LC
New Jersey
A REFUSENIK does NOT denote “defiant protestor.” This usage (as applied in the puzzle) is obscure, and it unfortunately obfuscates what many people know as the most common usage: (from Wikipedia:) “Refusenik, or Refusnik, was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Soviet Bloc. The term refusenik is derived from the "refusal" handed down to a prospective emigrant from the Soviet authorities.” Yet again the NYT crossword fails to include basic history of the Jews and other marginalized people in designing its answers and clues. Many of those “refuseniks” finally found peace by getting to Israel, the only place that would give them safety. My grandmother helped many through a Soviet Jewry assistance program in Miami in the 1980s. And to be clear, the Jewish people were not the “defiant protestor”s; they were defiantly treated with antisemitism by the nation that helped spread the lie that Zionism was “colonization,” a lie that continues to be used to harass Jews today.
@Marshall Walthew the primary meaning of “refusenik” is a Soviet Union term to designate (mostly) Jews who were stripped of their passports and not allowed to emigrate to Israel. The “refusing” was done by Soviets, who also spread the lie that Zionism was “colonialism.” So in addition to having to read the constant antisemitism in the NYT, now I have to read Soviet propaganda (and no understanding or education about this horrible history) in the crossword. No evidence that this has anything to do with Bartleby. He also was not “defiant” or explicitly protesting. “I would prefer not to” is neither, which is part of the whole point of the story.
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