Shorthand Stereotype
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As a great and renowned newspaper, The Times quite literally can influence the English language. Because of this extraordinary power, I object to the following synopsis of the film “Goodbye, Columbus,” published recently in Calendar’s TV listings:
“A rich, spoiled Jewish-American princess and a college dropout have an affair.”
The phrase “Jewish-American princess” is a derisive and insulting one. For The Times to use this phrase as a handy shorthand way to describe a character in a movie not only promotes a false and cruel stereotype but gives this phrase a legitimacy that it should not have.
In the future I hope that The Times will continue its tradition of writing fine prose and eschew further use of this phrase.
MICHAEL CREIGHTON
Hidden Hills
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