'Malky Mackay, Dave Whelan and now Mario Balotelli. Mackay said: nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers. Dave Whelan said: Jewish people chase money more than anyone else. And Balotelli reposted a tweet in which Super Mario is compared to a Jew because he's good at grabbing coins.'
All rather similar comments but whilst the BBC were happy to jump on the bandwagon attacking Malky Mackay and Dave Whelan for other comments that they made more than the Jew related ones, they seem less keen on criticising Mario Balotelli. Are anti Semitic remarks seen as less serious (or more understandable in view of Israel's "crimes") at the institutionally anti Israel BBC?
Quote taken from this David Badiell piece at The Guardian... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/02/antisemitism-is-racism-malky-mackay-david-whelan-mario-balotelli
Read the reader comments at your peril.
Quite a few comments on this:
ReplyDelete1. Balotelli's step-mother is Jewish. Does that make him sort of Jewish himself, so it becomes a bit of a self deprecating comment? At the very least it means he has to explain himself to his mother...
2. Balotelli's remark was made in the context of a cartoonish joke. That doesn't excuse it, but means that it is likely shouldn't be judged in quite the same way as Whelan or Mackays comments.
3. Whereas Mackay and Whelan are supposed to be grown ups in responsible positions (manager and owner) Balotelli is still quite young and is something of a Gascoigne-like clown figure. While that doesn't excuse any bad behaviour on his part, the media probably don't want to hound him and he is still very popular with many football fans.
Having said that, I have to admit that many of the most accomplished "money grabbers" that I know from business happen to be Jewish, but that that doesn't mean that they and other Jews are not also very generous and kind hearted.