I rarely watch channel 9 in Chicago; my staple is NBC for the news and CBS for “60 Minutes,” and that’s about the entirety of my television diet. But reader Amy reported to me that when wishing its Jewish viewers a happy Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement and the most sacred of Jewish holidays—someone at WGN didn’t do their homework. As reported by TPM, here’s the image the station broadcast:
If you don’t know where that wildly inappropriate image of the Star of David is from, you need a history lesson! (Go here for one.)
At any rate, the station was alerted by a tw**t from an editor, and issued an apology:
“Last night we ran a story to recognize Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Regrettably, we failed to recognize that the artwork we chose to accompany the story contained an offensive symbol. This was an unfortunate mistake. Ignorance is not an excuse. We are extremely embarrassed and we deeply apologize to our viewers and to the Jewish community for this mistake.”
Certainly there’s nothing nefarious here—just a photo editor who was regrettably ignorant of history. But really, folks, that editor could have reserached just a teeny bit after finding a symbol that seemed appropriate because it was a Star of David. It’s actually funny in a macabre sort of way.
The tw**t that alerted WGN:
Unfortunately, ignorance is rampant in the United States. Ignorance of history, English, math, and science.
Let’s not get carried away. As events slip into the past, these things are bound to happen. From a abstract point of view, there is nothing offensive about the image.
I agree that the image is not offensive. It is inappropriate. The use of the image reflects ignorance and poor quality on the part of the television station. It’s the ignorance that makes me mad.
I think it’s offensive.
It’d be like showing a confederate flag behind an image of MLK while announcing the MLK holiday in January.
It’s like they are baiting Jewish folk.
It’s probably just stupidity (not malice); but never the less, it looks like baiting.
I agree, it’s offensive for two reason: incredible ignorance and just plain a horrible thing to put up referencing the holocaust in such a way. Shall they put up a swastika when talking about an event in Germany?
Yeah, I agree. The photo editor was probably born in the 1980s or 1990s. They might not even have had living grandparents that were in WWII.
But that’s not much of an excuse. I think it’s up to the news agency what sort of action to take, but if I were this person’s boss, I would certainly be asking “if its your job to come up with appropriate pictures that make our news service a public relations success, what the hell am I paying you for?”
Any intern can be paid to google pictures, if you’re the editor then presumably your job includes evaluating words and pictures for appropriateness, impact, etc…
I was born in the 90s and I’m 100% positive that this is inappropriate. I wouldn’t be hasty to blame the age of the person who did this, but I will say that the education some people get in this country when it comes to history isn’t very good, and that could be partially at fault. It was clearly a case of ignorance, albeit a pretty bad one.
And many of them are not even embarrassed by their ignorance when it’s pointed out to them. I don’t call them American but Uhmuruhkun
BTW did these people apologize for wishing Jewish people a “happy” Yom Kippur?
Dr Coyne. TVO and PBS r OK . I’ve seen you on both those channels. ;^) And Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Brian Greene, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Gould, E O Wilson. Brian Cox, Alice Roberts and many more prominent scholars. I also read much of their writing but TVO & PBS are evidence that TV is not a complete wasteland
Les Robertshaw
Mississauga Canada
I’m not totally sure of this, but I don’t think you can wish anyone a Happy Yom Kippur. It’s a somber day of atonement. Jews usually say “Have and easy fast”…or something like that. I’m a non-practicing jew, so I could be wrong.
I wondered about that myself. I’m not a Jew at all, though.
Well, it’s recognition of their event. I think that’s important.
Minimal research. Might the photo editor not have wondered why there was German in the middle of the star?
Also, Yom Kippur is not a happy holiday. I guess the meant well, but if they had consulted any knowledgeable Jew when preparing the story, they could easily have gotten it right.
They might not have realized it was German!
They probably thought it was “Jewish.” (As in English, Spanish, etc.)
Agreed about being sutpid. But they were “recognizing” the holiday, which I think it a worthy thing to do (as long as they recognizing other religious holidays.)
I assume that it probably went down something like this:
“Hey Bob, we need a background logo for our story”
– “Ok, what did you have in mind?”
