Discussion Main / AllJewsAreCheapskates

Hi all. Some quick feedback with respective lines:

"Describe All Jews Are Cheapskates Here, as long as there isn't a service charge."

While the Woody Allen quote is an illustration of the trope, the service charge comment is part of the article itself, giving the impression that it's humorous and inoffensive, which it's not.

"Being smart with money actually is part of Jewish culture, for various reasons,"

Smart with money, no. Disproportionately involved in financial affairs (and therefore experienced), yes. The various reasons are important—i.e. historically, most professions excluded Jews and moneylending became a notable exception because the majority of society was prohibited from the activity by religious beliefs.

"but this trope is about exaggerating that aspect to comic levels."

This trope is not a comic exaggeration; it's a lingering derogatory stereotype that warps historical events to denigrate Jews.

"Jews aren't just good with money, but really cheap. They won't spend money if they don't have to, even if it's a necessity. They would haggle with anyone over anything (especially since Jews Love to Argue)."

A transition to this list of examples would be helpful so, like the service fee comment above, it's not mistaken for part of the article. By the way, arguing *is* part of Jewish culture because Jewish texts encourage rigorous intellectual debate.

"This kind of joke comes especially from Jews themselves (so doesn't always carry the Unfortunate Implications of similar tropes)."

This simply isn't true. Jews don't initiate this concept. Some Jews (like Jon Stewart) may preemptively, sarcastically, adopt it as social commentary. Reappropriating a derogatory image (as Inga Muscio does with "cunt") is not the same as initiating it; it's unfortunate when such attempts inadvertently propagate the slur. Compare with "nigger".

"Although it's rare in fiction they would stoop to actual stealing."

It may be rare in fiction to find a Jew stealing, but Jews (and thieves) are already a global minority. I also expect that depicting as a thief a character who is Jewish has nothing to do with the root of this trope; i.e., one might steal for hunger, attention, or revenge.

"This is a Lighter and Softer successor to the old Greedy Jew stereotype. Do not confuse the two."

"Lighter and softer" implies "not so bad". It's simply another stage in the Greedy Jew stereotype's evolution. That also originated with Jews' association with moneylending.

"Even this trope, though, borders on N-Word Privileges as, like any national stereotype, it can be quite offensive when coming from an outsider."

I appreciate the comparison to "nigger". "Nigger" is not acceptable to many people, black or not. Similarly, "cheap Jew" is derogatory coming from anyone, Jewish or not. Many marginalized people are self-deprecating as a defense mechanism to preempt worse harm—that doesn't validate the behavior. A girl might be funny, but becoming class clown to protect herself from unwanted ridicule indicates a problem. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading. It's my first visit to this ambitious collection and other entries have seemed useful and fair-minded.

With regards to the "Real Life" entry on friar, it's more of a general purpose "sucker" term that I'm not really sure belongs on this page - it would be more appropriate on One Born Every Minute or similar. Would anyone be terribly offended if I deleted it?

The trope "All Jews Are Cheapskates" is to a degree lighter and softer. However there is a difference between jokes Jews make among themselves or about themselves as opposed to jokes people of other religions/atheists who are not culturally Jewish/ whatever make about them. I remember the first time someone said that another person was "Jewing" down a price at a garage sale. I was shocked and hurt. To find this trope being portrayed or at least implied as something that is entirely acceptable makes me very uncomfortable. Perhaps the article could be rephrased or something?