Because there might just be a student present who snoozed through the lecture, only managed to catch the quote you used in order to criticize it, and will rush off to complain:
A York student hears a professor say something anti-semitic, rushes out of the room in a rage, and informs on him all over the Jewish community. The professor is branded an anti-semite.
The professor, who is Jewish, was clearly using the anti-semitic statement in his lecture about prejudice as an example of a reprehensible opinion. The student failed to understand this.
[Senior Sarah] Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant.
“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.”
Brainwashed by a culture where you are not complete unless you are a victim of something, the student in question was searching for a reason to be offended and found it by ripping a quote out of context. And is she apologizing after it has been explained to her that the fault lies with her for not listening properly? Not at all. She actually insists that the statement was still offensive.
So, as I say, be very very careful about what you say in class. There are potential victims in search of victimization everywhere.
York University has, indeed, gone completely to the dogs. They’ve had freedom of speech issues before, too.
Clarissa's Blog 
One thing that gets me riled is someone could call me a stupid chauvanistic pig and I have to pretty much just take it. BUT, if they were to call me a stupid chauvanistic jewish pig then look out, here comes hammer. I think free speech should be just that, free. Unless you are inciting people to commit violence against certain groups then the government should just stay the fuck out of our conversations.
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These are the liberals/progressives that I fear. Those who wish to censure and control all aspects of speech and life. Those for whom context and circumstance mean nothing, if it serves their pursuit of power. I’m afraid to follow this story – because if the prof isn’t censured by the University in some manner, there will be calls for heads to roll, because obviously the complaint was dismissed because it was made by a women. Then it will be an anti-semitic and feminist issue.
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Oh, I know. I couldn’t possibly agree more. This kind of stupid dogmaticism is terrifying.
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As someone who was a victim of antisemitism as a child and as an adult many times, finding someone who is going to make it harder for genuine problems with prejudice to be taken seriously makes my blood boil.
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Exactly! Learning about anti-semitism and its horrors is necessary to combat anti-semitism. But how can one learn about it if every word will be censored like this?
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I want to know how she’ll ever get through a class on British literature. Medieval examples like The Canterbury Tales will make her head blow up.
Michael Chabon was right. “It always comes as a shock to encounter stupid Jews.” Especially ones who can be *this* stupid.
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I know. 🙂 So true.
I just said in class that Francisco de Quevedo was a total woman-hater and a disgusting anti-semite but he still created my favorite poetry of all times. If one wanted, one could construe that as a defense on my part of sexism and anti-Semitism.
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I guess I would be in trouble too, in a student presentation, I quoted the former Japanese Prime Minister, Taro Aso, who said he wanted to make Japan “A country where rich Jews will want to live.” Shame on me and my potty mouth.
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@Clarissa
I see from many of your posts that you are anti-religion, technically wouldnt that make you anti Jew seeing as it is originally a religion based group?
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I’m a deeply religious person. What I dislike is fanaticism. Here is what I wrote about it in the past: https://clarissasblog.com/2010/09/15/why-do-you-hate-religion-so-much/
I come from a family of secular and Christian Jews. Being a Jew is our ethnic origin that has nothing to do with religion. (For us, I mean.)
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“A Jew who sheds his faith along the way, or who even picks up a different one, is still a Jew.” – Albert Einstein
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“FUCKING NIGGER!” is an example of a racist slur.
or
“Fucking nigger!” IS AN EXAMPLE OF A RACIST SLUR.
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Hugo Grunfeld? or Sarah Chavez?
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“Sheldon Goodman, GTA co-chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which speaks on behalf of the city’s organized Jewish community, called the incident “a very unfortunate misunderstanding.”
“This event is an appropriate reminder that great caution must be exercised before concluding a statement or action is anti-Semitic,” he said.”
Even a pro-terrorist sionist like him agrees with you!
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How much of a Zionist can he be if he’s in Toronto? 🙂
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Wow, that woman is SO not ready to be at university. Good grief.
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She is about to graduate, too.
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Clarissa, what do you mean by saying “Christian Jews”?
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My father recently converted to Christianity. He went with Russian Orthodox Church, which is a choice I don’t get but it’s his faith, so it’s up to him.
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Clarissa, would it be better for you if he went with Catholicism? My understanding is that you are originally from Ukraine, predominantly Catholic country.
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No, of course not. Catholicism is practiced in a completely different part of country than the one I’m from. Ukraine is in no way a Catholic country. The only reason why Russia managed to annex Ukraine in 1665 was because Ukrainians were trying to protect their faith from the incursions of Polish Catholics. Only a small part of Ukraine, the one that remained under the Polish rule for a long time is Catholic. Kiev, our capital, never was Catholic.
However, Russian Orthodox Church is a fully criminal organization that has disgraced itself in a variety of really nasty ways.
We are in North America, though. ROC and Catholicism are really not our only options.
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ughhhhh I saw this. The worst part is this:
“[Senior Sarah] Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant.
“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.””
She even REALIZES that she missed the context and is STILL going on with this!
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She also failed to notice that these words came out of her mouth, too, as she was making the statement about the incident. So if the context doesn’t matter. . .
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