“Why not display a jewish symbol. Wasn’t that something like a star?”
– “Yes, don’t worry. I’ll just type ‘jew’ and ‘star’ into Google. I am sure to find something suitable”
“If you don’t know where that wildly inappropriate image of the Star of David is from, you need a history lesson! ”
What I suspect is some unpaid intern 20something did not, in fact, know what the image was. They were likely tasked to come up with a graphic for a story on Jews and did so. Nobody looked over the work. This is what the cost-cutting looks like.
It’s like wishing Catholics a “Happy Ash Wednesday.”
What’s wrong with wishing someone Happy Ash Wednesday? Other than feeling foolish that you have a smudge on your forehead, Ash Wednesday is about a fairy tale. The Jewish Badge represents one the most horrific events in history.
Not. Even. Close.
He’s not referring to the image.
I’ve heard plenty of Xians wishing each other happy Ash Wednesday.
Now, if they wished each other Happy Wodinish Ashday, I’d be scratching my head … 🙂
I saw this yesterday. It’s a real head-shaker. I think it’s a great example to people of why you need to study history.
Indeed. Just this week, a New Democratic candidate for Canada’s upcoming election said that he’d never heard of Auschwitz. History should be compulsory beyond elementary school.
That is inexcusably naive; i.e., not knowing about Auschwitz. However I would content that knowing or not knowing about Auschwitz is not correlated to preventing another Auschwitz.
In fact, if a group of psychopaths were infatuated with Auschwitz, they could very easily convince themselves that by learning about the event it would be immensely pleasurable to reproduce it. Without history, they may not have had the same motivation, arguably.
“That is inexcusably naive; i.e., not knowing about Auschwitz. However I would content that knowing or not knowing about Auschwitz is not correlated to preventing another Auschwitz.”
I couldn’t disagree more with you here.
Those who forget the history are bound to repeat it.
As Prof. Daniel Schacter argues “memory is about the future, not the past. […] We have evolved memory systems not so we can reminisce about the past but so we can use prior experience to enhance our future performance.”
I like that way of looking at memory!
“However I would content that knowing or not knowing about Auschwitz is not correlated to preventing another Auschwitz.”
I’d agree entirely. There have been plenty of other genocides going around since, I’d like to see anyone give an instance of an imminent genocide that was prevented by invoking Auschwitz. OTOH, I’m not sure one could credit Auschwitz with directly inspiring psychopaths either, they seem to have been quite capable of coming up with the idea of “herd the enemy together and kill them all” for themselves since Biblical times, I seem to recall God commanding quite a few promising efforts from His chosen thugs.
“Those who forget history are bound to repeat it” is a glib-sounding phrase which is essentially BS. Which of the millions of facts in whose history – most of which are unknown to most people on the planet – are the important ones never to forget?
cr
“a New Democratic candidate for Canada’s upcoming election said that he’d never heard of Auschwitz.”
The “he” is a “she.”
Please check facts before you post.
I thought of that same thing. Shameful to be ignorant of such a thing that is so crucial to our history.
With respect, how is Auschwitz crucial to Canadian history? (And she may be well aware that Jews – and Russians, gypsies and gays? – were sent to concentration camps, without knowing the names of individual camps).
Just off the top of my head, I could nominate e.g. the Battle of Stalingrad or the Zimmerman Telegram as being much more relevant – would she be shamefully ignorant if she hadn’t heard of those?
cr
When I say “our” I mean the West. It is a crucial part of Western history.
However, Canadians did shameful things during the holocaust, namely turning away a boat of fleeing Jews who were later taken to Auschwitz. It’s something we should always remember, especially now with the current refugee crisis.
And yes, she would be shamefully ignorant to not know about what happened at Stalingrad and I find most people are – so few remember all the Russians that died saving the advance of the Nazis across Europe.
Not to mention – she is running for political office. Those in political positions should have a greater than average understanding of at least modern history.
Yes but – at the risk of being tedious – why does Auschwitz in particular matter? Why not Bergen-Belsen or Dachau or Sobibor or Sachsenhausen or the other camps?
