Big cities Quote by Lenny Bruce
“Dig: I'm Jewish. Count Basie's Jewish. Ray Charles is Jewish. Eddie Cantor's goyish. B'nai B'rith is goyish; Hadassah, Jewish. If you live in New York or any other big city, you are Jewish. It doesn't matter even if you're Catholic; if you live in New York, you're Jewish. If you live in Butte, Montana, you're going to be goyish even if you're Jewish.”
About This Quote
Source Stand-up routine: The Lenny Bruce Show, 1965
The speaker satirically claims that geographic location determines Jewish identity, mocking stereotypes and emphasizing cultural labeling.
In simple terms: Location is used to label people as Jewish or not.
Key Takeaway
Question assumptions about identity based on where you live.
Themes
identity
stereotypes
culture
Mood
irirical
critical
Type
satirical
observational
When to use this quote
- Comedy clubs
- urban neighborhoods
- social commentary
- media analysis
Key Concepts
Social labeling
regional bias
religious identity
Questions to Reflect On
- How does humor reveal societal biases?
- Can identity be reduced to geography?
A Different Perspective
The claim is an overgeneralization and not factually accurate.
![“One thing that's really interesting is not only the magnitude of the recent immigration into this country, but also its distribution and its investment in the country. About 9.3 percent of the population is now foreign-born [announced by the Census Bureau at over 10 percent a few days later]…” quote by Kenneth Prewitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1ec/kenneth-prewitt-70686_big-cities_one-thing-that-s-really-interesting-is-n_122203.jpg)
