Why I Don't Understand Why People Call This Place So Liberal

[debka_notion]

As I was getting my lunch today, Steve comes over to me, takes a look at my shirt, which says "Brandeis University Conservative Organization" on the front and "Hebrew is Gender Specific, BUCO is not" on the back, and says to me "You know, we have a shirt like that for BOO too, only on the back it says 'G-d doesn't hate us'". (BOO is the Brandeis Orthodox Organization.) I tried to joke back something, but I was rather offended. It isn't like this is the first time he's said something offensive to me either: last time it was a whole string of bigotted comments about Indians, Pakistanis, Muslims, Asians and other immigrants. I'm getting to the point where I really want to do something about it, but I'm not really sure what to do. File some sort of complaint to the student senate about religious persecution? It seems a bit ridiculous here, but I'm not sure what else to call this one. Talk to the Orthodox rabbi here? I don't know what he'd do... Ideas?

Comments

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Mean spirited? It's a joke, mostly on ourselves because we don't have enough trad folks who are willing to make sure Trad runs smoothly and with a minyan to keep it active... Trad is conservative too.

Making a statement of religious identity is not saying that anyone else is wrong, let alone that G-d hates them. Implying that G-d hates me because I'm not orthodox is fairly equivalent to the kid in my elementary school who used to yell at me that Jesus loved him...

AS far as I'm concerned, both shirts are just sort of gentle jokes on Jewish identity. If I'd thought it was mean-spirited towards anyone, I wouldn't have gotten the shirt.

[bobtheslinky.livejournal.com]

Maybe you look that sort of sensitivity because you're NOT Ortho. (I know this sounds harsh)
I know people who were offended, and I was a little bit miffed. The BUCO shirt- while witty- implies that Orthodoxy is outdated and that there's something wrong with it.

But as I said, he DID say something rude. Two wrongs don't make it right.

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks! While everyone is looking for the super-significance of the shirt, ALL IT SAYS IS THAT BUCO IS EGALITARIAN.

The Vortex

[bobtheslinky.livejournal.com]

Actually, it says:
"Hebrew is gender-specific, BUCO is not"

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Even simpler!

And then the only people who should have been offended were the Traddies (and this TRAD gabbai emeritus isn't).

The Vortex

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Considering that I've gotten nasty comments for whatever my Judaic position is at any point in my life, I'd like to think that I'm fairly sensitive to such things.

Implies that Orthodoxy is outdated and there's something wrong with it? I don't think so- it says that we're egal, and that's about it. It doesn't suggest that we want anything of anyone else- just that we're not gender specific... It's a purely recursive statement.