eLROY v. the world

Usually I enjoy reading this forum I but have to admit to being a bit disappointed at the reactions that some of eLROY's posts generate. He is generally accused of being a racist, an anti-semite and a moron. He may be all three but you wouldn't be able to tell from anything he has posted. Of course some of the blame rests with eLROY because he chooses words and probes subjects that tend to cause agitated and emotional responses. I can find no post where eLROY says anything even remotely anti-semitic. He makes note about a historical tendency for jews to be involved in money lending (there is link at bottom on this). Several posters concluded that since Hitler and other hate mongering groups have accused jews of controlling international banking, then eLROY must be an anti-semite since he made a remark that was, on its face, sort of maybe remotely similiar to Hitler rhetoric. In fact Hitler/hate rhetoric is an obnoxious blend of lies, half truths and a very few facts. eLROY's comments were nothing of the Hitler sort. They were not intended to stir up racial hatred and were based on historical fact. At the time, eLROY was engaged in a non-superficial, thoughtful debate about sexism in our society.


The BlackHomeLoans.com Post - Now obviously eLROY was trying to raise some hackles and maybe get a few incendiary responses. But again there was nothing rascist about the post. The point of the post was that rascism, sexism and bigoted actions in general, have a steep cost when implemented in a competitive business environment. This subject has been researched extensively in academia, most notably in the discipline of economics. Although I do have to admit that eLROY could have found a more effective way making his point.


The really ironic part is that eLROY does espouse some very controversial and debatable views. Specifically he is a proponent of pure laissez-faire capitalism, libertarianism and has a very darwinistic view point. I'm a bit surprised that no one ever takes him to task on these issues. I do think that eLROY brings a valuable and alternative voice to the debates here on the forum (not that I always agree with him) and I think people would be better off to debate reasonably rather than call him names.

I was the one who said that eLROY's comment about Jewish money-lenders was an anti-Semitic remark. I stand by that assessment. His remark about Jewish slave-traders was also an anti-Semitic remark.


I have never called him a name. He is the one who has engaged in name-calling, for example, calling me a Nazi.


After a debate with eLROY a few weeks ago, when he said that Ralph Nader's platform was very similar to that of the Nazi Party, I had decided to be finished with him because of his insulting name-calling. But I could not let an anti-Semitic remark just slip by.

"It was a frequent and consistent theme in Hitler's hate mongoring."


I didn't say eLROY was spouting Hitler rhetoric I merely pointed out that it Hitler used the same theme and that what was how it could be construed as anti-semetic.


"Also it's been a frequent and consistent theme in justifying anti-semitic pogroms throughout history."


I believe that this is a fact as well.


I think it's fair to say that ethnic groups resist negative stereotypes that exist about them. When someone mentions Jews and a pre-dispostion to be money lenders in the same sentence I think it's reasonable to expect someone who is Jewish to be sensitive about it. The Holocaust wasn't that long ago.

If you don't see racism in his posts, then you are either an ostrich, or you share his views.