This amazingly stupid story about a professor at York University (Toronto) accused of antisemitism

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1053247--york-prof-blindsided-by-online-broken-telephone

(interesting variance between url and headline)

Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant.

“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.”

Honest to god

ay caramba / oy vey

having just delivered a lecture, I'm wondering what kinds of crazy / amazing selective "readings" might result from my ranting about domination and submission in the Wife of Bath's Prologue

Grunfeld also expressed skepticism that Johnston was in fact Jewish.

Asked directly by a reporter whether she believes Johnston is lying, she was unclear.

“Whether he is or is not, no one will know,” she said. “. . . Maybe he thought because he is Jewish he can talk smack about other Jews.”

Someone that stupid should not be granted a degree.

this girl is one of the dumbest human beings on Earth and it is shameful that she was accepted by ANY institute of higher learning

i was gonna call her on stupidity but i think the truth is more likely that she knows she's made an ass of herself and is reluctant to back down. i guess that's a different kind of stupidity, tho.

it's a WORSE kind of stupidity

i like how she genuinely thought a professor would say they believed that "Jews should be sterilized" in front of 500* students, i mean um that it a little more serious than 'talking smack'

* 500 students! wtf

this girl is one of the dumbest human beings on Earth and it is shameful that she was accepted by ANY institute of higher learning

― sick yr finger up his butt (DJP),

otm

xxp

well yeah, it's vindictive and whiney as well as stupid.

Except she probably will get her degree because her professors are all... well... wink wink.

i think NV is otm -- either that or she's some weird "any publicity is good publicity!" wanna be fameball

also this so beautifully echoes the twisted rhetoric of republicans who didn't want to say flat out that they think obama was born in kenya:

“Whether he is or is not, no one will know,” she said.

I did a class earlier this year which had a lot of discussion of Hegel's figure of the Jew, and did on occasion think of how people would react if they just so happened to overhear e.g. "so the Jew is the same as an animal".

Never thought to boldly report the professor. :(

Do people still say "talk smack" in Canada?

That's one step beyond what Hilary said when asked if Barack Obama was a Christian: "As far as I know."

yes I teach Nietzsche on the reg & if you quoted me quoting him à la "blond beast", Jews did the slave revolt, etc., I'd look pretty "off"

The world will never know.

holy shit Sarah Grunfeld wins the dumbest jew alive award. i wonder if we know anyone in common.

Yet again, someone far preferred to storm out in a self-righteous rage rather than just confront the issue up front; such are narcissistic, moralistic opportunists who prefer bludgeoning (righteously they assume) to discussion. They are a scourge.

worse than her arrant idiocy though is the pressure group who put out a press release about it. did they fact-check at all?

the lack of fact checking is the thing that is most fishy about this story.

Seems the least fishy to me. People love going off without knowing what the fuck they're talking about.

surely not on Facebook?

the whole thing seems weird to me. not buying it.

It's kind of hilarious and mostly sad that she'd double down on this though.

lol what is fishy about this story? everything seems pretty obvious. dumb girl gets offended w/out understanding context of remarks, tells overly ambitious watchdog group that can't wait to fact check before calling someone out for being inappropriate. ppl do fact checking for the group and realize original context of remarks and write articles about how dumb girl is and how unethical group is.

http://yorku.collegiatelink.net/organization/hasbara/news

lol

she's probably equal parts strident and dumb

http://yorku.collegiatelink.net/organization/hasbara/roster

double lol

good fucking god

they probably figured this was their big chance to 'influence the discourse' and 'make a name' for themselves

http://cija.ca/en/media/for-immediate-release-statement-on-the-recent-controversy-at-york-university/

haha i guess it's true. i like this bit the best.

This point was, without ill intentions, taken out of context and circulated in the Jewish community.
“Professor Johnston, himself a member of the Jewish community, may regret his wording but should not see his reputation tarnished.

That was the part that was hilarious to me. Why should he regret his wording? Only morons could misconstrue what he said.

This is even more egregious than what happens when profs foolishly use the word "niggardly."

