I've heard many a Jewish comment on this. Even one of my Jewish friends that I've discussed this with, have almost this paranoia about the movie.

It's almost as if portaying any Jewish person being anything other than an angelic victim of someone else - is now considered to be anti-semitism. I don't get it.

We portray different people from various groups - Nazis being the prime example - as being bad people. But then we don't extrapolate and think that a Nazi story will cause hate crimes against Germans!

If you ask me, it's almost a pathological condition with them. And it feeds on itself - the more attention they give it, the more the nutjobs come out of the woodwork and do bad things, leading to more attention....

Also, every descration of every Synagog is considered to be anti-semitism, but other churches (Christian churches) are descrated too and it's not called anything other than vandalism.

I don't mean to belittle what has happened to the Jews in the past, or to say that anti-semitism doesn't happen - it does. But, I think they need to pick their battles a little more wisely or people will just stop listening. (sad but true)

This reminds me of how, years ago, they said Ozzy Osbourne's music made teens commit suicide. I always thought that was BS. Back in my younger years I was a headbanger - and I did not grow up to be a devil worshiper.

Good point about the oscars! LOL

Jennifer Martinez sends

In response to Teresa, I can only speak for myself as one Jewish person but yes, we do get a little frantic when Passion Plays start cropping up again. I think we can handle anti-Jewish stereotypes as well as any group handles their own anti-whomever stereotypes, but the Passion is a different matter. Historically, the depiction of the Passion and the role Jews played or did not play in Jesus' death led to everything from the isolated torture of a few Jews to the wholesale slaughter of an entire community. Either way, the annual production of Ye Olde Passione Troupe generally meant that the neighborhood Jews hid out for a few weeks.

Your next, very valid point is that we need to pick our battles. Indeed. There is no doubt that the hand-wringing by Jewish groups over the movie prior to its release did more for Mel than all the paid publicity in the world could. I do believe they have now come to regret that.

Most importantly, we, as Jews, need to remember that this is America of 2004- not medieval England or pre-Revolutionary France and not Saudi Arabia or Gaza of 2004 (where the Passion, needless to say is a huge hit, positively feeding their propaganda machines). On the other hand, Germany in 1930 was a pretty nice place for Jews to be, too.

Synagogues are considered desecrated ( or, better, the subject of anti-Jewish sentiment) when they are spray-painted with swastikas and "kill the jews" inexplicably misspelled. When someone throws a rock through the stained glass, it's vandalism. Same as in churches ( although this is actually a whole other topic since synagogues are not generally, historically considered "sacred" in the way that churches are and thus cannot technically be "de-sacralized").

So, you see? I know this whole Jewish victimization thing really wears on folks after a while but in the big picture, we are 60 years fresh off of the worst blow us guys have ever taken. Many of us are still eating Friday night dinner with Grandmas who have numbers tattooed on their arms. Give us another 50 years. Then we'll all forget and teh whole cycle can start all over. If one thing in this world is consistent, it is the barbarity of human beings towards one another.

And lastly, you are also right that people will stop listening. People stop listening to complaints of ethnic victimization as soon as their dinner gets cold. Darfur, anyone?