NationStates Jolt Archive

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?

Because people are petty morons sometimes and it makes their lives "easier" if they can feel superior to someone else.

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?

People are assholes.

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?
It's an idea called "Scapegoating". Basically, people have problems in their own lives that they don't know how to solve. As a result, they pick on anyone to whom they can (however unreasonably) rationalise as being a guilty party. Since Christianity is a popular religion in the west, and Israel is seen as a damaging force in the middle east, Jews are an easy target.

But why Jews? I understand people who have a mad-on for Catholics and constantly cite the Crusades as their reason for it. I understand Islamophobes who can't to separate religion from terrorism. What have Jews ever done?

Some people are just mean and that is the way life is.

But why Jews? I understand people who have a mad-on for Catholics and constantly cite the Crusades as their reason for it. I understand Islamophobes who can't to separate religion from terrorism. What have Jews ever done?
Nothing particularly. That doesn't matter. Hate is not necessarily rational.

But why Jews? I understand people who have a mad-on for Catholics and constantly cite the Crusades as their reason for it. I understand Islamophobes who can't to separate religion from terrorism. What have Jews ever done?

No real reason. The jews are just different. Like black people, or gay people.

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?
Mostly stems from the fact that in Europe, since the Jews weren't allowed into the Feudal System because they couldn't own land, they instead used their money to trade and often lent it to people.

Then when bishops etc managed to default on payments and lose their belongings or whatever, they started on with the whole blood libel and host desecration stuff.

So yeah, through the middle ages, Jews were hated because they were 'haves' in a very 'have-nots' world.

And this has basically continued.

But why Jews? I understand people who have a mad-on for Catholics and constantly cite the Crusades as their reason for it. I understand Islamophobes who can't to separate religion from terrorism. What have Jews ever done?

Historically, there was the whole Jesus thing, then for years they were the only ones allowed to be money-lenders, and those are never popular. Then the church got hold of it as a way of whipping people up and kept it going until it became near self-perpetuating. Then there was Israel and all those long debates, some of which involve anti-Jewism, some of which don't.

Comment number five!!!!!!!!!! Be nice I'm Catholic.............:mad:

Funny thing is, we have this Jewish architect who's helping build a house next to us. Thing is, she's tried to screw us over every step of the way.

Just goes to show that there's always someone who fits the stereotype.

Comment number five!!!!!!!!!! Be nice I'm Catholic.............:mad:

Don't sweat it. I was raised Catholic. i don't discriminate against anybody based on religion.

But why Jews? I understand people who have a mad-on for Catholics and constantly cite the Crusades as their reason for it. I understand Islamophobes who can't to separate religion from terrorism. What have Jews ever done?

What's wrong with Catholics?That offended me.I am Catholic.What has my religon done to hurt you?I do not judge a person by their religon. : mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Thank you STEELWALL I feel beeter now that you addressed my concerns. I feel better now. :)

People are afraid to look within for the reasons why their lot in life might be less than good. When people look outward, they look for patterns. One pattern they think they see is that Jews (or at least people whose names end in -berg, -stein, or -man...which is itself poor detective work) seem to be in positions of authority in places like Hollywood and Wall Street.

So, despite the fact that Judaism as a religion is outnumbered 136 to 1 by Christianity alone (and 82 to 1 by Islam), and is 11th on the List of World Religions by Adherents (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm), those who feel oppressed connect Jews to their oppression.

This shows an embarrassing, if not surprising, lack of histoical knowledge. Anyone who's ever seen Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice or looked at any halfway decent world history text will realize that moneylending was one of the very few professions available to Jews before the industrial revolution. (In the play, Shylock is roundly hated for charging interest because Christians are forbidden from doing so by their religion -- but when lending is all you can do, how else are you going to make money?) Moneylending also concentrates capital into relatively few hands, thereby inflaming the perception of Jewish exclusivity and control.

Once the industrial revolution came about, Jews with means weren't craftsmen, they were financiers, and so were able to buy large business or get them started with venture capital more often than they were able to build them from the ground up (SWEEPING generalization, I know, but it helps make the point).

Add to that the minority status of their religion (thus it seems "odd" or "weird" with regard to its traditions and rules -- like no eating pork or mixing meat and dairy, etc.), and the peregrine nature of their stateless existence (remember Gypsies weren't exactly welcomed, either), and prejudices develop which fester over time and get passed down from generation to generation by hateful, ignorant parents to hateful, ignorant children.

When you've no true homeland for so long, you figure out how to cleverly survive in any number of regions or situations. Those in the majority are not so outwardly motivated. So it all goes back to looking without instead of looking within to determine the source of one's difficulties.

I realize this is a haphazard attempt to explain it, but I wanted to say at least SOMEthing more than "people are assholes", which, though simple, is essentially correct.