I'm sure he regrets that any idiot can sit in on his classes.

i'm struggling to think of a way that you could come up with an example of an opinion that was illegitimate without saying it out loud

This is so incredibly frustrating and yet not at all surprising re: B'nai Brith's involvement. I have acquaintances (fellow Jews) who are more actively involved in the institutionalized side of Jewish culture, Israel advocacy, etc. who have, at various points in time in their university careers, organized groups of students to attend potentially inflammatory/contentious events/lectures/etc. with an aim to report anything they felt was out of line directly to B'nai Brith.

Anti-semitism is a serious issue, but part of me feels that BB and other similar organizations run the risk of creating a culture of paranoia/persecution, and seeing it under every rock.

It didn’t matter if she was mistaken in what she thought she’d heard, he argued. “The very fact that the student reacted this way is testament to the long-term effects of marginalization of the Jewish student body over past years, since both in the classroom and in the corridors, they have been subject to jibes and taunts. In such an atmosphere, it is easy to see how an incident of this nature could develop.”

er. really?

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/09/14/kelly-mcparland-a-new-school-year-a-new-anti-semitism-accusation-at-york-u/

tmmrw she'll have a backwards J carved on her face

from what i am gathering via the internet (and this little blog in particular http://sassywire.wordpress.com/) york u seems to have a long history of accusations of anti-semitism, which may be why grunfeld jumped the gun.

i guess almost all colleges/university have long lists of accusations of anti-semitism nowadays tho

tmmrw she'll have a backwards J carved on her face

omg lol

i just think by even talking abt this -- including this here post -- we're making the world stupider

it's contagious, you can't stop it

people will suspect this guy of anti-semitism now, it's a nightmare for him. google ______ and find anti-semitism. doesn't matter how stupid the accusation is.

This is uncannily similar to the "spooks" incident in The Human Stain, which I thought was too much of PC straw man. Well done Sarah Grunfeld for proving me wrong.

think this is her twitter, she seems like an airhead

http://twitter.com/#!/Slefko

maiden name?

ya

His recipe: More sensitivity training. Ms. Grunfeld, meanwhile, acknowledges she may have misinterpreted the professor, but isn’t sure that matters.

“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious,” she told the Toronto Star.

Oh, the irony. After this interview, the words have also come out of her mouth, no?

BUZZA

there's a bunch of pix of her engagement and wedding to "grunfeld" online if you're so inclined

xp lol

She bragged about meeting Brody Jenner and Audrina Patridge. Case closed.

"Sarah Grunfeld should be sterilized." Acceptable?

Slefko Sarah Lefkowitz
Gonna try really hard not to over think and over analyze...starting....NOW!
8 Jun 09 Favorite Retweet Reply

http://blog.buzzflash.com/articles/files/bush-mission.jpg

Your display name is particularly unsettling when accompanied by that picture.

Slefko Sarah Lefkowitz
wow...pretty people really can make ugly babies...and uglies can make pretties...weird.
24 Nov 09

Time to change the national anthem to "Lol! Canada"

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Akx7IORLUYvPzN4PH1W7n0Pty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090121070032AAdb3xx

Slefko Sarah Lefkowitz
I'm feeling really hyper, happy, and weird...its a combination of things but mostly the cipra...
29 Jun 09 »

Slefko Sarah Lefkowitz
neeeds the cipra to kick in....
24 Jun 09

This is so incredibly frustrating and yet not at all surprising re: B'nai Brith's involvement. I have acquaintances (fellow Jews) who are more actively involved in the institutionalized side of Jewish culture, Israel advocacy, etc. who have, at various points in time in their university careers, organized groups of students to attend potentially inflammatory/contentious events/lectures/etc. with an aim to report anything they felt was out of line directly to B'nai Brith.

Anti-semitism is a serious issue, but part of me feels that BB and other similar organizations run the risk of creating a culture of paranoia/persecution, and seeing it under every rock.

― Somewhere between Fergie and Jesus (Alex in Montreal), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 11:57 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Wait, confused. Where are you seeing B'nai Brith involvement in this?

