|
Sometimes a Modifier Tells What You Are
NMB, Florida November 29, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
SOMETIMES A MODIFIER TELLS OTHERS WHAT YOU ARE
I got to thinking some small thoughts after reading "A Constituency Ready
for Peace" by J.J. Goldberg in the NY Times this morning (p. A31)
He got me to thinking about how a small box inside his piece was headlined
"Jewish Americans are more flexible on Mideast policy than many think". It
was not his conclusions that made me pause and wonder at his use of the
hyphenation (it was there although left out) "Jewish Americans". I have
long urged these words to be switched - say, "American Jews" rather than the
religion before the nationality. But here he or some editor used the words
in this fashion which puts an entirely different meaning to them. In his
text he uses what I prefer, "American Jews". This puts America first -
where I think it should be.
Now, saying this I got to thinking in a corollary fashion about OTHER
Americans. If we got to thinking and saying, the American POOR or the
American RICH we would be getting closer to reality than in the minds of the
user of the phrase turning the words around to poor Americans or rich
Americans. At least in my mind there is a world of difference in emphasis.
Putting the minority before the nation is a biased use of the word.
We have to deal with the fact that there are a lot of Americans who are
Black and the descendants of American slaves. We have to deal with the fact
that there are a lot of new Americans who were formerly Afghanistanis,
Moroccans, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Sikhs and so on. To identify them as
Muslim or Islamic Americans deals with them differently than, for instance,
when we label Irish Americans (it has a different sound) or the difficult to
pronounce, American Irish. Other groups than Jews and Muslims are treated
differently in the way the terms are positioned. We do not identify persons
as Catholic Americans or Protestant Americans. We do identify Mormons first
by religion rather than as "American Mormons". Why is this so?
Sometimes you are what you are because of the positioning of a modifier.
Some people are properly touchy about the way they are described. Carol's
Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
|
 |
|