OKAY WTAF

[cimorene]

Today, I was once again reduced to wordless rage!

SOME KID: But why was Jesus crucified?
TEACHER: Well, that was because, you see, the Jews didn't really like the way that Jesus said he was the son of God. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah who would save them and they didn't think the Messiah would be that kind of person, like an ordinary human being like Jesus.

ÖALSKDJJJJJ BBQ

This is the same one who jumped in to answer the clueless one who wanted to know what Jews think about "our" Jesus (mostly correctly but without any special knowledge of the respect he's sometimes been held in since his death) - so volubly that I wasn't able to get a word in in order to come out as a Jew.

Now, it's not that I couldn't rebut this. It's more that I barely know where to start, let alone how it's hard to formulate Swedish when overcome with rage. Also any comeback would have to be both brief, and simple enough to not seem weird in the second-grade context, if you see what I mean. What SHOULD I have said, calmly and in brief, to correct this misrepresentation for a second-grade audience?

Comments

[anatsuno]

I'm with Ann, that's what I was thinking, yes.

Though TBH I would also have been shaking in rage, and I'm not sure what I'd have said would have been appropriate for any audience at all.

I would also be very tempted to report that teacher for blatant antisemitism based on describing the twoo incidents, though I'm sure you're not in a position were doing that is possible/meaningful/easy.

What the FUCK though, seriously. For that to be her answer she has to have a serious problem.

[cimorene]

Exactly, it really strikes me as racist, but I don't think she even realizes that she has problems, you know? I think she's grown up in the Bible belt and belongs to one of those 'revival' or more fundamentalist churches, because she sounds EXACTLY like the Methodists and Baptists I grew up around in Alabama on these issues. A priest told them the propaganda, presumably. She obviously believes that she's very knowledgable about judaism, and just completely is not at all. I'd think the girl in the next class over being a Jew might have caused her to reevaluate if she were straight-up bigoted, so I'm inclined to think that she doesn't have an inkling that these beliefs have an "ugly" side, as the Alabamians would say, or she would probably not repeat them freely with the girl's other teachers right there. Of course I could be giving her too much credit there, but I really get a read on her character as an earnest and well-meaning person.

I just dk, you know? Because it nauseates me and makes me so angry, and also makes me want to come out as a Jew in spite of all the problematic sub-issues that entails (Are you a REAL Jew?). But at the same time as I'd hope she would be shamed into reevaluating her opinions, I am also embarrassed at the mere thought that she would take coming out AFTER those conversations as an accusation of racism or attempt to catch her out. Wax pointed out that that is mostly in my head because it actually kind of is and considering how clueless she seems to be, she probably wouldn't even be capable of taking it that way. But I'm also worried about THAT: that it wouldn't affect her opinion at all, that she'd just completely fail to see the problem, which would be both hurtful and frustrating. And then, finally, I'm worried that telling her would actually cause her to like me less, or regard me differently, when she's actually the one teacher of the four that I think I've felt the most comfortable/rapport/clicking with.

Why yes, I did cry about this this afternoon.

[anatsuno]

*hugs* It sucks a LOT. D: