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Bigoted Letter-Writer Offers Apologia

Memoir of an anti-Semite

by
Marc Tracy
May 15, 2012

Someone in Tablet Magazine’s office received a letter recently that is either from the same guy who sent Gawker that image of a bunch of evil financial Jews or is severely plagiarizing that guy. It’s what you see above (and below, for the full image): a gallery of ” ‘nice Jewish boys’ (and two nice Jewish girls),” chiefly financiers and neoconservative foreign policy hands, who presumably are responsible for a great deal of evil in the world. My third favorite touch: including Adam Sandler. My second favorite touch: including Mark Zuckerberg. My favorite touch: including both Roy Cohn and the Rosenbergs. That’s chutzpah, if I may say so.

But here’s the thing: Also included in the envelope (whose return address was one “J.S. Mill” at a very real Upper East Side apartment building) was a short letter in which the sender explains himself:

I apologize for the flyer I sent you recently (“Nice Jewish Boys”) [ed.: you actually sent it along with this]. In retrospect, I feel it was too broad and unfair.



My anger is with Wall Street and the Israeli lobby, both of which I believe are dangerously out of control.



I want, and hope for, only three things:



1. Re-regulation of Wall Street and the banks.



2. No further U.S. troop involvement in the Middle East.



3. The requirement that AIPAC and similar organizations register as a foreign agents [sic] and behave as such.



That’s all I’m after. Too much of my frustration was evident in the flyer I mailed you. It should have been more measured and focused.



[unsigned]

As it happens, AIPAC is a U.S. lobby, not a foreign agent. And many U.S. troops are withdrawing from the Middle East, although I’d guess there are a good portion of Syrians who wish they would pay a visit to their corner of the region.

I do agree that Wall Street and the banks ought to be re-regulated, but I don’t see what the Jews have to do with it. So, dear letter-writer, I want, and only hope for, you to keep your opinions to yourself.

Here’s the full flyer:

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.