Stories of welfare fraud that (gasp!) don’t involve Orthodox Jews

Yes Virginia, there are actually people besides Jews who commit welfare fraud!

The reason I bring this up is not to defend the Lakewood Jews arrested for allegedly defrauding the system, but to show you how rampant this crime actually is — and how easily bilked the system is.

That might not seem clear when the some written media outlets breathlessly cover these arrests as though they've never happened before. And delighted as they are to report them, please understand that some newspapers have a long-standing journalistic love affair with stories that involve orthodox Jews. Rare are the stories of this group's charity, community service, or hard work, though. Some papers just have penchant for front-page, bold-type, above-the-fold "Bad News About Jews" (Hey, kind of a catchy slogan, guys! You ever think about that?).

Now, I'd love to give the aforementioned media outlets the benefit of the doubt right now and assume it's just because their readership or viewership finds Jews who look differently, dress differently and act differently just downright intriguing! But alas, my gut instinct tells me that it's a little more than that – from some newspapers' past reporting of stories that involve Jews Doing Bad Things, it's obvious that they're kind of enjoying seeing Jews reflected in this very bad light.

But who can blame them? Lakewood Jews (mostly Orthodox, by the way, not Hasidic) are a tough group to find anything wrong with (their mere Jewishness notwithstanding). So the usual cries of "They're trying to buy my house!" or "They have so many kids!" or "Their clothes are so weird!" never quite had the teeth that readers were so desperately seeking. Breaking the law, on the other hand? Now you got 'em!!

So as long as the arrests keep coming, you'll see the unrelenting barrage of some newspapers' articles not just reporting the news, but reveling in it. Enjoy!

Just to put things into perspective though, and to try to paint a more balanced picture of what really goes on in this country in terms of defrauding government programs meant to help the less fortunate, feast your eyes upon some of these recent stories. Again, they won't be as juicy and won't be presented with the usual bloodlust that underscores some reporting, because these don't involve Jews. But still, here's a (very) small sampling.

Fraud: How a Florida Mother and Daughter Stole $20 Million From Medicare (Newsweek)

State charges 68 with welfare fraud; two from Lehigh Valley (The Morning Call)

PA Welfare Fraud Crackdown: 344 Charged, $1.78M In Stolen Benefits In 2017, Officials Say (Newtown, PA Patch)

23 charged in Orange County welfare fraud sweep (Recordonline.com)

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