Screenwriter and actress Lena Dunham has managed to put herself back in the limelight amid a new controversy. Dunham finds herself in the news not because her show Girls had season premiere ratings that plummeted by 40 percent, or the questionable incidents from her book Not that Kind of Girl that included passages of molesting her sister or falsely accusing an innocent man of raping her. No. This time Dunham is being accused of anti-Semitism for a quiz she wrote, asking readers to choose which statement would refer to her dog…..or her Jewish boyfriend.
Here are just a few of the more “offensive” questions Dunham asked her readers to answer:
…He comes from a culture in which mothers focus every ounce of their attention on their offspring and don’t acknowledge their own need for independence as women. They are sucked dry by their children, who ultimately leave them as soon as they find suitable mates.
…He expects to be waited on hand and foot by the women in his life, and anything less than that makes him whiny and distant
He doesn’t tip.
He doesn’t bring his wallet anywhere
He has hair all over his body, like most males who share his background
Ever since the “Dog or Jewish” quiz was featured in The New Yorker, Dunham has attracted a flood of criticism. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, released the following statement on Dunham’s lame attempt at humor:
…the piece is particularly troubling because it evokes memories of the 'No Jews or Dogs Allowed' signs from our own early history in this country, and also because, in a much more sinister way, many in the Muslim world today hatefully refer to Jews as 'dogs.' We doubt that Ms. Dunham had any intention of evoking such comparisons. While we understand that humor is its own special brand of expression and always try to give leeway to comedians, we wish that she had chosen another less insensitive way to publicly reflect on her boyfriend’s virtues and vices. We are surprised that The New Yorker chose to print it.
Meanwhile, others have defended Dunham, even “thanking” her for putting such misconceptions about stereotypes out in the open. From USA Today, Eliyahu Federman wrote:
Further, Dunham joking about stereotypes helped spur an open conversations that is necessary to combat and dispel real misconceptions and bigoted stereotypes. These public conversations need to happen. Satire can help bring these otherwise private hush-hush conversations to the public, where it won't be immune from necessary scrutiny and scorn.
When The New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick was asked to comment on the uproar, he released the following statement:
The Jewish-comic tradition is rich with the mockery of, and playing with, stereotypes. Anyone who has ever heard Lenny Bruce or Larry David or Sarah Silverman or who has read Portnoy’s Complaint knows that. Lena Dunham, who is Jewish and hugely talented, is a comic voice working in that vein. Richard Pryor and Chris Rock do the same about black stereotypes; Amy Schumer does it with women and gender. I don’t mind if one reader or another didn’t find the piece funny. People can differ on that. But considering all the real hatred and tragedy in the world, the people getting exercised about the so-called anti-Semitism of this comic piece, like those who railed at Philip Roth a generation or two ago, are, with respect, howling in the wrong direction.
As Breitbart reporter John Nolte noted:
A major publication singling out Jews for ethnic humor is part of a troubling, not a comic, tradition. Despite a good-faith effort, Breitbart News cannot find any examples of the New Yorker publishing similar satiric stereotypes against gays, blacks, Hispanics, etc. Yesterday afternoon, Breitbart News asked a New Yorker spokesperson if the magazine would publish stereotypical satire aimed at blacks, gays or Hispanics. We also asked for any examples of the New Yorker doing so in the past. Our questions were ignored. All Breitbart News received in response was Remnick’s blanket statement.
This isn’t the first time The New Yorker has been at the center of a racial controversy. Earlier last week they ran a story on Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz (a Hispanic), labeling him as “uppity.”
Perhaps the only “uppity” ones are those who think they can publish such things and get away with it.
