'When was it too late?' Some U.S. Jews wonder about their place in America.

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Beg to differ all you want, but you mixed up all kinds of things.

The headline posed the question "when was it too late to leave Nazi Germany?" and follows up with examples of people preparing to sell their house and leave the US.

ONE family! ONE!

You write "no one dismissed their preparations as ridiculous," while I never once suggested they were ridiculous.

I never wrote that, it was in the ARTICLE! Furthermore, that response was to JEWISH people's response to the Py family looking at moving away from the US.

I wished God speed to anyone who had reached a breaking point.

Again, no you didn't you "wished" that to ME. I saw it as insincere and thus my vomiting at your good "wishes".

And you followed up above by pointing out that people who survived the Holocaust are asking the same question you insist no one is asking.

That doesn't make ANY sense at all. I pointed out your "Jewish friend", who was so concerned "about Jews comparing the situation here to Nazi Germany, was NOT happening, and even Holocaust survivors were "asking the same question" as posed in the article.

I'd suggest you are making a straw man argument when you write that answering the question posed you posed with a considered discussion of the current situation in the US and abroad is "dismissive, crass and disrespectful."

That is NOT what a "strawman" is. Here is an example of a strawman:

'When was it too late?' Some U.S. Jews wonder about their place in America.

Your "Jewish friend": "..."to suggest that Jews living in the United States now are in an equivalent situation...belittles the plight of German Jews during the reign of Hitler".

Basing a response on something not asked or suggested is a strawman. It is not a strawman to state a response is crap.

You seem to have quite a large chip on your shoulder with your vomit emoji and putting "your Jewish friend" in quotes.

Again, belittling MY experience, my concerns, and my feelings is "dismissive, crass and disrespectful". Since you didn't get it the first time with the quotes, let me spell it out for you, responding to me, a Jew, with the trite expression, "some of my best friends are Jews" (i.e me Jewish friend says" ) especially when it was a "response" to something NO ONE said, is crass. It is the equivalent of a WHITE person telling a BLACK person, that they, the white person KNOWS better because they have "Black friends" and that substitutes are gravitas.

Answering a "what if" with a "what if" is not "telling a minority of my own experience" - unless you believe that no one but a Jewish person could study trends in fascism and anti-semitism in the US and abroad.

Not even close to what happened, nor implied, as the question wasn't about "fascism" but SPECIFICALLY about the dangers posed to Jews in Europe upon the rise of Nazis. Yet, another strawman.

Please save your anger and bitterness for anti-semites and other fascists who are trying to destroy our democracy and deny equal rights to everyone in our society.

Too bad I wasn't sitting in a room with you, you could have just patted me on the head and clucked; "There, there! Calm down! I am here to 'splain everything to you." As for saving my "anger and bitterness" for "anti-semites and other fascists", I have and I do, but what another great example of someone telling a minority person, to which the teller doesn't belong, on the "correct, proper" way to express themselves. Oh, BTW, love the inclusion of the word "bitterness", doesn't that word carry lots of baggage in this exchange.

I would also suggest you avoid posting questions to which you don't want an answer from anybody who does not have the same background and experience you have.

Oh, thank you for the suggestion. But at least you hit upon something, "anybody who does not have the same background and experience you have". That's right, you DON'T have those things, do you? So, how about you let me and other Jews express ourselves and our concerns without dismissing them as "well, it ain't THAT bad, so chill! And, if not, best of luck to ya". Had you original response just been, "In Germany it was "too late" when the government controlled and directed anti-semitism for political purposes", that would have been one thing, and while I don't agree, it wasn't dismissive, it was the additional, "Anti-semitism is not government policy by in any way shape or form in this country."

So, a suggestion for you, when addressing the concerns of a minority group to which you do NOT belong, listen or read carefully before responding, and do it in a way that doesn't dismiss, belittle, excuse away, or shit all over the minority's thoughts, concerns, beliefs, and/or feelings and try to make yourself the "expert" or "the voice of reason and authority."