JS writes (citing moi):
>I didn't say it wasn't real. I said I haven't encountered it, beyond the
>level of slight prejudice. (Of course, I'm not Jewish.)
Yes, it makes a difference. I'veencountered it, and I am Americam Jew2 (of Russian Jewsih descent), so a superior being.
>
>In any case, it's nothing compared to what Georgians, Dagestanis and
>Armenians have to deal with. God help you if your passport says "Chechnya"
>on it. Street thugs don't run around beating up Jews; they run around
>beating up Caucasians.
Yes, well, we weren't talking comparitively. And of course it hasn't been so
long since the pogromchiki were bearing and raping Jews either.
CD: Also, Jews don't stand out in a crowd like Caucasians do.
Nevertheless, I have never heard anybody call jews derogatory expressions. I have, on the other hand, heard people call Caucasians "dirty" and "meshki s der'mom" (sacks of shit). Anti-Semitism may be a problem in contemporary Russia, but it is way, way down on the list.
>
>Though there have been some arson attacks on synagogues recently. Not in
>Moscow, though, way out there in the provinces.
That is, in most of the country . . . .
CD: You have caught me unconsciously repeating the Muscovite distinction between Russia (that is, us here in Moscow, the civilized people) and the provinces. It's all one really, really big province. (Not counting Petersburg, and to a lesser extent Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Vladivostok, which are considered little Moscows. And Omsk is a university town.)
Two weeks ago, there was an arson attempt against a synagogue in Kiev, by the way.
>
>RE: Your comment: Judaism was considered a nationality on Soviet passports,
>hence your friend's behavior.
>
Of course I know that, but my point, which I am not conveying well, is that she clearly shared the antisemite's attitude that Jews are not real Russians. It was sort of like Pat Buchanan's comment that blacks are different from "normal Americans."
CD: That's because being Russian is considered a matter of ethnicity, not citizenship. As is being Jewish, for that matter, or Georgian or Abkhazian or Chechen or Ukrainian or Ingushetian or Belorusian. People in the FSU tend to define themselves in terms of ethnicity, for some reason. People will tell you that they are "half-Russian, half-Jewish," for instance.
jks