SOS Racisme, a French anti-racism group, is threatening to sue Apple if they don’t remove an app called Juif ou pas juif — “Jewish or Not Jewish” — from French iPhones, calling it anti-Semitic. The app, a searchable database of famous figures from around the world that simply answers the obvious question about each of them, also runs afoul of the French criminal law against compiling and distributing personal information about people.
CRIF, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions — similar to America’s Anti-Defamation League — is also calling for Apple Store France to bar the app.
Most Americans would probably find this app more a waste of time than anything else — but remember, Frenchmen are going to be a bit more sensitive about this sort of thing: it wasn’t all that long ago that France helped round up 76,000 Jews who were then shipped off to almost certain death.
The closest American equivalent to “Jewish or Not Jewish” would probably be a “Gay or Not Gay” app: I have to imagine many gay men and women, even if not strictly hiding their orientations, would feel uncomfortable about finding themselves on a public list.
Of course, I can only speak at a lone, heterosexual Jews; so let’s see what everybody else has to say.
A few notes: The poll responses won’t be visible until Monday morning. There is absolutely no way for me (or anybody else) to match up a poll response to a particular person (or location or ISP). And feel free to leave comments anonymously, with a fake e-mail address: if you’re using a name or address you haven’t used before, your comment will be held for moderation, but I’ll try to get everything approved as quickly as possible.
Speaking of naming Jews…
A lot depends on the context. But I would be worried about a “gay” app ‘outing’ people who were only kinda-out before. The “Jew” app seems less problematic, except of course in PC-mad France.
I doubt that this app is intentionally ant-Semitic, though I understand why some might see it that way. And while the French may have been involved in the rounding up of Jews sixty years ago, I haven’t heard of any surge in anti-semitism in France recently.
The gay list has the potential of causing physical, financial and social harm to someone. There are still places in this country where you could be in serious danger if it were commonly know you were gay.
Here is what I find the real problem with idea of these types of list, even when they are benign. In both these cases, someone is taking it upon themselves to reveal something personal about someone else. It is my business to decide who to tell what about myself. Even if the information is publicly available, there is a huge difference between someone having to research information and having that information handed to them. Most people simply aren’t that interested if someone is Jewish or gay to take the time to do the research. However if presented to them in a no effort on there part kind of way … that is another story. I find the idea of a random I-POD programmer collecting data on me and making it easily accessible to the masses a violation of my right privacy.
I don’t have an opinion about the app, but re: antisemitism in France, I guess some of us may be more attuned to these things:
From Feb 2010:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136274
From Dec 2009:
No Anti-Semitism in France?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/no_antisemitism_in_france.html
[I don’t know what year this is from, but it is relatively recent):
Anti-Semitic Violence Sweeps France
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130385&page=1
This is from Jan 2002:
Anti-Semitism in France
http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/france.html
There are a lot of ways that the Jew app and the hypothetical gay app would be very different. For instance, Jews are either religiously or ethnically Jewish (or both) – ethnic Jews don’t always follow the religion, and vice versa. Does the app specify? Being ethnically Jewish depends on who your family is, and that’s pretty hard to hide publically. Religion is mostly a personal choice, but also pretty hard to hide publically, although Jews have a long history of finding creative ways to hide their identity (from what I remember of history class).
Gays also have a long history of hiding, but also homosexuality is determined neither by family nor by personal choice; the causes are unknown, but it IS known that it’s not a choice, it cannot be changed (only suppressed), and it has some genetic factors but gay people still usually have straight children. Most people don’t know whether they’re straight or gay until adolescence, and many gays don’t reveal it even to their closest friends and family until late in life (or even then)
A “gay or not gay” app would be objectionable not just because it’s an invasion of privacy (although that won’t stop people from gossiping about celebrities and public figures about their suspicions – at least people know not to TRUST gossip as much as a computer). It would also be objectionable because it would be stating speculations as fact: you simply don’t know that any given “straight” person isn’t actually a closeted gay. So every time the verdict is “not gay,” it would have to admit to uncertainty. In this way, it is no better than a gossiper with access to Wikipedia.
There’s also the question of how many categories it would have. Is a bisexual “gay” or “not?” Or a transexual who is attracted to members of his or her identified sex, but not his or her born sex? These distinctions are important to take into account, as much as the distinction of “ethnically Jewish” and “religiously Jewish.”
Then there’s the question of whether either of these apps would be used for mere curiosity or for the purposes of determining who to hate. If they were merely satisfying curiosity, then they would need to provide more information than the simple yes/no answer, as curious people tend to have more questions than one; a truly curious person would have more fun with Wikipedia than an app that only answers one question. So, ominously, it seems more likely (to me) that the use this app will be put to is to determine who the hateful people need to hate, and that’s a bit too dangerous for my comfort. It couldn’t be banned in the US, but I know France doesn’t protect free speech, so I think they’re well within their law to ban it.
Gina Bellman = Yes (half). I wouldn’t have known!
Why not paint “JEWISH” on the storefront of jew-operated shops, while you’re at it?
One of my favorite SNL episodes had a fake game show called “Jew, Not a Jew”. Tom Hanks played the game show host. It was Season 14, Episode 1, and aired Oct 8, 1988.
If you subscribe to Hulu Plus you can watch it here:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/197778/saturday-night-live-tom-hanks
Here is a transcript of that skit that I found online:
It’s time for the game that
all Americans love to play,
Jew, Not a New.
