Why?

Tuesday May 24, 2005 - 4:38PM EDT

The following excerpt is from an article talking about the man now heading the group to buy the Minesota Vikings.

Wilf, a lawyer who is chief operating officer of Garden Commercial Properties in New Jersey, is the son of Holocaust survivors. The family business is among the largest owners of shopping centers in North America. - full article

This is just a slight peeve of mine. Of all things about this person they mention that. I don't know what being the son of a holocaust survivor has to do with buying an NFL team. They didn't say that the former leader of the group trying to purchase the Vikings was the grandson of a slave (he was a black guy). They did make a special mention of him being black, which the guy totally wanted ignored. Although he would have been the first black owner who served as the face of an NFL organization. So while it is kind of annoying it isn't without some merit that it was mentioned. Consider those connecting materials to a person that imply something extra without specifing exactly. Like saying someone is a Christian and it impling they are good and can do no wrong. Or that so and so goes to church and... Some connections are more annoying than others. Holocaust survivors descendants being particularly annoying, I even get a little peeved at actual holocaust survivors, as if that was the worst thing to ever happen to people in recent history, you survived got dammit. Funny part is, that it is rarely that actual person highlighting the connections to themselves. I think, and I may be wrong, more times than not those people would rather not be associated with connecting material that has tenous connections to the main issue. It is the outside parties who point out these things. You can't fault the person who has the connection. You have to fault the observers with distorted views. People still got a long way to go. This is done all the time though.