Do You Think This Is Offensive?

[sp1814]

When I first saw the story, I thought so - but I now get what the artist was trying to do.

But it still seems pretty stupid. If you stopped and thought for a second, "How will this come across?" surely you wouldn't put the sign up?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/15/beware-jews-road-sign-north-london-reported-police

[Gromit]

If the silhouetted figure had a big nose and was portrayed as insidiously crooked, then they view this is anti semitic woyld be justified. But it is not.

If the figure had been a nun, or a figure in a 'dog collar', then no one would have taken a blind bit of notice. Or offense.

[jno]

no, signs like that are just saying "beware of running over" the people depicted, not "beware of" them. That's why I was baffled from the start that it was being labelled a hate crime. The people shown in such signs aren't hate objects.

[Old_Geezer]

Not in the slightest, but I can see how it could be misconstrued.

[237SJ]

Most Jewish people that I know can't stand Hasidic jews - maybe that is why there were complaints about the signs - they don't want to be stereotyped

[ToraToraTora]

so what is the artist trying to do?

[-Talbot-]

What is he trying to do?

He said: “It was a project about crossing the road … how everyone is different, everyone has an identity.


Got it now?
No ... nor me .

[Samjenko]

Remember when antisemitism was linked exclusively to the far-right?

[Gromit]

Shomrim And the CST received money from the Home Office to Police their communities.
They repirted this sign as an Hate Crime.
How they system works is that the more Hate Crime the CST report, the more taxpayer money they recieve.

[woofgang]

I think its rude and stupid....not racist or a hate crime but I can see how people thought it was. It strikes me that the bloke who did this must be pretty thick if, as the article states, "He said he was left shaken by the offence he had caused."

[mikey4444]

I thought it was ill-thought out and pretty stupid.

[Patsy33]

I thought it was a sillouette of Charlie Chaplin....

[naomi24]

^Me too. Best he sticks to drawing matchstick men.

[andy-hughes]

jno makes an important - and overlooked point - the actual meaning behind the warning sign is about watching out for the person(s) depicted to avoid running over them, not being warned about them.

The other salient point made elsewhere on the thread are the issues of context and location.

When you understand that this sign is part of a collection designed to make an artistic point, then fair enough - but appearing to place one unique sign like this in an area with a high population of Jewish people is naïve and insensitive.

The artist has apologised - time to move on.

[B00]

I think the sign is fine!

mr Boo travels to work through a very heavily populated Jewish area in Manchester on his way to and from work and he says the vast majority of them are mental as far as crossing roads go. They apparently blithely sail across the road without checking to see if it's clear beforehand. This coupled with the fact they're predominantly dressed in black from head to toe makes it particularly hair raising, especially when it's dark.

[hereIam]

I thought it was Charlie Chaplin !