From: wolfe@wolves.uucp (G. Wolfe Woodbury)
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: KOSHER? In a Pig's Eye!
Date: 5 Oct 92 04:25:57 GMT
Organization: Red Wolfe @ The Wolves Den
X-Md4-Signature: fb2c13a556d711ebdf35be5eaadb3b24

>>The host I were strangers until that morning.  I hadn't the slightest
>>notion he kept Kosher.  As someone pointed out this is a situation of
>>culture clash.  Where I grew up in the plains . . . 
>
>Yet another example of your appalling ignorance of other customs.  Given what
>you've told us, I'm pretty certain that there was, indeed an indication:  It's
>called a mezuzah, and you would've seen it attached to the doorpost of the
>home, had you had the slightest shred of understanding of a culture not your
>own.

Now, who is being inhospitible to whom?  I find it sort of sad that we
devolve to theological arguments here.  Despite the scathing tone and
insulting manner it shows, the response pinpoints a bit of a problem in
human relations... the lack of respect for other folks.

I suspect that there would be a mezuzah in an orthodox household, but
considering the size and shape I've seen on some, and the variations in
ritual behaviour when dealing with the device, someone, even if they
suspected or knew that the host was jewish, might easily mistake the
mezuzah for an alarm system sensor or switch.  The quick caress that the
host might have given it might have easily been mistaken for the
operation of a security switch.  (In fact, in NYC, where the mezuzah is
a relatively common occurrance, there are alarm system switches that are
disguised as mezuzah.)

The harshness of the twitting of the first person for not knowing of a
mezuzah is just as culturally ignorant as the first persons not having a
clue of keeping kosher.

The real problem is that the school systems programs have been reduced
to such an extent that the average high school graduate (in the USA)
today would barely qualify as literate in some other cultures or school
systems around the world and around history.

As an example, in NYC, I learned of a wide variety of jewish and
catholic religious behaviours, but only because I was living in
neighboorhoods where there were large populations of jewish and catholic
kids that I had to deal with.  At one point, I was visiting with cousins
in Brooklyn (in a catholic neighboorhood) when we wandered a bit further
afield and ended up in a Hassidic neighboorhood.  One of the kids
wondered about the long hair on the folks and kids temples, and
expressed the thought that he'd go over and yank on one kids locks.  I
looked at him and said "would you like it if someone came over and
yanked on your saint christofer medal, or the rosary hanging out of your
pocket?"  He had no idea that the long hair was a religious token! (I
was, at that point one of the family heretics, being Episcopalian.)

People fail to look outside of their narrow interests.  The result is
factionalism and failure to understand one another.  The current debate
in this newsgroup about "Creationist Crapola" is yet another example of
culture clash.  The religious culture that produces the creationists
results from a point of view that claims moral and religious truth only
for itself, insisting that all others are "false" andor "evil".

To be "properly" :-)  skeptic, one needs to be tolerant enough to listen
before condemning, and educated enough to avoid insulting someone for
something that they don't have enough education of their own to
"overcome."
-- 
G. Wolfe Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC         [use the maps!]
UUCP: ...duke!wolves!wolfe                            <Standard disclaimers>
Domain: wolfe@wolves.durham.nc.us   wolfe%wolves@cs.duke.edu
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Newsgroups: sci.skeptic