Feel sorry for the dude involved but this is hilarious

i'm struggling to think of a way that you could come up with an example of an opinion that was illegitimate without saying it out loud

I'm not sure why he had to give an example of an illegitimate opinion in the first place. He could have just said that offensive speech would not be tolerated, and left it at that. I think he may have said it partly for the shock value, to give students a little jolt in case they might be dozing off.

pity it's not *the* york university cos i know a lecturer there and he really is an anti-semite

I have this feeling that with the Palestinian Statehood question, the Arab Spring and the Turkey/Flotilla thing, this is going to become more common.

His recipe: More sensitivity training. Ms. Grunfeld, meanwhile, acknowledges she may have misinterpreted the professor, but isn’t sure that matters.
“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious,” she told the Toronto Star.

Oh, the irony. After this interview, the words have also come out of her mouth, no?

― Somewhere between Fergie and Jesus (Alex in Montreal), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 11:14 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Jews should be sterilized?! wtf Alex. take your hate-speech elsewhere.

"Jews should be sterilized[...]!" says internet person "bnw".

this pisses me off so much

it would also happen at my school, undoubtedly, which pisses me off more

srsly fuck this student. The phrase "chilling effect" is a cliché but as a college instructor I'm paranoid as it is that some cretin will accuse me of endorsing colonialism if he overhears me quoting Conrad.

And then when you say, "BUT I WAS QUOTING CONRAD" someone's response to that will be "It would be helpful to this problem if Professor Ska Walker had refrained from such inciteful language, and considered whether that kind of speech was really necessary to teach the concept."

Has this thread been reported to the JDL yet?

The shocking thing about this story is that I will never again be able to ignore anyone when they say "But I was quoted out of context".

I have this feeling that with the Palestinian Statehood question, the Arab Spring and the Turkey/Flotilla thing, this is going to become more common.

― em vee equals pea queue (Michael White), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 1:17 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The term "Turkey/Flotilla" sounds like some sort of item you would have for lunch.

In Dubuque

I hear York university is pretty batshit as a whole, I guess that's what happens when you build a big important university in the middle of nowhere next to a bunch of highways and factories. When I lived in TO I had a roommate who went there and she was hysterical. Had a crying fit when someone suggested she wash the sinkful of rotting food and dishes.

Wait, confused. Where are you seeing B'nai Brith involvement in this?

― Jews Did Irene (Hurting 2), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Hasbarah and BB were the first two places the girl called/e-mailed/whatever and initial news stories in the Star and the National Post seemed to indicate that they hastily sent out a press release denouncing the Prof/calling for his dismissal without bothering to fact-check. The latest versions of the articles pin the overreaction mostly on Hasbarah, but... I dunno.

Cynical Alex sides with Mordecai Richler on some of this stuff. Large institutionalized Judaism (UJA, BB, etc. etc. etc.) get fewer donations, attention, etc. from the community at large when things are calm. Less cynically, when your job is to advocate against anti-Semitism, epistemic closure and institutional culture and lead people to be hastier than they maybe should be, or to blow things out of proportion.

I mean, I don't think that this is a specifically Jewish thing. More a "how non-governmental organizations tend to function". See also: HRC. Institutional interests vs. those of their audience/community/etc.

The shocking thing about this story is that I will never again be able to ignore anyone when they say "But I was quoted out of context".

ha OTM

More to the point, what are we going to do about this renegade anti-Semitic Canadian professor?

I would give him a bonus for not just outright blasting this girl for being a moron

Renegade anti-Semitic Canadian professors should be sterilised... oops, what have I said

She just gets dumber.

Sorry, that link isn't working. This should: http://gawker.com/5840591/dumb-student-who-accused-jewish-prof-of-anti+semitism-i-am-the-victim-here

srsly fuck this student. The phrase "chilling effect" is a cliché but as a college instructor I'm paranoid as it is that some cretin will accuse me of endorsing colonialism if he overhears me quoting Conrad.

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 2:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

The media has been complicit in allowing a false interpretation of my actions to be circulated widely, which can only have a chilling effect on the ability of students to have any kind of a voice on campus.

!

haha "I tried to only highlight the laughably dumb parts, but that proved to be impossible."

This outfit turned me down for their graduate film program 27 years ago, so I wish them all the bad karma in the world.

she wash the sinkful of rotting food

I'm not sure washing rotting food does much good, though.

