France: home of wine, art and strict anti-racial laws. Case in point, French group SOS Racisme (hope you speak French for that link) is threatening to sue iPhone app developer Johann Levy over his app Juif ou pas Juif? (a.k.a. Jew or not Jew?) under laws enacted after the Holocaust that make it illegal to compile personal details including race, sexuality, political leanings or religious affiliation. Levy now potentially faces a five year prison sentence and a fine of up to 300,000 euros.
The irony of course being that if SOS Racisme had checked their Juif ou pas Juif? app, they’d find out that Levy is Jewish. And it’s essentially an app that lets you guess if Dustin Hoffman is Jewish or not.
Oddly enough, this happened about the same time as when social sciences professor Cameron Johnson of York University in Canada was accused of anti-Semitism when a student heard him lecture in a class that, “all Jews should be sterilized.” This ends up being more of an indictment on Johnson’s exciting lecture style than his being a racist though, because the student was apparently asleep when the statement was being used as an example of opinions that are unacceptable and dangerous. Once again, Johnson is Jewish.
I’m not sure how much there is to take away from this story when it comes to technology, other than foreigners need to pay a little more attention when Jews are talking about Jews.
He clearly had good intentions:
http://www.iphonebloggers.co.uk/2011/09/johann-levy-on-being-jewish-and-app-development/
I’m not entirely sure he had intentions at all. As in, who woulda thunk what is essentially the app version of a series of Adam Sandler song would set people off? And why didn’t I think of something approximating that line while I was writing the article? CURSES!!!!
Harrison Ford is a quarter-Jewish, not too shabby.
Thanks for that link, though. When Johann was talking about how “Juif” has negative connotations, it reminded me of this Adam Carolla bit, Jew has kind of an edge on it, while Jewish doesn’t. Someone could say “dirty Jew,” it’s harder to say “dirty Jewish person.”