My point is, was she aware that the Nazis persecuted the Jews? If so, then I’d submit that knowing the name of a particular camp is an unnecessary detail. Everybody has odd lacunae in their general knowledge, I don’t think you can take the absence of one particular factoid as an indicator of ignorance.
(Besides, I’m just cynical about the current popularity of Auschwitz, it’s as if quoting it establishes one’s ‘cred’ re racial persecution without the need to know anything else).
cr
Well what can one expect from Goyim? 😉
What’s Goyim? Does it taste good?
Better to be Goyim than Golem.
Probably a shiksa
Mmmmmm. Skiksabob.
Stick with gefiltefish.
No! Lox!
That’s nova lox.
There’s a scene in Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” in which characters try to speak Yiddish without understanding it. One says, “Shut up and eat your shiksa.” This was shown on network TV years ago; I guess the censor didn’t know what it meant either.
Kind of like “Happy Memorial Day”.
Though I’m sure many news persons say that during Memorial Day Weekend.
Macabre humor is right. I can’t stop laughing and to think this guy’s face will forever be plastered next to the editor’s blunder. It makes me feel sorry for the lot of them.
WGN often covers itself in glory. Penn Jillette – the larger, louder half of Penn & Teller, was on their morning new show. One of the anchors, Robin Baumgarten, criticized him for the title of his book Atheist Holiday.
http://chicagoist.com/2013/11/09/wgn_tv_host_penn_jillette_clash_ove.php
Wow – and to think the station’s call letters meant “World’s greatest newspaper” when the Tribune owned it.
Inappropriate and stupid. I don’t believe it was a mistake, because no one is that dumb. No one is dumb enough to use that picture. This was deliberate.
Un-b-lievable, but I think Europeans have a greater appreciation for the real meaning. Should we wish black Americans “happy middle passage day”?
No European would be dumb enough to genuinely wish black Americans a “happy middle passage day” and similarly I don’t think there is a single American dumb enough to think that picture was appropriate. Certainly not at a news station. These people working there are being paid to know stuff about society.
You could stop twenty white folks on the street in the US before you found one who could identify the terms “middle passage” or “Atlantic triangle trade”.
And yes, people who work in the news should know things about history and culture. But you mostly get a job by connections and kissing up.
Agreed. I think I’m fairly knowledgeable about history in general and “middle passage” is a complete blank to me. “Atlantic triangle trade” only conveys (to me) that it may have been something to do with the slave trade, but it’s a very weak and hazy correlation.
As to that hexagon (which I presume has Nazi connotations), it’s no more incongruous than the stuff that news broadcasts and newspapers do all the time. The illustrations seem to be chosen by some office boy who has no technical general knowledge whatever and almost inevitably bear only the vaguest relation to the subject of the news item. Anyone who thinks it was conspiracy rather than cock-up is, I think, being a little over-suspicious.
cr
yes, it’s very incongruous. And since you also don’t seem to get the reference, perhaps this picture that shows the significance of the striped background as well will give you some idea:
http://f.ptcdn.info/937/022/000/1409536360-1409162242-o.jpg
Yes, it’s not just the “jude”, it’s the striped background. WTF y’all! Stripes! Don’t you get it?
OTOH, I spent 20 years before understanding that Red Sector A by Rush was about Geddy’s mother at Bergen-Belsen. I had previously thought that song was about the genocide in Guatemala or the wars in Nicaragua.
Geddy flew his mom to the 1995 Bergen-Belsen reunion. She said “it felt like victory, because I am here, and they are not.”
I initially thought “Some sort of Israeli flag, what of it?” (It looks like a flag in that picture. Stripes are common on flags, too). On the second take (prompted by the fact that it was featured on this page and yellow) I did get the reference.
But I wouldn’t necessarily expect anyone of non-Jewish background to get it, any more than ‘middle passage’ or ‘Atlantic triangle trade’ or ‘Red Sector A’.
cr
I appreciate the esteem you hold for us, but sadly, Americans can be that dumb – even journalism majors.
Maybe especially journalism majors. Shoot, just look at Sarah Palin. She majored in journalism.
