How subtle… no one would ever refer to Jews as rats, right? Right?
Homeland Security officials described the incident in October as antisemitic, but in a social media post days afterward, Temple Beth Zion in the Boston metropolitan area town of Brookline said it did not appear to be motivated by antisemitism. Police initially told the synagogue that “the individual was unaware that he lived next to, and was shooting his BB gun next to, a synagogue or that it was a religious holiday.
As outrageous as that sounds, I know a lot of professors/PhD’s, and many of them are that clueless. They have a lot of very specific knowledge in their field, but may not have much practical knowledge about the rest of the world.
Still, this is the type of instance where revoking his visa may still be justified, even if he ended up having most of his other consequences suspended.
It sucks to be on the side of history that still tries to be reasonable, even while the other side goes full throttle and wouldn’t give the same rational thinking any thought.
I wouldn’t even say clueless, he’s from Brasil. Name some Candomblé holidays and how they attend. Most tourists don’t know the religious holidays or the practices of the places they’re visiting. The synagogue isn’t saying it was based in bigotry.
That said, a visiting law professor breaking car windows with a BB gun raises enough eyebrows on its own.
art spiegelman say “the neins have it”
