Jazz, Jews and Henry Ford

I mean, at this point it's just a semantic quibble. Inhuman vs some other pejorative.

You can call him whatever you want, and it's not as if I like or agree with the things he said.

My point: there is no reason to claim he was not a man because he was a bigot. You offer bigotry to contest bigotry. That doesn’t help.

In 1919, Henry Ford sued the Chicago Tribune for libel. The paper had called him “an ignorant idealist … an anarchistic enemy of the nation.” He was awarded six cents in damages. His bigotry and ignorance was clearly demonstrated during the trial. Legally, he won, but in the court of public opinion, he lost. At least two excellent biographies of the man begin with this event. The one I read and from which I take the quote is The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century (2005) by Steven Watts. I recommend it.

There is another Ford family—African Americans—featured in a History Channel documentary about mass production. Four generations worked in Ford manufacturing plants. The first started there because no other employers were hiring African Americans as skilled machinists.

Henry Ford’s legacy is complex and multifaceted. 

Moderators  the time has come.for serious consideration to be given to the blocking of this thread.

yes

On what grounds?

It's not political; it's not religious; and so far it hasn't even been particularly contentious.  

I have posted a link to this post from Batgirl over at the Open Discussions forum. Here is a link in case anyone is interested in the discussion over there here is a link: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/antisemitic-conspiracy-theories-nothing-new-jazz-jews-and-henry-ford?page=1&newCommentCount=1#first_new_comment

Well, I had a very, very long post I spent 45 minutes composing that addressed several issues brought up here. The post was carefully written and contained ABSOLUTELY nothing even remotely offensive but when I clicked "post," it disappeared after being flagged as being against community guidelines. 

I've about had it with chess. com's nonsense. 

It is probably just a word or 2 that is the problem. Please don't bail on us. You would be badly missed...

Well you suffered precisely the same.treatment I.received when.I tried.to

post a contribution  which was.neither  political  religious  or.in.my view controversial(although  this embraces a very broad brush)

I shall be watching closely!

It really is time that intelligence took over. There is a huge difference between what is deliberately offensive, and what those who look to be offended jump all over. IMHO - and I hate anti-semitism above all the racial/religious/etc hatreds - there has been nothing here that warrants censorship. I wrote not long ago that when you write about history you have to record - truthfully - the subject matter. If the truth offends you, and you can not accept that is how it is/was, go live in your own perfect fantasy world.

No. there was no word that should have been considered offensive. As I said, it was very carefully written--precisely to avoid that possibility.   

The fault, if that's the right word, lies entirely with chess. com's garbage auto-mod and the atmosphere of laziness and irresponsibility that fosters its use.  

You know what it is? I am saturated, fed up with the racism in this country. And the more I become aware of how much Jews have suffered in many countries because of anti-Semitism, the disgust that I feel is overwhelming.

Millions have died over thousands of years because of these inhuman attitudes. I am fed up.

Welcome. I’ve been fed up with racism since childhood and I’m in my 60s. I spent a fair chunk of my teaching career battling racism directly. Sometimes with success. Sometimes becoming the target of anger as my students became aware of things that had been hidden from them. Sometimes cultivating outright hostility from racists.

But, I’ve also learned to separate the accomplishments of despicable people from their flaws.

Our fiddler friend plays a klezmer version of ""Orange Blossom Special", different every time, and there are more versions of it on Youtube by both klezmer and bluegrass bands.

Here's a klezmer musician
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOKnUKIZ_Kc

venturing into jazz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDEcXwmVqQ

and Paul Kunigis counts klezmer and jazz among the influences on his music.

I loved that post klezmer is always fun and Caravan has always been one of my favorite pieces, and that was a great version.

Hi

You can't send somebody a bouquet of flowers on the forums, but you could always give them this:

😁👍

Reminds me of Kafka's novel "The Trial"