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From: amigo@iwlc6.UUCP (John Hobson)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Yehoyaqim Shemtob Martillo
Message-ID: <127@iwlc6.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Apr-84 17:07:42 EST
Article-I.D.: iwlc6.127
Posted: Thu Apr 12 17:07:42 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Apr-84 21:03:46 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 65

I am writing this mainly in response to Andy Tannenbaum's defense
of Y. S. Martillo.  It certainly is true that, as Andy put it:  "He
expresses his strong views in a strong way."   And it is also true
that "...some people out there have a problem with Martillo
expressing hatred for a group."  I have trouble with this, and it's
not just because I "think that it's a `bad thing' because proponents
of `minority groups' told [me] so."  

I get the definite impression that he hates Germans, Russians,
Poles, Greeks, Muslims, Christians, Nazis, Jewish women who marry 
Goyim (hi, Mom), and is not too fond of assimilated Jews and
Ashkenazim.  (He describes himself as being somewhat pro-Ashkenazi
for a Sephardi.  I would hate to see some of the anti-Ashkenazi
ones.)  I am still bristling from the time over a month ago when he
called my grandfather "low, common, vulgar, and ignorant" purely
and simply because he (my grandfather) was an assimilated Austrian
Jew.  When I asked him to elaborate, he explained why he felt that
way, but apparently it never occurred to him to apologize.

Martillo seems to be most proud of his Sephardic background.  And
well he should be.  We all should be.  I certainly am proud of my
forebears, including my grandfather.  But Martillo seems to look
down on all non-Sephardis.  He said "I am unimpressed by Ashenazic
yihus (ancestry)", but when he mentioned his grandfather, he made
sure to give him his title of "Hakim."

Like, Andy, I too hate the Nazis for the "rather unselective
pruning that they did to my family", including my aforementioned
grandfather, but I do not hate all Germans.  Yes, many, even most
Germans, have been anti-Semites, but I do not have an a priori
hatred of them because of it.  When Martillo mentioned his
objections to the love affair between Marvel Comics Kitty Pryde and
Pyotr Rasputin, there seemed to be an underlying assumption that
all Russians are anti-Semitic.

One of the reasons that this world is in the state that it is in is
that far too many people despise other groups as being (to use a
good old Nazi term) "Untermenschen."  Remember that song by (I
think, someone will undoubtedly correct me if I am wrong) Tom
Lehrer, "The Merry Minuet":

	This whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
	The French hate the Germans,
	The Germans hate the Poles.
	Italians hate Yugoslavs,
	South Africans hate the Dutch.
	And I don't like anybody very much!

	But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud,
	For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
	And we know for certain that one lovely day,
	Someone will set the spark off, 
	And we will all be blown away.

Maybe Andy is right, and there are legitimate reasons for hating
other people, but whole nationalities simply because the persons in
that country are members of that nationality?

I'm sorry, this does not really convey what I want to say very
well, but I will send it off and think about it for a while.

				John Hobson
				AT&T Bell Labs--Naperville, IL
				ihnp4!iwlc6!amigo