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A. R. G. Said: The Benjamins = money in rap culture. I'm guessing some of you guys are old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c58ppLPJcQ <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c58ppLPJcQ> It's also impressive how otherwise intelligent people can so easily be dragged into an absolutely ridiculous and racist witch-hunt. Omar said that AIPAC lobbying was all about money. There is nothing even vaguely anti-Semitic about that unless you are already on a witch-hunt for it and trying to associate Zionist advocacy with a Jewish conspiracy. Moreover, even assuming there is any connection it would indicate that AIPAC embodies an anti-Semitic caricature; hardly Omar's fault. Goldberg is a windbag. * * * * * Ken Hiebert replies: I have to admit that I was ignorant of the meaning of Benjamins in rap culture. And I don’t know what percentage of the American people would catch that reference. Presumably, if a majority of people understood the reference, Rep. Omar could have said, “Everyone knows what I’m talking about.” It could be argued that the reference to Benjamins would help get the message out to a certain percentage of the American people. But, looking at this from a distance, it seems that the use of the word Benjamins got in the way of her message. It was possible for some people to misunderstand it and for others to use it as a handle to attack her. Of course we can’t replay this experience to see what’d might have happened if she had used language that was more difficult to twist against her. In any case, it is a good thing that someone denounced AIPAC and I hope that next time this happens it will be said in such a way that the person does not feel a need to apologize. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com