I’m sure there are still some good journalism schools in the US that produce some good journalists, but it isn’t the profession it used to be.
Hey! Get off my grass!
Because it isn’t the career it used to be!
Very true! But what direction is the causation going? I can’t tell.
I wouldn’t overlook the mergers, the ownership by a few right-wing tycoons, the pressures to cut costs–everything the trickle-down economy does to us.
Journalism majors are the ones who can’t write well enough to be English majors!
More importantly, why is any news organization wishing any religious group a happy anything about their religious anything? Do they wish all of the world’s religions happy greeting for all of their holidays and ceremonies? It’s ridiculous. Religious holidays and days of atonement are not news. They are archaic, primitive sectarian tribalist nonsense. Not news.
I do not think it is unreasonable for a new program to mention that a certain religious holiday has begun. Especially when that holiday is based on a lunar calendar and so it not on the same date every year. Chicago has a significant Jewish population, and I know people who, at work, ask “where is everyone?” before they realize many people took the day as a holiday. To include a wish for a happy holiday is also forgivable, as it is a local news station with a reputation as friendly. What is newsworthy is the use of that image and the lack of awareness that this particular holiday is more solemn than joyous.
We’ll have to agree to disagree that something religious and sectarian that happens on the same day every year is news. It became news only because they screwed it up. The holiday itself is not news. And well wishing one sectarian group and not all others is obviously problematic as it shows favoritism for large popular religious groups over smaller less popular ones. For this and many other reasons, sectarian religious shout outs should be avoided on the news. Similar to the separation of church and state, we ought to have separation of news and faith. If a religious group makes real news then it should be reported, but just having a holiday on the same day every year is not news. Well wishing for a particular religious holiday is just sectarian pandering and distasteful in my opinion.
This was an hour-long nightly news broadcast on a Chicago station. Slow news day mid-week. To take 15 seconds to mention that it is Yom Kippur and say howdy to the many locals observing is likely considered good local PR. It is not like this was the lead story or they were going for Pulitzer material.
We agree. It was likely thought to be good local PR. And I’m saying that pandering to certain large religious factions for “good local PR” is a very bad idea. And not news. Such a bad idea that it became news. And not the good kind.
The holiday is news, in my opinion.
A lot more newsworthy than most of the infotainment BS that makes onto the TV “news” programs these days.
X is even worse than Y therefore Y is valid?
Get off it.
No.
Of course it is news. When millions of people are celebrating a holiday or even 1 billion people it is news.
So what is the number of people you need to have in your religion to make the news? Where are the shout-outs to the Jains and the Satan worshipers? How is it not obvious to you that shout outs for some religious groups and not others on the news is a bad idea? I’ve never seen a shout out on the news for Buddhist holidays. There are millions of Buddhists in America. It gives the impression that Judaism is a more important religion than Buddhism in our society. It’s the very reason we separate church and state, and it seems right to have the same separation between news and faith. Especially since, you know, God isn’t real and all.
Don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say that it should not be done for small groups.
You have unilaterally decided what the definition of “news” is. I think you are being narrow minded and intolerant.
What words did I put in your mouth? And expressing my opinion about what is and is not news is me “unilaterally deciding” something?” That’s a bit demagogic and over the top don’t you think? I haven’t decided anything for you or put any words in your mouth, and the only thing I am being intolerant towards is bad news programming decisions.
I agree Matt. Furthermore, why did Amy report this story to Coyne, and why did he bother posting on it?
I think what Coyne posted is news because of the unbelievable blunder in using that patch. It’s the original shout-out and others like that are not news because holidays are not news.
Jerry does NOT like to be called Coyne.
I don’t know why Amy reported it to me, but I put it up because it was a. a big blunder that showed ignorance of history, b. that ignorance is probably the result of a lack of education, and c. it’s kind of funny.
Is that a problem? And, as indicated below, I don’t like to be called “Coyne” on this site.
Sorry, Professor, I only used “Coyne” when responding to Veronica because it’s the name she used.
Well so much for the Zionist controlled media.
—
(Just saw this on twitter)
https://twitter.com/KarlreMarks/status/647019878189256704
Good remark and tweet. 🙂
Oy gewalt!
