Homeland security
12/28/03
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Rough translation, according to a guy I met on the street: "How long did it take the Twin Towers to fall? 8 seconds. How long will it take to save Williamsburg from the artists???" (He stumbled over the word "artists," so I suspect it's a not-so-polite term for hipsters.)
Update: An apparently more accurate translation, via Choire:
"How long did it take for the 'Twin Towers' to fall apart? 8 seconds... How long will it take for Williamsburg? God forbid!"
12:47 PM | Comments (73) | TrackBack (2)
Comments
oh man that's amazing!
Posted by: trevor at December 28, 2003 01:16 PM
the things you find in the city are always interesting.
Posted by: tyd at December 28, 2003 02:15 PM
Hi Mike
I like your photo gallery. Exceptionally innovative.
Any comments welcome to email me.
Shanghai (preferably Shang-High)
Posted by: Shang-HIGH boy at December 28, 2003 07:18 PM
In case anyone's confused, that's Yiddish, not Hebrew.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at December 29, 2003 12:10 PM
I always thought Yiddish was spoken only...
Posted by: Dennis at December 29, 2003 01:52 PM
I walk by the Gretsch Building all the time as they convert it to condos. I see the Orthodox walking around shaking their heads... change is a good thing.
Hope we get more cool bars, and they fix up that damn Marcy subway stop!!!
Great pix, once again!
Posted by: kevin at December 29, 2003 05:03 PM
Artists as terrorists? Are you sure this isn't some hipster plot to draw people to an art event? Didn't think the zionist goofballs were this creative.
Posted by: PogoBean at December 30, 2003 12:16 PM
Doesn't anyone think it's slightly wrong to compare the downing of the twin towers by terrorists to the hipster infiltration of Billyburg? Methinks the jews in da hood have gone slightly over the edge on this one.
Posted by: Mikale at December 30, 2003 12:30 PM
what's yiddish for "really fucking tacky"?
Posted by: cee at December 30, 2003 01:08 PM
Way to force a completely random parallel from 9/11 to the hipster invasion of Williamsburg.I am still shaking my head....That was absurd, weird, uhmmm gratuitously graphic.
Posted by: folze at December 30, 2003 01:48 PM
Obviously, the anti-hipster contingent should stick with the baseball bats. More effective. Less likely to invite pompous commentary. And so on.
Posted by: I trucker hats at December 30, 2003 02:06 PM
BLACK TEXT ON THIS BACKGROUND SUCKS!
Posted by: FAK at December 30, 2003 02:11 PM
Great posts everyone- really strong insights, and really pithy comments. This board is doing so well- I'm really psyched to be part or it.
So anyway, how long WILL it take to rid Williamsburg of the hippster contingent?
Posted by: Dolpherstuff at December 30, 2003 02:52 PM
Yeah, you know, using the WTC on the poster was retarded. The sentiment is right on, though--I think people of all races, creeds, nationalities, colors, sexes, and ages wish the hipsters would just fucking go away.
Go away. Now, dammit.
Posted by: me at December 30, 2003 02:59 PM
williamsburg is an alcoholic's paradise. we already have too many bars. most of them suck and you can't smoke in them anyway.
Posted by: devoe at December 30, 2003 03:02 PM
Williamsburg will be rid of the hipster contingent when they age and become the rich middle-aged art-dealer contingent -- sort of like what has happened to Soho.
My money is on the Upper East Side to be the next super-hip neighborhood. Well, that or Bushwick.
Posted by: Mike at December 30, 2003 03:05 PM
That's like, so Biblical.
When will the t-shirts be available?
Posted by: p at December 30, 2003 08:41 PM
I like your photos, a sort of lame analogy for the digital age of weegee.
Anyway, eff that, screw williamsburg and screw hipsters, I could care less. You want rot, try Ohio. But, why would you want such a thing anyway? Are you documenting our demented souls, or our shuck and jive attitude toward death?
Lets have some real realism and leave all the kissy face to the schmucks. I got a digital camera. Don't you?
Most of this is garbage, sorry...
Posted by: Sunami at December 31, 2003 12:16 AM
fuck high rent.