Photo taken inside Sarah Grunfeld's brain: AP

LOL

I am starting to feel a bit sorry for Sarah Grunfeld, in a "God bless her" kind of way.

Don't

stupidity needs to be more of a capital crime, not less

Anti-semitism is far too important to let her get away with this.

In general this story is kind of uplifting, in that the student made a moronic complaint against the professor, and everyone has pretty much rallied round the professor and decried the student for perhaps not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. I mean, it would be really terrifying if the professor lost his job or was censured over this, but that has not happenned.

"This statement of her position is only to be used in its entirety:"

Because we wouldn't want to quote anything out of context.

Roffle.

This is like shooting stupid fish in a barrel.

this could still end very badly for the professor

they could force her to take his class

can you imagine what hanging around this girl over the last few days would be like? how worked up she probably is over this?

Her poor husband

yeah but the "just hold me" sex might be good?

i mean the real answer is "just as insufferable as ever" i imagine

lol

B'nai Brith Canada has called for "sensitivity training" for the faculty of Toronto's York University in the wake of a complaint by a Jewish student over the remarks of a Jewish professor.

BBC called on the university "to investigate further" the incident in which a student in a class taught by Professor Johnston "felt marginalized and targeted by the way subject matter relating to odious opinions was presented.

"Clearly, a key message was miscommunicated, and sensitivity training needs to be instituted for faculty to ensure that such incidents do not happen again," BBC said.

or maybe, just maybe, students need to pay attention in class

Your insensitivity to the plight of students with short attention spans and the constant distractions they face is sad. Think of the kids!

* 500 students! wtf

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/University+enrolment+hits+time+high/5325519/story.html

Good time to be teaching in Saskatchewan.

Yep, it is without a doubt 100% the FACULTY that needs training as a result of this incident.

This story is scaring the hell out of my gf who just started teaching at a big deal school (and whose classes are full of "black ppl are like this, gay ppl are like that" examples of intolerance).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ8ReM2Rc6w

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/000/554/facepalm.jpg

oh wow

that was interesting. Kinda. Though I feel a little sad I watched the whole thing.

I am NOT stupid

glad that's settled

oof.

I literally cannot conceive of going through life with this level of self-absorption. It's like a step away from "requires involuntary commitment for own safety," I swear.

nothing says "i'm not stupid" like making a Youtube video about some stupid thing you did 4 months ago

Whats even more sad is that she must have people in her life backing her up on all of this, at the very least no one close enough to sit her down and explain what really happened here.

oh I can't listen to this, the stupid is making me ill

loooool

it's fun to think of this as some kinda manifestation of 21st century entitlement meeting internet culture ish, but it's probably more a case of old-fashioned idiocy given a new-fangled platform to shout from

*sterilizes sarah grunfeld*

i love how she tries to justify it by adding WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE JEWS at the end

"i am not stupid, i am a 4th year honours student"

hey i don't know about canada's education system but where i come from

Yeah, I was close to making a "kids these days with their narcissism" quip, but these people have always been around, they just used to be limited to handing out hand-printed fliers at the swap meet.

I think when PROPAGANDA popped up over the logo for the Toronto Star was when I decided to just go along for the ride.

FULL ATTENTIO
N
!

I like how she's obscured her image like she's some whistleblower who needs to conceal her identity for her own safety, and not a young woman clearly identified as Sarah Grunfeld.

well, on one hand her story sounds insane and unbelievable, literally like i cannot believe a single word coming out of her mouth

on the other hand, that dramatic documentary music sounds really compelling and truthful so i'm gonna call this one a wash. maybe even err on the side of it being true.

Cameron Johnston is not the professor's real name. He changed his name from Robert Lawrence to Cameron Johnston a few years ago. Why would a professor with 20+ years of teaching experience suddenly change his name? What is he hiding?

ShmutzExposer1 3 days ago

http://www.youtube.com/user/ShmutzExposer1/feed

hmmm

lol someone has done a huge comment cull like a second ago

ShmutzExposer. That has "display name" written all over it.

lol they have that page set so that comments are pending approval-- no wonder there's only three

xposts

that must have just happened. there were a dozen-odd comments, including one of mine!

someone needs to rip+repost it