Two reactions.
First, they’re at least to be commended for a real apology, especially in this day of the notapology.
Second…I hope they take this opportunity to run a story, with this image as the lede, on iconic symbolism in Judaism.
“Last week we made an inexcusably embarrassing and offensive display of our own ignorance when we showed this image wishing our Jewish viewers an happy Day of Atonement. By way of apology and, yes, atonement, we’ve taken the time to research a bit more about not just this particular image and what it represents, but the sorts of images that we should have used in its place — and we’d like to share what we’ve learned with you.”
Cheers,
b&
Yeah, but don’t put money on them doing that.
Well said. +1
I’m not even a little bit surprised.
Likely, there is no photo editor, just an overworked and underpaid producer who has 50,000 things on her mind other than historical images. The scant amount of research, professional acumen and resources invested in the average newscast, even in a market like Chicago, is meager at best.
Most of the reporters with whom I worked never bothered to do basic fact checking before going to air with a story, nevermind vetting graphics.
In other words, don’t bother watching the news.
I’ve had first-hand knowledge of a few news stories. The media got the key facts dead wrong in each case. I was amazed. And then I just became completely cynical on the media.
Watch skeptically, if at all.
I wish I could say I wasn’t surprised, but I literally dropped my jaw when I saw that. (Which felt odd, as I don’t often react that way.)
Then again, if it was a mistake, perhaps it is good that people can be that naive…
It’s bad if they can be that naive. Someone that naive has passed into the land of the ignoramus.
Yes, you right. It is hurtful all around.
All the Jewish employees were not there to correct them.They were observing the holiday.
Good point!
This is the donwside to the speed of Google searches.
It’s the same kind of thing, I’m sure, that led to the song from Borat being played in place of Kazakhstan’s actual national anthem during a 2012 medal ceremony.
Time for Americans to learn history? It’s been that time for too long of a time.
Sadly, I think many Americans could make this mistake. Shows how disconnected people are. And points to the need to be more curious about those around us. May we all listen more.
Yep, I saw the picture and without even reading about it, I knew the drek was going to hit the fan.
One thing I will say, their apology was a real apology, not a not-apology. I would forgive them if it were my call.
Indeed; they said the right thing.
Incredible.
I’m afraid there is no excusing that one.
WGN is a monster station as local ones go, carried on Comcast and Dish. That’s why this is a real screw up, and with their library and resources, should never have happened.
At least they didn’t add a caption like “Arbeit Macht Frei.”
That’s exactly what I thought. The moment I saw the graphic, I said to myself, “Jesus Christ!” If you ever watch WGN news, this is par for the course.
As a Jew, I found it sad. As a connoisseur of irony, I found it hilarious.
“Certainly there’s nothing nefarious here—just a photo editor who was regrettably ignorant of history.”
Most photo editors seem to be regrettably ignorant of *everything*. It’s an essential qualification for the job position.
cr
They’re not “readers”
Extraordinary. I Googled “Day of Atonement” and “Yom Kippur” to see what images came up and this one was nowhere. I had expected to find it near the top of the page but no. I don’t know where this idiot got the image from but they apparently didn’t even take the trouble to use Google.
I’ll bet it comes up pretty quickly if you Google something like “Jewish Symbol.”
Don’t forget, Google arranges its search results to fit the user’s prejudices, based on his or her past browsing history…..which makes this even worse.
So perhaps we have something more than a naive idiot on our hands. The plot sickens.
Speaking of Google’s spying, I must say it definitely affects what I’ll search for. Why isn’t everyone a little more upset about how much Big Brother we’ve already got?
How upset you are may depend on how you define “spying”. It is a responsive software, and if they don’t use individual information to map the person it isn’t spying in any sense that I would agree to.
Here is a possible analogy: It is akin to how you control your room temperature. Is your house spying on you?
Torbjörn, they funnel all the info to advertisers who are busy creating profiles of us. Remember the man who found out his daughter was pregnant because diaper ads and such began to appear on his feed?