What's wrong with Catholics?That offended me.I am Catholic.What has my religon done to hurt you?I do not judge a person by their religon. : mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I understand that they don't like Catholics. I didn't say I condoned it. Again, I was raised Catholic. I know all about the positive aspects and those far outweigh any historical negatives. Same goes for any religion.

It's not just anti-semites. All kinds of people are bigots against one thing or another.

(Gets up on Soap-box)
Attention: I am about to Preach... enjoy.

If you think we should deny people rights and freedoms according to an artificial division or a division which makes no difference according to the area of concern, you are a bigot. Here are some examples.
You don't have to condone homosexuality to think they should have the right to marry another consenting adult. If you don't think they should have the right, you are a bigot (or at least have a bigotted view) Thinking we should be particularly brutal with Iraqis, Afghanis or any Muslim that doens't do what we want, "kill 'em they aren't the same as us." Guess what, you're a bigot.
Logical separations things like men and women's sports (when it makes a difference), age separation from kids to adults to seniors etc. Otherwise, your beliefs are discriminatory, period. This makes you a bigot.
Don't justify it with Religion or culture. If you recognize the value of individual rights and freedoms as paramount then your views are not justifiable.
These aren't the views of bleeding heart liberals, just those that value civil liberties more than antiquated ideas.

(Gets down off the Soapbox)

What's wrong with Catholics?That offended me.I am Catholic.What has my religon done to hurt you?I do not judge a person by their religon. : mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Honey, you need to get the hell over yourself. The Catholic Church has perpetrated some pretty nasty shit in the past, and if you get offended every time someone mentions it, you're going to be in a perpetual tizzy. Before you get offended, take a good long look at the history of your Church, and come back and tell me there's something for you to get offended over.

To be fair, Judaism has as one of its tenets that they alone are "God's chosen people" -- that can piss some people off.

Plus, all the aforementioned difficulties can produce a "chip on the shoulder" mentality that can rub some folks the wrong way, too.

Incidentally, the whole Christian dead horse about "Jews killing Jesus" holds no water becuase Jesus was a Jew.

I'm forced to retreat again to the far more simple "people are assholes".

People are afraid to look within for the reasons why their lot in life might be less than good. When people look outward, they look for patterns. One pattern they think they see is that Jews (or at least people whose names end in -berg, -stein, or -man...which is itself poor detective work) seem to be in positions of authority in places like Hollywood and Wall Street.

So, despite the fact that Judaism as a religion is outnumbered 136 to 1 by Christianity alone (and 82 to 1 by Islam), and is 11th on the List of World Religions by Adherents (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm), those who feel oppressed connect Jews to their oppression.

This shows an embarrassing, if not surprising, lack of histoical knowledge. Anyone who's ever seen Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice or looked at any halfway decent world history text will realize that moneylending was one of the very few professions available to Jews before the industrial revolution. (In the play, Shylock is roundly hated for charging interest because Christians are forbidden from doing so by their religion -- but when lending is all you can do, how else are you going to make money?) Moneylending also concentrates capital into relatively few hands, thereby inflaming the perception of Jewish exclusivity and control.

Once the industrial revolution came about, Jews with means weren't craftsmen, they were financiers, and so were able to buy large business or get them started with venture capital more often than they were able to build them from the ground up (SWEEPING generalization, I know, but it helps make the point).

Add to that the minority status of their religion (thus it seems "odd" or "weird" with regard to its traditions and rules -- like no eating pork or mixing meat and dairy, etc.), and the peregrine nature of their stateless existence (remember Gypsies weren't exactly welcomed, either), and prejudices develop which fester over time and get passed down from generation to generation by hateful, ignorant parents to hateful, ignorant children.

When you've no true homeland for so long, you figure out how to cleverly survive in any number of regions or situations. Those in the majority are not so outwardly motivated. So it all goes back to looking without instead of looking within to determine the source of one's difficulties.

I realize this is a haphazard attempt to explain it, but I wanted to say at least SOMEthing more than "people are assholes", which, though simple, is essentially correct.

I'd say this was the best answer so far. Thank you.

People are afraid to look within for the reasons why their lot in life might be less than good. When people look outward, they look for patterns. One pattern they think they see is that Jews (or at least people whose names end in -berg, -stein, or -man...which is itself poor detective work) seem to be in positions of authority in places like Hollywood and Wall Street.

So, despite the fact that Judaism as a religion is outnumbered 136 to 1 by Christianity alone (and 82 to 1 by Islam), and is 11th on the List of World Religions by Adherents (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm), those who feel oppressed connect Jews to their oppression.