Posted by: zip at December 31, 2003 09:50 AM
pogobean--
re: your ignorant comment about the "zionist goofballs" who posted this poster. the Satmar Hasidim, the Hasidim who live in Southside Williamsburg, are avowedly and publicly ANTI-Zionist. but you're right, they are Jewish.
Posted by: ja at December 31, 2003 11:09 AM
oh-- a more accurate translation, from a couple sources:
"How long did it take for the "Twin Towers" to fall apart? 8 seconds... How long will it take for Williamsburg? God forbid!"
Still: kinda freaky though.
Posted by: Choire at December 31, 2003 03:50 PM
pretty much anyone these days who speaks yiddish is going to be anti-zionist. anyone who is a zioninst would speak hebrew and not be such a fan of yiddish.
for the guy who thought yiddish was only spoken: not so long ago there were at least 3 daily yiddish newspapers in NYC...now i think there are just a couple weekly papers... there used to be a lot of yiddish lit. as well, i think I. B. Singer was prolly the most famous...
Posted by: UPS at January 1, 2004 09:08 AM
Yiddish also has a rich literary tradition. It's more of a creole than a dialect (sort of like English), and has a written form and has several of its own spoken dialects. It uses the Hebrew alphabet, but it's not Hebrew; that'd be (ok not really, but sort of) like calling Euskara Spanish.
Posted by: Jessica at January 1, 2004 04:46 PM
considering the fact that the hasidim believe that world events happen based on whether they are living righteous lives or not, the infiltration of the artists and their immodest lifestyles on their holy community is an invasion of the spiritual walls they have built up for decades in their community- and when their community goes its only so long till the world falls into spiritual, and subsequently physical, disrepair. don't mean to sound overly apocalyptic but we are living in pretty chaotic times
Posted by: berel at January 1, 2004 05:18 PM
oh and i was there two summers ago at a junkyard music fest down on broadway and wythe when all the hasidic kids were dancing on their porches across the street to the yeahyeahyeah's and the liars on their holy sabbath. so they're definitely being exposed to stuff that they never were before and according to their traditions this stuff is considered spiritually harmful
Posted by: berel at January 1, 2004 05:21 PM
I sympathize with groups that want to live apart from the secular world -- but if you want to do that, you can't do it in the middle of Brooklyn and then get upset when other people try to have their own communities in Brooklyn. You want to be shielded from the world? Buy up some farmland in the middle of nowhere and do whatever you want. If you live in a city, you have to understand that you can't control who moves in next door.
Posted by: Mike at January 1, 2004 10:19 PM
My only comment is that when I first glanced at it, I thought it was from some Islamic terror group, but now I see it's the other side. ?? Wacky World of Love we live in, these are the same jerks who shove you out of the way w hen they walk in a hoard on the Williamsburg bridge. What goes around comes around I say.
Posted by: Rebbie Sly at January 1, 2004 10:45 PM
PogoBean, you're a moron. Get the facts straight next time.
The Satmar community of Williamsburg is the most virulently ANTI-Zionist Orthodox Jewish community on the face of the earth. Their late "Rebbe" taught them that Zionism was nothing but an insidious heresy to true Judaism, and that when the Messiah comes, he will destroy all the buildings built by the Zionists.
Posted by: Phil at January 2, 2004 11:22 AM
http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/january_2004/images/has.gif
Posted by: jimmy at January 17, 2004 11:48 AM
Hey Phil,
What makes you so sure that these guys are Satmars? Why not Lubovitch?
Posted by: a at January 29, 2004 07:02 PM
Because Satmars are the only ones that live in the neighborhood - nd Lubavitch write their propoganda signs in Hebrewnot yiddish.
Posted by: zev at February 5, 2004 11:43 AM
Well, having been raised in Williamsburg since a few days after birth I can tell you that the Hasidic community doesn't coexist with you as much as they live over there while you live over here. But they live very segregated lives and its no surprise that some of them would look down on the rise of a new community to share Williamsburg with.
Growing up, I used to point out that the Hasidic community was on the "other side of the tracks" from the Latino community, that is on the other side of broadway.
And as rent prices went up and we had to move, sure as hell my friends and I was pissed, and blaming the hipsters.
