I've noticed on Wikipedia an abundance of references to Jewish parentage or ancestry. For example, the article on Beckham mentions that his grandmother is Jewish. A lot of times these statements seem irrelevant to the overall importance of the subject. So my question is: are these statements added by people of Jewish origin who are proud of their heritage? Or are they added by anti-Semites who are tryign to advance their cause?
I think in most cases it's neither. Beckham has brought up his connection with Judaism. It tends to come up briefly in most biographical entries.
Thanks Ben. But I meant in general (besides Mr. Beckham) I see these references to Judaism. Why so many of them?
Is it any different for other ethnic or religious groups? I see all sorts of lists on wikipedia. For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_American_entertainers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian-American_politicians I'm always curious to hear if someone is Jewish,part-Jewish, whatever. I'm not sure there's much "pride" involved. Anti-Semities usually portray Jews are rich, powerful, and evil. So they might be quick to point out any leading Jews in industry, politics, or the media, particuarly when one of them does something wrong! Most "Jew lists" are on anti-Semitic sites (though often littered with errors) trying to demonstrate that Jews run the world. Some lists are on Jewish sites, with the emphasis usually on science, art, entertainment, and sport.
Yeah, but when it comes to a miniscule ethnic group going ga-ga over the achievements of their fellows, jews have nothing on the scots. "Who's like us? Damn few, and they're all deid!" http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/famscots.html I've got a lovely teacloth given to me by a demented scotsman, demonstrating that everything the english have - was made possible by scottish inventors... I guess you can draw your own conclusions...
Some people feel it important to add the religious status of any number of persons on wikipedia. Several football players and coaches have notes about their conversion to Islam (e.g., Philippe Troussier) or Judaism, etc. I have to agree that these statements seem irrelevant to the articles, but I guess that is one of the problems of having an encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
If people write it it is because they think it is relevant. Is it relevant to know about people's religious beliefs? For example, is it relevant that Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page dabbled with the occult? Maybe not, but I find it an interesting fact to know, because I find him to be an interesting character. Maybe it helps descipher some of his lyrics, to some extent. Some people find David Beckham interesting, so maybe they find it interested that David Beckham has a connection with Judaism. I don't know why, but they do.
I was reading a book called "A History of the Jews in USA", (an older book) by Rabbi Levinger. He points to Christopher Colombus as being a Jew, of course leaves the theory to much debate.
For 24 hours, Frank Miller became Jewish on Wikipedia That's a perfect example of someone being identified as Jewish for anti-Semitic purposes (and one of the weaknesses of Wikipedia, which overall is a great asset to the internet community). As a brilliant artist for decades, he wasn't Jewish. Only when he pissed off one group he magically became Jewish.
Christopher Columbus was definitely not Jewish. There are some interesting things that he did that may have pointed to it, but he wasn't. He used some Jewish symbols in his logs, etc. He left Spain on the same day that those refusing to convert to Catholicism were forced out by the Inquisition... august 2nd or 3rd, 1492... I forget which... He did have some Jewish crew members though. But when he landed in the new world, he wrote that the Indians would be easy to convert to Christianity.