a handy refuge for the intellectually lazy

From the October 24, 2005 issue of New York Magazine (via LRC):

Are Jews Smarter?

Did Jewish intelligence evolve in tandem with Jewish diseases as a result of discrimination in the ghettos of medieval Europe? That's the premise of a controversial new study that has some preening and others plotzing. What genetic science can tell us -- and what it can't.
[...]
They were advancing a theory with a patina of sexiness and political incorrectness, one that would generate a good deal of discussion. And that it did. Some of that discussion was positive, and some was not, as one might expect. That's always the problem with theories that exploit stereotypes -- they're titillating, sure, but also handy refuges for the intellectually lazy.

When I got to college, a young Jewish woman befriended me. Within a few weeks, it became clear that she assumed I was Jewish, which I'm not.

"Why did you think I was Jewish?"

"Well, for one thing you're smart ..."

"Thank you."

"... and your name is Knatz ..."

"That's Bavarian, not Jewish."

"... and you're from New York ..."

"Uh-huh."

"... and you know and use Yiddish words ..."

"That's 'cause I'm from New York."

"... and you're rich."

"What?!"

"Well, you have a computer."

I guess she'd never met any geeks among the goyim ...

This same woman helped me figure out how to spend a half a year on a kibbutz in Israel. (No, really, I'm not Jewish, but I do understand the confusion.) She is now a professor of religion at a major university.