Latinos were the invaders once. Change can be atough thing to take. But its inevitable.
Posted by: miguel at February 6, 2004 12:21 PM
http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/february_2004/southside.html
Posted by: miguel at February 6, 2004 12:34 PM
Hipsters are dipsters
Posted by: Hipless at February 11, 2004 12:34 PM
Man... as a Heeb I'm mortified. Those Black Coated folks are absolutely insane.
Posted by: Ari at February 17, 2004 12:32 PM
I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored. I have friends in both of these worlds. The Hasidim do wall themselves off from those whom they see as acting contrary to their tradition (guys in Mohawks, girls in miniskirts, etc.) However, I think the walls are on both sides. I've seen very little evidence that purported "liberals" are any more interested in understanding the Hasidim, than the Hasidim are in understanding the "artists." If you show them respect, ask them what their needs are, indicate that you will come halfway and that you will give them their space, you will find that (after overcoming fairly deeply-rooted mistrust) they will reciprocate. When you get behind the black-coated wall, you will find that they are pragmatists (study their relationship w/Gov. Pataki, for ex.) It will take some diplomacy, but if you want to do it, it's doable.
Posted by: Avi at February 17, 2004 01:03 PM
Anyone see the irony of a hasid bitching because the hipsters invade? If it weren't for us hipsters, who would rent those rediculously overpriced lofts and warehouses they own? Invaders? Pshaw.., more like bread and butter. Unlevened that is...
Posted by: Average Zionist at February 18, 2004 09:24 AM
it's insane. i lived on south 8th street ten years ago and then it was the hasidim who pushed out the dominicans!
Posted by: galamander at February 19, 2004 06:59 PM
is it odd that the same number system is used?
Posted by: Pizack at June 8, 2004 05:36 AM
"Posted by: Choire at December 31, 2003 03:50 PM
pretty much anyone these days who speaks yiddish is going to be anti-zionist. anyone who is a zioninst would speak hebrew and not be such a fan of yiddish."
Well that has certainly been the prevailing attitude since post-WWII. But I think now as Jews start to reclaim all their heritage, Yiddish will be more recognized as a literately and culturally important language. I'm starting to learn Yiddish to understand the jokes and stories I heard in my childhood. The hebrew alphabet used is a bit of a deterrent, but once you get that, the language is not hard to pick up, easier than german. And the history is very rich.
I am an ardent Zionist, peace-loving, and a big fan of Yiddish. Reclaim your heritage!
Posted by: spinoza at June 13, 2004 01:29 PM
Come on! so many building owners (former tennement bldgs) are making $$ thank to the artists that are moving to Williamsbur and even Bushwick!
Luis
Posted by: Luis at June 13, 2004 06:49 PM
A couple things:
Believe it or not, Satmar Chassidim are a very diverse group. These signs probably represent the opinion of a handful of people. Folks in Williamsburg often get used to the random signs in Yiddish or English and don't really react to them so much. I know its tempting to just group them all together because, to you, they all look the same. But, in reality, that's like saying that since the NBA all looks the same, they must all be serial rapists and adulterers (except that the NBA is much smaller than the Satmar Chassidim). Lets try to be less blatantly biggoted.
The sign doesn't say anything about artists. I don't know who told you that but its a good idea to do a fact check before you make accusations. That way you don't have to run an idiot check later.
Posted by: FYI at July 6, 2004 01:53 AM
I can't understand the Satmars..Wouldn't they rather have as neighbours hipster artists who are basically civilised - if very 'modern' human beings - rather than lowlife Puerto Rican criminal thieves, killers and hooligans who used to terrorise them and their families?
Posted by: Scott Wilkins at July 11, 2004 11:33 AM
THIS SUCKS!!!!!!! We want to know which country speaks Yiddish!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Chad at August 5, 2004 12:03 AM
yeah--that poster says NOTHING whatsoever about hipsters OR artists:
vi lang hot es gedoiert far di twin towers tsuzamentsufalen (How long did it take for the twin towers to fall together)? 8 sekondes (8 seconds).
vi lang darf es gedoiert far viliamsburg (How long should/must/will it take for williamsburg)? Khas v'kholiles (God forbid)!
dude--check your translations before you start riling up the legions of hipster-defense! yiddish has a lot of ambiguous meanings, but this poster has GORNISHT (nothing)! let hasidim AND artists unite over slick black hats :)
--peace
Posted by: a yiddishe meydel at August 25, 2004 08:34 PM
ich zeh nisht kien vart oif dee sign vus zugt "artist", si' nur zugt "vi lang vet es gadurben biz viliamzburgh falt".
