The New York Post has a story about a couple who was insulted at being called Jews in a Jersey Shore restaurant.

I’m afraid I really don’t understand the outrage over this. Maybe that’s because I’m not a member of any minority group and have, therefore, never really faced racism, but I don’t get why this is offensive.

I have to wonder what Mr. Stein’s grandfather would have to say about the whole thing:

“My grandfather went through all that in old-school Europe,” an angry Stein said yesterday. “But that happened more than 50 years ago. You don’t expect it to happen in 2005, especially when a lot of their money comes from our community.”

So, fifty years ago, in Europe, Mr. Stein’s grandfather had to go through something similar to what Stein’s facing here? Let’s compare, shall we? Fifty years ago, in 1945, Jews were being rounded up and thrown into incinerators. Today, in 2005, Elliot Stein went into a restaurant where the server made a note in a computer system that the order belonged to the “Jew Couple.” I’m really straining to see a comparison there, and I strongly suspect that many of Mr. Stein’s grandfather’s generation would like to punch him in the face for trying to equate the two.

I don’t imagine this is a perfect world, and I know that Jews* (and other minorities) often face a great deal of bigotry even today. I’m not sure that this particular incident provides an example of that bigotry, though, and even if it did, I think it’s unbelieveably stupid for Mr. Stein to equate this with what his grandfather went through in Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

( þ Waiter Rant )

* Judging by some of Waiter’s comments, I gather that “Jew” is apparently considered a derogatory term to some Jewish people, but I’m at a complete loss as to what the less-offensive term might be. Please be assured that I mean no offense, and I’ll happily switch to a less offensive word if you tell me what that might be.