I don’t think they do. The advertisers tell Google what demographics their ads are aimed at, and Google’s systems decide (based on recent search history) which ads to serve to you. (Same thing happens with suggested videos on Youtube, had you noticed?)
IF you’re going to share your computer that’s something to watch out for, of course – just like your browser history. Embarrassing if someone starts typing ‘T..’ into the address bar and ‘teensex.com’ pops up as the first autocompletion option.
cr
There’s a lot you can do to hold Google at arm’s length.
If you want to go full monty, the Tor Browser Bundle will do the trick:
https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
But, even short of that…installing all three of (one of the variations on) Adblock, Click-to-Flash, and NoScript will simultaneously do wonders to keep Big Brother at arm’s length and make Web browsing a far faster, more pleasant, and safer experience.
…and, for the truly paranoid, there’s Tails:
https://tails.boum.org/
…but, a caveat: it is very easy to do something stupid that would render Tails entirely moot. Don’t think of it as a magic bullet; think of it as a set of tools that you can use to reclaim your privacy, but that obviously won’t do any good if you walk out of the restroom with the toilet paper roll stuck to the bottom of your foot.
b&
Thanks, Ben. I’ll hang on to that. I’ve been dying to get an ad blocker, but have to clear up some hard drive room first!
It should actually relieve a bit of pressure for disk space…much less junk for your Web browser to download and cache in the first place….
b&
Well that’s what I would have thought, too! But I keep running across the statement that adblockers require a lot of RAM space.
Have you run a Disk Clean-Up and a Defragmenter? They might make the space you need and speed your computer up, too.
Thank you for the suggestions, doc! I’ll look into the clean-up; defragment frequently.
It’s mostly a matter of moving a ton of photos, and that’s mostly a matter of me convincing myself I have them backed up every six ways from Sunday.
Oh, that’s easy. Portable external disk drives are dirt cheap these days. $50 gets you a terabyte; $90 double that.
If you want the ultimate personal backup solution…you want three backups.
First is something like Apple’s Time Machine; I’m sure there’re equivalents for Windows. It automatically makes snapshots and organizes them such that you can go back in time however far you want up to the limits of disk space. So, if you made some edits to a document a couple weeks ago that you now regret, you can get the version from a month ago. This all goes on an external hard disk that stays with the computer.
The other two operate as a pair. Once a week (or month or whatever your personal level of paranoia and diligence matches) you make a complete copy of what you’ve got today, without worrying about versions. There’re programs that’re smart enough to synchronize the files so that you only copy / update / delete that which has changed, but you can also do the old-fasioned route of erasing the backup disk and copying everything fresh. When you have that copy, you take it to your fireproof vault / bank’s safety deposit box / somebody else’s closet across town…and swap it for the other similar disk you made the week before.
The Time Machine (etc.) backup protects you against the most common slip o’ th’ mouse human mistrakes that are most likely to prompt you to wish you had a backup. The offsite (etc.) hard drive copies are in case of fire or theft or the other sorts of things that people are most likely to worry about when they think they need backups.
Obviously, you can scale this however you see fit. Maybe you want a dozen offsite copies that you swap out once a month so you’ve got a year’s worth of backups? And scattered all over the globe in case of thermonuclear war? But, for most people, one local and a pair of swapping remote copies is plenty.
Cheers,
b&
If you’ve got a tower case with multiple hard drive slots it’s easy to do backups.
Every time I start my mailreader – Kmail – I do it with a script that first copies all newer files to a different partition on a different drive (My mailreader is configured to use Maildir format which saves each email as a separate file). Obviously it doesn’t copy deleted emails. So this session’s messages will get backed up next time I start my email – if I have a drive crash in between I just lose one session’s messages, which is tolerable. Currently I have ~1 GB of saved mail – not a lot in modern storage terms.
Photos get bulk-copied off my camera’s SD card to a hard drive directory. After I’ve edited and indexed them, and accumulated a DVD’s worth, I write them (and my complete photo index to date) to a DVD. I don’t wipe and re-use the SD card(s) until after the DVD has been written. So I’ve always got the photos in at least 2 places.
No special software needed.
cr
Thank you too, cr!