Posted by: rinx at August 27, 2004 01:39 PM
The drawings are inaccurate they show the top floors collapsing first. If you look at the video in slow-mo you see that the bottom floors were blown first. Intersting how the govts version of events has already become accepted history.
Posted by: noble savage at October 2, 2004 11:32 PM
"I don't see any word on the sign that says 'artist' it only says 'how long will it have taken until Williamsburg falls'." That last sentence has weird grammer I might not understand.
C'Mon, if you're going to show off, at least give them a translation. This all might also have to do with their various internal squabbles, not the "artisen."
And if you think the Hassids up there are rude now, in the 80s the Satmars had death threats out on the Lubuvitcher Rebbe, and the Katzenbergers (another smaller Willimsburg sect) used to do Shomrim patrols with Shotguns. Now, people get upset over a sign. God Bless.
Posted by: Moe at October 11, 2004 09:38 PM
Fuck all of the goddamned hipsters and the gentrification movement. Destroying NYC is not so fucking hip. While I am at it...fuck the Nets, Jets and Columbia University.
Posted by: gotham4diversity at November 5, 2004 02:52 PM
the sign IS about the artists. However things seem to have calmed down these days and there are no protests so all seems to be well.
I love your web site and the photologs are incredible.
Posted by: Mindy at November 15, 2004 11:23 PM
THE ARTISTS could very well mean the (possible) Mossad agents who were busted on 11/9 for being stangely up-beat. fbi had been warning people about spies from israel and that they had a cover as "israeli-art-school students". they were picked up by police but soon were spirited out of the country.
Posted by: everyou at November 24, 2004 09:45 AM
People are moving to Bushwick? white people? pretentious corn fed middle america rebeling againt mommie and daddy's $$$ youths moving into my beloved Buschwick? God forbid! What's next? Bedford-Stuyvesant? East New York? Stop the middle america invation of the inner city! Now before the Donald starts building up in Bushwick Junction!
Posted by: Mr Galle at November 30, 2004 12:56 PM
I think its just the work of a demented graphic designer, who thought it was "cool" to compare it to the Twin Towers. NOT COOL! As a Jewish orthodox woman, I appreciate their concern for their children's spirtuality, but I do think that the ad is gruesome.
Posted by: Shevy at December 1, 2004 11:03 AM
A) Satmar Hasidim are in a different world. Much like all races, don't judge all of us by them. Besides, this is only a handful of them. Judge people as individuals.
B) I don't like hipster hippies. They talk about peace and art and saving the world, but end up just smelling bad and smokinh pot. Painting a derelict toilet purple is NOT art. A few good years in the Marine Core ought to knock some sense into them.
C) I don't like Williamsburg much period. Take me to Gravesend, baby!
Posted by: Fritz at December 6, 2004 03:49 AM
"Do as we say, not as we do."
The Hasids quite successfully took over my old neighborhood in Borough Park, even going so far as to offer to buy up, for cash, nearly every house that hit the market, lest some undesirables move into 'their' community.
And this is far from the only example of this type of behavior.
Posted by: Jack at December 24, 2004 12:31 PM
I am fluent in Yiddish and you have a mistaken translation. The translation is, "How long did it take for the Twin Towers to collapse? 8 seconds! How long will it take for Williamsburg, G-d forbid?"
From the poster, it is not clear what it is referring to. (Your Satmarer friend may have been referring to the spiritual collapse of Williamsburg because of the immorality of the artists, but it does not seem so obvious to me.)
Posted by: Mike at January 13, 2005 11:34 AM
FU I'm the real Scott Wilkins
Posted by: Scott Wilkins at January 15, 2005 02:21 PM
I read Yiddish and Choire's translation is correct. There is not one word about artists in this poster. All you anti-semites who posted nasty comments are showing your true colors.