And here’s your host, Bob Tompkins!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Don.
Thank you, everybody. Welcome to Jew, Not a Jew.
Okay, let’s say hi to our champions, the Knutsens!
Gregg Knutsen. What kind of name is that?
Uh, that’s Swedish, Bob. My father is Swedish Lutheran.
Well, gee, I thought all Swedes were blond.
My mom’s Irish Catholic.
That’s very interesting. Debra, delightful to see you again.
Great to be back, Bob.
Debra, what was your maiden name?
Rochat. It’s French Huguenot. It’s pretty hard-core Protestant.
Oh, so we’ve got ourselves a real mishmash here, don’t we?
Okay, now, let’s go over and meet our challengers, the Johnsons!
Ted, you hail from Oregon and are–
Bob, we’re both WASPS.
All right! All right, Johnsons!
And now let’s play Jew, Not a Jew!
All right, hands on buzzers, everybody. Hands on buzzers.
Star of ABC’s long running hit, Laverne and Shirley,
she directed the summer blockbuster,Big. Penny Marshall.
Jew, or not a Jew?
Knutsens! Penny Marshall Jew or not a Jew?
She’s from Brooklyn somewhere.
I’m not–
Okay, okay.
We’re gonna go with Jew, Bob!
Oh! No, I’m sorry. Penny Marshall was born Penelope Marciala.
She is an Italian Catholic. Italian Catholic.
Now, let’s take a minute to review the rules for Jew, Not a Jew. According to Jewish Law, anyone whose mother is a Jew is a Jew. So if an individual’s father is a gentile and his mother is Jewish, that person is considered a Jew. However, reverse the bloodlines
and that person is not a Jew. But for the purposes of our game, anyone with any Jewish lineage at all…will be considered
a Jew.
Okay, now, let’s get back to our game. Hands on the buzzers
now. Hands on the buzzers.
Star of Highway to Heaven, he was Charles Ingals on Little House On the Prairie, and Little Joe on Bonanza. Writer, producer, star
Michael Landon, Jew or not a Jew?
Oh, Johnsons! Michael Landon, Jew, not a Jew?
- Oh, boy. I heard somewhere he’s Jewish.
- Are you sure? I–
Ah, yeah, when he was doing Bonanza, I read it.
Oh, you’re thinking Lorne Greene!
– No, no.
No, I think he’s Jewish.
- No. Okay.
We’re gonna say Jew, Bob.
That’s right! That’s right. He was born Eugene Orowitz in Brooklyn, New York. Michael Landon is Jewish.
Good, Johnsons! Ten points. Ten points.
Okay, let’s continue. Hands on buzzers.
Mayor of New York (picture of Ed Koch appears)–
- Yes, yes, yes!
- He’s a Jew, Bob.
Yes, sir! That’s right. Ed Koch is a Jew. Ten points, Knutsens.
All right. Ah, we gotta take a time-out. We’ll be right back after this word.
–start of fake ad–
Feldman’s Kosher Pickles presents You Make the Call.
The 1965 World Series. Sandy Koufax leads the Los Angeles Dodgers…into the seventh game against the Minnesota Twins. Koufax shuts out the Twins, yielding just three hits and striking out ten.
Now, you make the call.
Sandy Koufax, Jew or not a Jew?
——
Jew Not a Jew is brought to you by Feldman’s Kosher Pickles. You don’t have to be Jewish to like Feldman’s, but it helps.
——
If you said Sandy Koufax was a Jew, you made the right call. Sandy Koufax, baseball great, Jew.
–end of fake ad–
Hey, we’re all out of time. That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow and we’ll take a look at… Bruce Springsteen, Goldie Hawn, Jose Ferrer and Casper Weinberger on Jew, Not a Jew.
Bye-bye, everybody.
That was the first thing I thought of too, Pinny.
Well, here’s a list you definitely don’t want to end up on the wrong side of: http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/
A few years ago I met a 30-something Jew who had recently moved here (America) from France. She remarked that after she moved here she had found it surprising how Jews would openly talking in public places about things that identified them as Jewish. I didn’t get the impression that in France she was exactly worried that the pogroms might start up any minute, but she was definitely taught that it was safer to not advertise her Jewishness.
Pinny, thanks for the link and the transcript.
(For others traversing the link, the game show segment starts right after the second obligatory-advert dot. I noted the ti9me but have forgotten it, maybe 25:00.)
Seeing it is naturally funnier than the transcript. Luv that Victoria Jackson!
A weird aspect of the set decor is the pink triangle. What an interesting confusion of symbols!
No one seems to have noticed that the list is of *famous* people. Your next-door neighbor or your kid’s teacher is very unlikely to be on such a list.
It is very racist, but that does not mean we should stop it. Rights are inherent, and if we allow something to be destroyed because we do not like the ideas behind it, are we better than the censors? Censors love to use precedent against modern technology.
Also, the programs may have future applications beyond the simple identification of race or sexual preference. I want to know how the app determines race: Identity checks, looking through clothing and checking for a foreskin, or some sort of biological or genetic scan? Either of those things could be applied to biology, medicine or policework, and I would like more information regarding the nature of the software.
That’s now how it works; it looks up names in a database.
The app is really “a list of famous people who are Jewish”, like the Wikipedia article “Lists of Jews”. (Should IT be taken down?)