Reflections from the Times

On Jewishness.

On civility:

Mrs. Roosevelt described her annoyance at the “rather unfortunate incident which a thoughtless boy and girl brought about by their intrusion.” Their “rude and unmannerly behavior,” she said, could have resulted in truly unfortunate consequences. Mrs. Roosevelt said it was “rather sad to have young people grow up at present so thoughtless and unmindful of others.” She also commented that “behavior of this kind will make this young couple seem rather heroic” to some of their peers, but said for her part, she “would not wish to have in my employ any young people who acted with so little thought and consideration for others.”

In this time for change, some things have not changed very much.

On paranoid nativism:

...there was plenty of hatred lurking not so very far beneath the surface in interviews with die-hard Palin book buyers that made the rounds on YouTube this past week.

“The way I think the country’s going, I’m wondering whether or not we’re gonna have a presidential election in 2012,” one gentleman told an interviewer. “I know there’s some backroom talk of martial law.”

Could Palin beat Obama in 2012?, he was asked.

“Well,” he said, “he’s naturalizing a lot of illegal aliens … they’re saying she’s not gonna have the votes when you throw those numbers in.”

“There won’t be enough white votes on one side to get a candidate through?” the interviewer asked.

“No way,” he said.