'Beat the Jew' game prompts high schools to increase tolerance education

A high school where some students played the Internet game "Beat the Jew" will receive a new tolerance curriculum, officials said.

The annoucement comes five months after officials a La Quinta High School in Riverside County disciplined students for playing the game.

"Administrators of the La Quinta High School and Desert Sands Unified School District have accepted Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area’s offer for Anti-Bias Education, to be delivered by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) “A World of Difference” Institute," said  Bruce Landgarten, chief executive of the federation, in a statement. "We applaud the Unified Districts for their commitment in this issue and appreciate ADL’s partnership in this project."

Other school districts in that region were also to get the training, Landgarten said.

The game, which gathered participants via Facebook, is a complicated contest of tag, in which "Jews" are taken, blindfolded, by car to a place off campus and have to make their way back to base while pursued by "Nazis."

Organizers had put up a Facebook page announcing the game that was "friended" by some 40 students, of which seven participated.

The game took place on the night of May 20 on the grounds of La Quinta High School. No one was hurt.

--Shelby Grad

Comments

[TheBigPicture]

It sounds like a common military exercise, Escape and Evasion...which teaches you to be resourceful...Good game, just change the name if it's offensive...

[James Andrews]

You need to get Obama to set an example and quit beating up Israel and helping Al Qaeda's goal of destroying all the Jews, forever.

[Jeff]

On the same day that explosive devices are mailed by Al Qaeda to Jewish synagogues in the U.S. and the U.K. this story comes out. There are plenty of sickos in this country also.

[LAtoNY]

To the Big Picture: IF it's offensive? What is your ethnic/religious or other group? Put your group in the name of the game and I will happily play it. Go back to your 15th century European peasant existence.

[mark shapiro]

people will blame the jews for killing christ forever without knowing the facts and they forget that all wars are started by non jewish people in the first place and to glorify nazis is beyond words when schools should be showing what the nazis did to humanity during the world war two instead of ignoring real issues that youth should be learning instead of being ignorant as most are.

[az66]

From reading the headline you would think someone was actually going to get beaten. You've taken a case of adolescent insensitivity and blown it into a full blown hate-crime with your hysterics. Funny how only one community in particular gets this kind of zealous support when the find something offensive.

[GillenH2O]

Glad the LA Times clarrified that it was the La Quinta High School in Riverside, not the one (which I proudly attended back in the 80's) located in the city of Westminster. I fondly remember my La Quinta as wonder melting pot of different cultures and faiths. Most notebly, I recall all the Vietnamese refugees who made a brave transition that must have been scary and very heavy on the "culture shock." I made a lot of new wonderful friends thanks to this.

[az66]

I also wonder if the ADL's so called "Anti-bias education" teaches tolerance of blacks, gays, immigrants, Islam and Muslims. If not, isn't really just "Be tolerant of Jews" education?

[blackone]

For God's sake, let's stop the madness. Please. Nor do I support (verbally, I have no control over the $7 million a day sent to these Nazis) Israel's Palestian concentration camps, "the biggest prison in the world", and demonic tricks, and fomenting of hate in that region.

[RUJoking?!]

An internet game is a problem, based on ethnic bias, yet legal ethnic bias called affirmative-action goes on all day every day & nary a word is said.

That's like protesting a theater showing a film where women are slapped & cigarettes are smoked because kids might get the wrong idea.

Then watching The Godfather because that's all good clean fun. Got it.

[Erik]

A non-Jew speaking here. It's sad to see this kind of stupid stuff still going on in this day and age. It's probably thanks to mentalities such as that of TheBigPicture who see little wrong with it ("Good game, just change the name if it's offensive" -- duh, yeah, it's plenty offensive) and az66 ("your hysterics" -- I didn't see any hysterics in the reporting, or in the reactions of any person or group in the story). Guess I used to show some "adolescent insensitivity" myself back in high school, but it was nothing that could even approach the level of hatred or stupidity shown by these La Quinta High students, and, by association, their parents who allowed such attitudes to foster in their homes.

[olthadi]

Is Cowboys and Indians is also out of the question ?

[An American]

The comments of AZ66 and BigPicture reflect the bigotry and intolerance that, sadly, continue as a festering sore in our country and the world. Let's hope that our young people will be sufficiently educated to recognize this disease. And we'd better all remember that it falls upon each one of us to speak out, confront and repudiate those who would infect others with their sickness and ignorance.

