Wow, how insensitive of your hosts!

The audacity to throw a party like that!

Gypsy Jazz Trio! Endlessly Flowing Champagne!

How dare they?

Seems like it would be impossible to have a good time at an event like that, what with the specter of the Third Reich hanging over it all!

You aren't humorless or self indulgent in the least!

No, it truly was silly of them to have such a thoughtless, bourgeois costume party, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room--that of impending death and destruction! Wheee!

You’re right... next time they should throw a simple “come as you are,” and we can all mull over modern day genocides instead!

Darfur Chic in 2008, anyone?

Chin Chin!

Yours,

Valery Joseph and Chauncey Upson

theme parties are really just an excuse to put a feather in your hair and throw on a fake moustache. i mean what could be a better way to say *fuck you 2006* than a gluttonous French inspired soiree filled with beautiful and charming people? next time maybe don't spend the night being surly in the corner whilst pouting about the depressing theme, if you are going to do that may as well just stay home and watch the ball drop.

drink from the champagne fountain! throw on a moustache and beret! and partake in late night booze fueled man wrestling and flask tossing!

new year's eve isn't a spectator sport.

cheers!

Paris In Her Thirties

Hmm, so you go to a party where:

You weren't even invited, "...tag along to a party..."

You ignored the theme, "...we were both wearing our pants tucked into our boots (neither Paris in the ‘30s nor Paris In Her Thirties)..."

You drink the champagne, and listen to the band, "The jazz trio and champagne tower had too hypnotic an effect, however, and we found ourselves stuck in stunned, ambivalent silence,"

You were "hung-over" undoubtedly from all the free flowing champagne?

And, you actually have the audacity to complain????

Perhaps for your next new years celebration, you should actually go to a party that you were invited to, bring your own champagne, and bring along your ipod so that the music doesn't send you into a "stunned, ambivalent silence."

Sincerely,
A fellow party goer, who had a wonderful time dancing to the gypsy jazz, drinking the champagne, and enjoyed the hospitality of the gracious hosts (who should have probably kicked out all the uninvited guests).

Host your own party and make the theme a come as you are Jews of '07. You can all isolate yourselves and sit around like hypocritical assholes not understanding why so many people think you suck.

It's starting to feel like Paris of the '30s up in here!

Can you please have the above anti-Semitic comments deleted, and if possible the person's IP address blocked?  Thanks.

You know, we haven't really worked out a policy for how to deal with offensive comments, i.e., if/when/why comments should be deleted. Personally, I would like us to have as light a touch as possible, I hate sites that are crawling with moderators looking to disappear all of the 87 forms of verbotenspeech. And certainly I would only want to delete the very worst of anti-Jewish comments. For example, I'm not inclined to delete "You can all isolate yourselves and sit around like hypocritical assholes not understanding why so many people think you suck." Other staff members might feel differently, I don't know.

Obscene, very personal attacks are another thing, though. After I saw your summons I deleted one of them, and asked Tahl's opinion on a second, which he then went in and deleted. For now perhaps we can get away with this kind of ad hoc handling of things, in part because the quality of the comments on the site thus far has generally been very, very good. Even when we published Patrick Sauer's "Guide to Internet Antisemitism", which got a lot of traffic from seriously anti-semitic websites, we didn't get anything too bad.

At some point, though, my guess is that the whole team will have to confer, solicit the opinions of site members and visitors, and then come up with some sort of loose policy.

Read it again:  "Jews of '07...You can all isolate yourselves...not understanding why so many people think you suck."  The "Jews" and "all,"  combined with the typical anti-Semitic canards that we "isolate" ourselves and that there are actually reasons for people to hate us...that should be a give-away.  Take it off the site, please.

Sorry you had such a wuff time my little princess, maybe next year daddy can make it all better, ok schnukey-bear? We can have those widdle vanilla cookie-wookies you wike, and sing some happy songs so you don't have a tummy wummy ache, mmkay? And you can hug me anytime you want, so don't worry about those mean boys who didn't want to play with you. Poor thing, they don't know what they're missing...

And where did you learn so many BIG words, my goodness! You've been listening to your auntie Carol, haven't you?

Toodle - oo

Hal

Seriously, this lovers' quarrel is just too entertaining.

I'm sure you're all familiar with Godwin's Law:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

I have added a corollary to it, which is essentially that any comment thread that mentions Jews, Israel, religion, or bigotry, will always devolve into anti-Semitism.

I'm actually pretty amazed that all your comment threads don't have the Jew-hating trolls on it. But they'll come. It's a sign of popularity and their peculiar obsession with Jews.

I swear, there are some David Duke followers that sit around and vanity-Google their leader's name, because Every. Single. Time. I mention him on my weblog, they come out of the woodwork.

That comment up there, Michael? Kid stuff. I could field it with my eyes closed. It's not even the norm from the tiny-dick variety (a.k.a. neo-Nazis).

Can we talk shit about psycho, chemically imbalanced, fucked up, fighting gaysians on here at least? Damn!

if she would have hung out with me, i'm sure she would have enjoyed the party.

hal

Very well written. Smug and witty and unfortunately filled with half truths… Although I suppose it is more dramatic to write a sullen piece. However, if I recall correctly, it was your entourage performing the keg stands in the back and enjoying my black feather boa on the dance floor as you clapped your hands and danced the night away. So if you would describe your state of mind that particular night as a “stunned, ambivalent silence” I would like to see what you are like when you really get going!

Love, Starlyte

you must be confusing me with someone else.   i was at the party (which seemed lovely, my extrapolation of political ironies aside) for literally all of ten minutes. chill.