I’m actually not unaware of some of the options you & Ben suggest; just the sort who gets paralyzed by having to decide…
Nope, that doesn’t do it either.
Just tried it using Google Images, and it was the very first image shown, upper left-hand corner. With a rather hard-to-miss label, “Holocaust.”
Maybe this guy can’t read?
So, if you accept Lou’s comment that “Google arranges its search results to fit the user’s prejudices, based on his or her past browsing history” – what have you been looking at recently? 😉
I wouldn’t read anything much into Google search results.
OTOH, if I was about to lend my computer to someone else, I would make sure to delete or otherwise censor my bookmarks, browsing history, cookies yadda yadda…
cr
I had forgotten that Google doesn’t show everyone the same things. That puts a bit of a spanner in the works.
Diane, Google also tends to rank images highly if they are often viewed. After this story broke, I suspect this image was suddenly one of the most-viewed Jewish symbols, driving it up in the rankings. This might not have appeared so high in the list before the story broke.
That’s exactly why it’s so suspicious: Whomever, at WGN, googled and found and used that image did so before the story broke, so his or her own googling history would have been the only reason for it to rise to the top. And, if not him or her, then someone else at WGN who had been using that computer.
I hadn’t thought of that. Anybody got a time machine?
You’re probably right. (There are a lot of stars per page, though–maybe he or she liked the “fancy” one…;) )
It also depends on the precise wording of the search term you use. “Jewish symbol” brings up (for me) a page of the ‘stars of david’ and a couple of those candlesticks. “Star of David” brings up a whole page of ‘stars of david’ (no surprise there) and just one yellow ‘Jude’ in the middle of the page.
That’s with Google Images.
I’ve found before – change the search term, even the order of words, and the pictures you see change.
cr
As a practicing orthodox Jew, understanding that it was a dumb mistake, I actually thought it was kind of funny. People need to lighten up. There is real bigotry, racism and antisemitism in the world. This wasn’t it. This mistake should be lampooned not pilloried.
I think you missed this sentence from the post:
“It’s actually funny in a macabre sort of way.”
Nope, more responding to many of the comments.
sub
scribe
I’m appalled. I cannot see how this could have been done by mistake. That’s rather like Fox News saying that Dillan Roof’s murder of Blacks in church had nothing to do with racism but was an attack on Christianity.
So, what if the Holocaust label, forcibly worn by so many as they were tortured and murdered, presented on the day that believing Jews think God finishes writing in the coming year’s Book of Life and listing who will live, who will die, how well the former will live (or not) and how the badly latter will die… What if that symbol were deliberately placed?
If that turned out to be the truth, then, what would you think?
Keep in mind that the Nazis didn’t care whether a person believed in Judaism, when labeling who was a Jew. Jewish atheists, Jewish converts to Christianity, and non-Jews who married Jews were treated the same. Nazis checked records. If even one great-grandparent out of eight was Jewish, that horrid version of the Jewish star had to be affixed to the descendants’ clothing.
So, what if this pairing of Holocaust symbol and Yom Kippur, done on a day when there weren’t enough Jews at work to catch it, wasn’t accidental but was deliberately pushed through?
I honestly can’t imagine any entity, even some of the hate-press, doing such a thing on purpose.
If it were true, I and I would hope a vast majority of Americans would be appalled and demand significant sanctions. Seems like along with just the losing of jobs, some large period of time should be devoted to re-education and true community service.
“I cannot see how this could have been done by mistake.”
No? Youtube is full of news bloopers that were done by mistake.
“So, what if this …. wasn’t accidental but was deliberately pushed through?”
Just for a moment, suppose it was. What would it achieve (aside from pissing off a lot of Jews and making conspiracy theorists happy)?
If it was a conspiracy (to achieve what?) then one might expect dozens of TV stations to do it.
I have a favourite sceptical saying (and I think it’s compatible with Occam’s Razor): Never suspect conspiracy where incompetence is an adequate explanation. It saves all sorts of angst.
cr
Damn. That was, of course, meant to be a reply to docatheist at #29. WordPress is conspiring to sabotage my comments.
cr