[Manuel Alderete]

There is another similar game called "Shoot the Mexican".

These terrorist games are things that can only come out of the imagination of Europe. They are entrenced deeply in the culture of European-descent people. They are as American as apple pie because "Americans" are really transplant Europeans: they still hold grudges against Muslims from afar, and they still erupt into anti-Jewish episodes, almost in spite of themselves.

[blackone]

It's hard to tell the source of anti-Muslim sentiments, since Jews, and so many others, call themselves "white" now. Read any ATF true crime book and you will see, among the white supremacist meth and gun-dealing motorcycle clubs names like Gonzales (huh??) By the way -- that is what hampers research into so many areas of crime, like serial killers or sex crimes, the white media and white researchers are completely unwilling to name the country of origin or ethnicity of origin of any of the "white" tribes. They would have us think "white" is just one monolith.

[Mark Spiegelman]

yes change the name, don't like the name, but the game is fun

[GordonSantaMonica]

Santa Monica Tax Initiative... Opposition
Whereas the City Council
1. Whereas the City Council did not project a deficit or a lack of reserves.
2. Whereas the City Council speculated instead of projected that the state will withhold money in the future.
3. Whereas the City Council stated that the state has been deficient and is currently in a financial crisis without stating the effect upon our city.
4. Whereas the City Council will be given the right to amend this initiative if passed and retain this tax for an indefinite time period.
5. Whereas the City Council has not stated which services must be cut.
6. Whereas the City Council has an Impartial City Attorney Analysis that states that funds can be used for schools or education which contradicts the actual purpose as stated within the measure Whereas the City Council has an Impartial City Attorney Analysis that states that funds can be used for schools or education which contradicts the actual purpose as stated within the measure Ordinance No. 2316 (CCS) which is ... To provide transactions and use tax revenue to the City to be used for the general governmental purposes of the City and with any transactions and use tax revenue received being placed into the City’s general fund.

Now therefore ... Because of the above reasons
the Voters of the city of Santa Monica must VOTE NO!

[hmm]

just change name of game to "beat white male" and pelosiholderbamas will stand up and applaud!

[Loyal American]

FYI, az66, the ADL, founded in 1913 as the result of the lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia for a crime he didn't commit, opposes racism and bigotry in all its forms. If anyone sounds like a 15th century peasant, it's you, LAtoNY.

[Dude]

Attended a football game at La Quinta high school this year. Too many kids uttering profanity. Not enough adult supervision. Place is a mess. The few adults in attendance were too busy trying to raise money. I fear for America's future.

[blackone]

"hmm", you bloody dumb cluck. If there is any man on earth who has bent over backward to accomodate the "white" man, it is Obama. I suspect you are one of the hate-fomenting Liars whose greatest ambition is BECOME an ARYAN man -- you are half-white-man, aren't you?

[Storm999]

I don't what's worse the game or the comments. We males always have to have someone to hate. We have lost the ability to show another man respect. I think we should legalize sword duelling. That is how men taught one another respect in the old days. Swords even out physical differences and its honorable to stop fighting if you're wounded.

[Edge]

That's awful, I've seen an online game where the setting is the US/Mexico border and you try to shoot illegal aliens crossing the border. As much as I deplore illegal immigration, I was actually offended by that.

[Stephen C.]

As an Israeli Jew, I applaud President Obama's efforts to resolve the conflict between Palestine and Israel.

Stating that the President of the United States of America is "helping Al Qaeda's goal of destroying all Jews, forever" is moronic and does not help foment peace.

Peace requires compromise and sincerity, both of which are sadly lacking in the current Israeli government.

[az66]

None of your criticisms addresses the issue of my post. Just more hysterical ranting. No one was hurt. No attempt was even made to hurt anyone. Yet the headline screams "Beat the Jew". This kind of sensitivity would not be shown to any other minority in this country over such a relative non-incident. Do you honestly think no games of 'beat the muslim' or something similar haven't sprouted up in the last few years? What do you think would be the reason we hear about this incident, but not similar ones for other ethnicities? Is it because it simply doesn't happen? Likely story. This kind of over-protective and shrill self-centered focus on the part of the Jewish community is a reflection of their cultural self-importance that is part of the reason other communities have problems with them.