Posted by: Moishe at January 18, 2005 10:34 AM
To leave an incorrect translation under this poster is not right. The translation by choire is accurate. Who translated this in the first place? You translated an abbreviation of "God forbid" to mean "the artists".
Posted by: Tzivy at January 26, 2005 05:21 AM
THIS IS THE MOST DUMBEST IF THATS EVEN A WORD. WEBSITE I HAVE EVER SEEN
Posted by: bob at January 28, 2005 12:57 AM
Since I'm an aspiring artist moving soon into the area, I now know who to hassle! It seems like the only way to get people to lighten up, is to invent an anti-gravity machine.
Posted by: Charis at May 31, 2005 06:24 PM
I want to find a laundromat in Shanghai, China (PRC) near Siping Lu 2100. Thanks for the help!
Posted by: Luke Stamm at November 21, 2005 12:56 PM
AWESOME!!! I love photography, your site is very inspiring.
Posted by: curls and roses at December 1, 2005 02:50 PM
This cool im amazed!But i believe in GOD!
Posted by: cody at January 17, 2006 02:20 PM
hey, i dont believe this #$*%
Posted by: Akon (yeah the singer) at January 17, 2006 02:25 PM
Take down this webpage and remove the false translation. There's nothing mentioned about hipsters, artists, what have you. Not in the words, not in the pictures. This blog shows how much latent antsemitism exists, even in a multi cultural allegedly enlightened area.
Posted by: Jeffrey Blustein at June 12, 2006 10:38 AM
I know this is going back to 2004, but Average Zionist, where did you get the idea that the Satmars own all the 'overpriced' buildings? A lot of them are renters themselves, most are working-class, and a good number only survive because of government-sponsored housing. When you have 10 kids, a wife who doesn't work, spend most of your time studying, and donate large percentages of your income, it doesn't leave all that much money left to own anything. Some Jews are rich, many Jews are not. Just like everybody else.
Posted by: niyaka at July 10, 2006 03:57 PM
Jews can make a funny about the WTC. If you or I made a funny, we'd fall under the Patriotard Act. One standard for Jews, another for everyone else.
And by the way, Yiddish is, of course, German spelled wrong, or as we say in the "gutter", jew gibberish. This is a perfect case in point.
"vi lang hot es gedoiert far di twin towers tsuzamentsufalen"
auf (etwa) gut Deutsch ist:
"Wie lang hat es gedauert für die Twin Towers zusammen zu fallen?"
and "vi lang darf es gedoiert far viliamsburg"
is:
"Wie lang darf es gedauert für Williamsburg?"
(Let's hope it's under eight seconds, or in Yingrish: Loytz'upp unda ayit zekinz, itz!)
And just to drive this point home - to which Jews, and duped goyim, are strictly impervious - "GORNISHT" is (omg!!! what a mystery, solved!) GAR NICHTS (nothing at all).
Incredible, itz. Oy vey.
Posted by: Mr. Outis at September 8, 2006 12:21 PM
And isn't it incredible -- some yids put up a disrespectful toon of 9/11, yet it "shows how much latent antisemitism exists". Quite amazing, when antisemitism "rears its ugly head" when da evil nazi goyim have nothing to do with it.
Posted by: Mr. Outis at September 8, 2006 12:22 PM
some (several 100 families) Nadvorona are leaving williamsburg for my neighborhood in scranton, pa. any thoughts....VERY little info. out there?????
Posted by: kins at October 25, 2006 04:48 PM
The Satmars are reclusive and in your face at the same time.
When the Belz Rebbe (head honcho of another group like the Satmars called Belz) visited NYC, they painted a picture of him on the street and held a parade over top of it.
For the record, the name "Satmar" is where they started - Satu Mare, Romania
Posted by: Moe at March 7, 2007 12:14 AM
Damnsz, i Cant Believe This Happend. R.i.p 2 Everybody, i Wish Satan`s Dies for doing this to my aunt =`[
Posted by: Michelle Diaz at June 6, 2007 04:33 PM
check out this blog for dish: www.hasidic-feminist.blogspot