Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on June 26, 2015

Vice President Biden Acknowledges 'Immense' Jewish Role in American Mass Media and Cultural Life

By Mark Weber July 2013

In a remarkable but under-reported address, Vice President Joe Biden recently acknowledged that the immense and outsized Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural- political changes.

Jewish heritage has shaped who we are all of us as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that's a fact," Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders on May 21, 2013, in Washington, DC. The truth is that Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, Jewish values are such an essential part of who we are that it's fair to say that Jewish heritage is American heritage, he added. /1

Think - behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those [social-political] changes, whether it's in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense, the influence is immense. And, I might add, it is all to the good, he said. We talk about it in terms of the incredible accomplishments and contributions of individual Jews, Biden went on, but it's more profound than that because the values, the values are so deep and so engrained in American culture, in our Constitution.

Biden speaks with the awareness and perspective of a seasoned Washington insider. He was a US Senator for 26 years, held important posts in Congress, and was twice a US presidential candidate. Few men have been more deeply involved in national politics, or are more intimately familiar with the realities of power in American public life.

Biden went on to speak of the crucial role played by Jews in the evolution of American jurisprudence, and in that regard mentioned seven Supreme Court justices: Brandeis, Fortas, Frankfurter, Cardozo, Ginsberg, Breyer and Kagan. You can't talk about the recognition of ... rights in the Constitution without looking at these incredible jurists that we've had.

Biden might also have mentioned that of the nine current US Supreme Court justices, three are Jewish, and that Jews are vastly overrepresented in other high-level federal, state and city government posts. He could have mentioned that the chairman of the Federal Reserve System, and the mayors of America's three most populous cities New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are Jewish.

The Jewish people have contributed greatly to America. No group has had such an outsized influence per capita, Biden also said. More specifically, he cited the Jewish role in shaping popular attitudes and in setting policies on race relations, the role of women in society, and gay rights. He went on: You can't talk about the civil rights movement in this country without talking about Jewish freedom riders and Jack Greenberg ... You can't talk about the women's movement without talking about Betty Friedan. Biden also praised the Jewish community's embrace of immigration.

I believe what affects the [social-political] movements in America, what affects our attitudes in America are as much the culture and the arts as anything else, said Biden. It wasn't anything we [politicians] legislatively did, he went on. It was [such television shows as] Will and Grace,' it was the social media. Literally. That's what changed peoples' attitudes. That's why I was so certain that the vast majority of people would embrace, and rapidly embrace same-sex marriage.

Continued here:
Jewish Heritage Month

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