Stereotypes of Jews are caricatured and generalized representations of Jews, mostly of an antisemitic or racist nature. The Jewish diaspora in Europe and the Western hemisphere have been stereotyped for over 2,000 years as scapegoats for a multitude of societal problems. Antisemitism continued throughout the centuries and reached a climax in the Third Reich during World War II. Jews are still stereotyped as greedy, nit-picky, stingy misers and are often depicted in caricatures, comics, and propaganda posters counting money or collecting diamonds. Early films such as Cohen's Advertising Scheme (1904, silent) stereotyped Jews as "scheming merchants".
Common objects, phrases and traditions used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness include bagels, playing violin, klezmer, undergoing circumcision, haggling and uttering phrases like mazal tov, shalom, and oy vey. Other Jewish stereotypes are the rabbi, the complaining and guilt-inflicting Jewish mother, the spoiled and materialistic Jewish-American princess and the often meek and nerdy nice Jewish boy.
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Famous quotes containing the words stereotypes and/or jews:
“There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don’t worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Mammy character in Gone with the Wind was mighty funny. And I just loved “Amos ‘n’ Andy” on the radio. So you see, I have enough confidence in myself that those things did not bother me. I could laugh.”
—Annie Elizabeth Delany (b. 1891)
“The Jews always complained, kvetching about false gods, and erected the
biggest false God, Jehovah, in middle of western civilization.”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)