This shows an embarrassing, if not surprising, lack of histoical knowledge. Anyone who's ever seen Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice or looked at any halfway decent world history text will realize that moneylending was one of the very few professions available to Jews before the industrial revolution. (In the play, Shylock is roundly hated for charging interest because Christians are forbidden from doing so by their religion -- but when lending is all you can do, how else are you going to make money?) Moneylending also concentrates capital into relatively few hands, thereby inflaming the perception of Jewish exclusivity and control.

Once the industrial revolution came about, Jews with means weren't craftsmen, they were financiers, and so were able to buy large business or get them started with venture capital more often than they were able to build them from the ground up (SWEEPING generalization, I know, but it helps make the point).

Add to that the minority status of their religion (thus it seems "odd" or "weird" with regard to its traditions and rules -- like no eating pork or mixing meat and dairy, etc.), and the peregrine nature of their stateless existence (remember Gypsies weren't exactly welcomed, either), and prejudices develop which fester over time and get passed down from generation to generation by hateful, ignorant parents to hateful, ignorant children.

When you've no true homeland for so long, you figure out how to cleverly survive in any number of regions or situations. Those in the majority are not so outwardly motivated. So it all goes back to looking without instead of looking within to determine the source of one's difficulties.

I realize this is a haphazard attempt to explain it, but I wanted to say at least SOMEthing more than "people are assholes", which, though simple, is essentially correct.

hmmm, the way i see it the people who know that kind of stuff aren't normally prejudice (just speaking from my own opinion), they just hate jews because they are jews and when asked why they try and rationalise it with something like "they have big noses" but in the end hatred is an emotion and emotions aren't rational, predictable but not rational. So i always saw those excuses for random hatred such as scapegoating etc to be other people trying to rationalise those who vent their hatred in a particular pattern.

besides all the jew haters i know (including me, although i can control it) are too young and don't do history at school so don't know the facts you mention there.

just my opinion though

hmmm, the way i see it the people who know that kind of stuff aren't normally prejudice (just speaking from my own opinion), they just hate jews because they are jews and when asked why they try and rationalise it with something like "they have big noses" but in the end hatred is an emotion and emotions aren't rational, predictable but not rational. So i always saw those excuses for random hatred such as scapegoating etc to be other people trying to rationalise those who vent their hatred in a particular pattern.

besides all the jew haters i know (including me, although i can control it) are too young and don't do history at school so don't know the facts you mention there.

just my opinion though

Ah, but not only do they not know these things, they're deliberately ignorant of them. Willful ignorance is my definition of stupidity (Ignorance + Apathy = Stupidity). Parroting prejudices in order to belong to a group that is willing to single out a whole group of people for no reason at all is another definition of stupidity.

Your point on the absence of rationality is spot on.

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?

its traditional.

anti-semitism doesnt spring from an individual's mind anew with each bigot. it comes from a history of anti-semitism that is out there waiting to be discovered by a dissatisfied person.

maybe they have anti-semitic relatives but its not necessary since there are hundreds of years of anti-jewish writings by the west's biggest thinkers waiting to be read by the uninitiated. there was a thread just a week or so ago about antisemitic tracts of martin luther, for example.

What is it with some people and anti-semitism? Seriously, I really don't understand it. They just spout anti-Jewish statements that I've never seen to be true in any way, shape or form and make Jews out to be some sort of evil sect. Will somebody explain that to me?

Historically - any number of reasons. These days - some people are just fucking assholes. They're too stupid to figure out the real world, so they lurk in an ill-conceived fantasy, where they have the "real" answers to everything. That involves blaming Jews for everything, and logic be damned.

Ah, but not only do they not know these things, they're deliberately ignorant of them. Willful ignorance is my definition of stupidity (Ignorance + Apathy = Stupidity). Parroting prejudices in order to belong to a group that is willing to single out a whole group of people for no reason at all is another definition of stupidity.

Your point on the absence of rationality is spot on.

i see what you mean, i would add that their hatred is built upon an emotion and willful ignorance is just a side effect of such an emotion. If you want to get to the source of their anti-semitism i would suggest looking for the origin of that hatred, however i'm clueless to how it's there in the first place with any example i've seen. i just know that when you find such hatred it seems best not to face up to them but to lead by example and show the effects of controlling hatred compared to the effects of letting it loose or a quicker method i've tried and tested is to befriend them (since they are often nice in many other ways) and then gently disapprove of such a view.

that's about all i know on the topic, sorry if i sound condescending or anything, i'm just in a strange mood today

What's wrong with Catholics?That offended me.I am Catholic.What has my religon done to hurt you?I do not judge a person by their religon. : mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

If you expect people on NSG to give a shit about offending you, you're going to be in for a rough surprise.

that's about all i know on the topic, sorry if i sound condescending or anything, i'm just in a strange mood today

No worries. It happens to everyone. Good on ya.

because people are evil little monkeys (http://movie.aonservers.com/)

If you expect people on NSG to give a shit about offending you, you're going to be in for a rough surprise.

Troof.