yet) and the bars stay open all night. Recipe for disaster.

[Howardx]

40. i guess my point is...

to me they dont reflect badly on jewish kids, just american kids in general.

[MADem]

41. Your viewpoint isn't the norm, though. There are people in this world who see

ethnicity first, nationality second or not at all. That's just the way some people -- a lot of people, in fact-- approach the world. A lot of those people have radio talk shows here in the USA.

[Hannalee]

32. They do not represent the Israeli people

The Israeli people are peace loving. This is a handful of drunken people with extreme views. No mind should be paid to them.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

33. Do you consider

the 80% who supported the massacre of Gaza peaceloving?

[Howardx]

35. we're past the "few bad apples" propaganda approach

you being new and all wouldnt know that of course.

[IndianaGreen]

39. Hannalee has a big tombstone!

Username: Hannalee



I can only conclude that the mods found out that Hannalee was not the 5-posts newbie he/she claimed to be, and may have been a banned DUers.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

34. I think those American boys probably felt like wimps their whole lives

and the thought of IDF power and big guns give them a sense of manhood they clearly lack.

You can find the same mentality on several pro-semitic sites on the web, where posters have avatars that say stuff like "6 days, bitch."

Is there a woman alive who doesn't know what the vicarious macho crap compensates for, LOL?

[Howardx]

37. haha

yeah i agree!