The GSG. What Does It Mean??

[Sam Flynn]

I think the GSG refers to the death of Christ. I feel if Jack the Ripper did write the GSG then he would not have been a Jew. He was claiming that a Jew was not responsible for the murders. However they were responsible for the death of Christ.

I find that rather a sophisticated subject for graffiti in a poor immigrant district, Brad, even if it wasn't a poor immigrant who wrote it. Graffiti tends to be more direct - if the writer had a genuine message to get across, why couch it in such oblique terms?

[The Good Michael]

I find that rather a sophisticated subject for graffiti in a poor immigrant district

Agreed. I'm still trying to get my thoughts around why it might be Anti-Semitic

I still haven't followed that logic.

Cheers,

Mike

[celee]

Hi Mike and Sam,

I am sorry that it has taken so long to get back to you Mike. To me the Graffiti is straight forward. "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing" The words "will not be blamed for nothing" infers to me that the writer feels that they should be blamed or are guilty of somthing. Either the writer feels that Jack the ripper was a Jew or he is blaming Jews for something else. Obviously, to me, the writer would not have been a Jew.

I believe that if Jack the ripper wrote the graffitti he is claiming that a jewish person is not responsible for the ripper murders. However, they are responsible for the Death of Christ.

To me, the graffiti has always been a religious comment from the moment I first read it. It just struck me a religious and anti Jewish. Could be wrong. Just my opinion.

Your friend, Brad

[Sam Flynn]

However, they are responsible for the Death of Christ.

(Puts on Monty Python voice) That was the Romans!

Seriously, whilst the specious accusation that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ had been bobbing about in theological circles since the 2nd Century, I don't find it likely that the notion was to the forefront of the minds of London's comparatively uneducated poor at the time. Even if it were, then alluding cryptically to it was hardly the way of getting one's message across. Most religious/sectarian graffiti has historically been of the more direct "F*ck the Pope" variety.

[Monty]

Gareth,

Mention jew to any christian and ask them what their first thought is.

Its religion, not education. And in 1888 religion had influence no matter if you were poor, rich, an Oxford Don or Eastend Docker.

Monty.

[Sam Flynn]

Mention jew to any christian and ask them what their first thought is.

I wish I could do that to someone from 1888, Monty, but I can't. I know that a great deal of Christian charities reached the masses in the intervening period, but if Mayhew is anything to go by, the average slum-dweller's knowledge of basic scripture was pretty poor. It follows that any more "philosophical" riffs on the political/racial nuances contained in the Bible would have been somewhat weak as well.

Besides, the first thing a rather unenlightened Christian might think about a Jew today (and almost certainly back then, too) would surely be "Swindler", "Shirker" or "Skinflint", rather than "Deicide". If the GSG is anti-semitic, then it is likely that one of those three "S's" lay behind it, than the rather more sophisticated and theological "D".

[Monty]

Gareth,

Ask someone today, they will give you the same answer as 1888 Joe or Mary.

Its a fundemental belief that the Jews brought the death of Christ. Ive never read the scriptures either but I know that. Its one of the basics.

Monty.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Monty,

Its a fundemental belief that the Jews brought the death of Christ.

Isn't it perfectly true, though, that the Jews are stereotyped as tight-wads and shysters - and that these attributes are rather more likely to have lain behind any antisemitic motive for the GSG?

Ive never read the scriptures either but I know that. Its one of the basics.

Mel Gibson has a lot to answer for

[Monty]

Yes, Bird on a wire was awful. I wouldnt say more likely, equally likely.

That said, its location wouldnt support a religous theory, not with a synagogue within distance.

And I must stress I dont not mean that its basic knowledge the Jews killed Christ, I was referring to the belief.

Monty

[Stephen Thomas]

If one ignores the mis-spelling of 'Jews' (understandable) and the double negative (ditto) the message makes perfect sense. It means 'Stop blaming the Jews for everything. We are not the problem'. Probably just a counterpoint to anti-semitic graffiti at the time. I doubt that a frenzied disemboweller would stop to write such a message in tiny letters. Something like 'Top of the world, Ma' in big letters would be more likely to my mind.

Just my two cents worth.

[The Good Michael]

Monty,

I never hear Christians disparaging against the Jews because of Christ. Never.
There are many ill-conceived reasons for antisemitism, but no Christian I know, and I know many, calls the Jews Christ killers. Perhaps, someone with an odd fundamentalist bent would say such a thing. Fortunately, I distance myself from such. I taught Sunday school for 6 years and I never heard that kind of thing except as a fringe statement, but never in earnest.

Cheers,

Mike

[Supe]

Sam and Mike,

I have talked to Monty (Neil) a lot about cricket, football (metric) and football (American) and even some about JtR. Never talked religion with him, but nothing has ever suggested he was a rabid anit-semite--au contraire.

Maybe it doesn't come up too often in academia, but like the blood libel, the notion that the Jews were responsible for Christ's death is a popular taunt in some circles and there are references throughout literature (I first came across it as a kid in From Here to Eternity), generally put into the mouths of yahoos. And, Mike, I would add that generally those mouthing it are not fundamentalist Christians but rather what mught be termed "the unchurched".

I am sure that is how Monty meant it when he said it was "basic knowledge." It's also pretty much basic knowledge that frogs cause warts and breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck, though by saying that I do not support the veracity of either statement.

Don.

[The Good Michael]

If one ignores the mis-spelling of 'Jews' (understandable) and the double negative (ditto) the message makes perfect sense. It means 'Stop blaming the Jews for everything. We are not the problem'. Probably just a counterpoint to anti-semitic graffiti at the time.

Stephen,

That is exactly my reading of it, and I think to read it otherwise is to insert opinion rather than letting the text be what it is. I will only add, and this is me inserting opinion, that if JTR did the writing, there is a little more emphasis, such as "take that". Again, the textual meaning is very clear to me. The fear of the day was that it would cause antisemitic sentiment, and not that it in itself was antisemitic.

Cheers,

Mike

[Stephen Thomas]

( Most religious/sectarian graffiti has historically been of the more direct "F*ck the Pope" variety.

Hi Sam

Did you hear about the man in Glasgow arrested for painting that on a wall? In court he was asked why he had written 'F*ck the Pope' and he said it was because he didn't have enough paint to write 'F*ck the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland'.

[Varqm]

I believe in a simple interpretation of the graffiti. It's a defiant way of saying the jews are a nationality of a higher standard that when they are blamed
it is/will be for something tangible or a big event ..not just thin air.