In the process of posing as Jewish, though, he learns some hard lessons about how discrimination works and doesn't work. Early stereotypes about Jews included notions of physical, and especially facial difference. As a freelance journalist, Phil Green is his own boss. His nominal employer, John Minify, hates anti-Semitism. This last situation is one that you are more likely to encounter in real life.
Few people are financially independent.
If you are not, these things will persist for some time.