Jew hatred is fun! It allows ordinary “nice“ people all over the world to savour the rewards of bullying, torture, sadism, self-aggrandizement, religious and racial superiority, humiliation, theft, dehumanization and vanquishment of others (to name a few human attributes; there are many others of the same ilk) *without guilt* … because their teachers, admired authors, mullahs, pastors, priests, political leaders and popes all give it their blessing, encourage it and endorse these behaviours when carried out against Jews.
Pat I’m quietly thrilled you picked up on the care question. :) My question now is as you’ve gone through the journey on this post accurately pointing out the millennia long illness of antisemitism, have you lost what you felt was positive in the study? Because the further we go the less positive I am on this issue. I want to believe human beings can change. And I do believe it. But they can’t change without the will to do so. And the addiction to antisemitism is so, so strong it seems to block the will As always thank you.
Thanks Bari …. I’m not sure I have (or can) appropriately find the positivity we seek, but I tried to sum it up in my successive post. Let me know what you think …
That’s the one I believe I responded to about caring requiring action. I read a pamphlet recently on how to fight antisemitism some of which was very interesting. A powerful aspect is active ally ship such as yours. But within the social structures where it’s embedded consciously and unconsciously. Such as churches and how even Jesus is depicted to the congregation. That is deep work that requires serious willingness. Do you think we can ever get there?
"Complicated" and "busy" are the most serious indictments of our society. It diminishes, if not removes, our ability to think critically, to fact check, to be compassionate to people around us. This is an explanation not/not a justification. So it should give us a pause to think about where we are going. But, it is complicated to make good decisions because our lives are so busy... Oy vey!
Yes, our pain is universalized and then we are accused of perpetrating what was done to us on someone else. I think the term genocide was perhaps a mistake to invent. Every large- scale incidence of erasive violence deserves its own name because causes are typically specific.
Please feel free! Dara Horne writes about antisemitism as a lethal form of cultural appropriation. The world got some of its best ideas from us and has never forgiven us for it. Because if we still exist then what justifies the existence of Christians or Muslims? They have to confront their theft and illegitimacy, which is why they keep accusing *us* of being illegitimate.
Actually, both Christianity and Islam have taken care of the issue of taking over and replacing Judaism, through their explicit doctrines of supersessionism. Their gods, prophets and creators are thereby deemed to have replaced and superseded eded those of Judaism, indeed Judaism itself has become blasphemy and heresy. The insistent continued existence of Jews and Judaism (in all of its crazy forms) is then necessarily seen as a blight on the moral and religious landscape of the universe, one that constitutes a disgusting barrier to the full achievement of the kingdoms of God and Allah, and the arrival of the Days of Judgement and Redemption. Hence the dogged Christian and Islamic determination and enthusiasm to continue hurting,torturing, humiliating, and killing Jews.
Christians have mostly written us into their story at the moment but Islam seems to be struggling with it. It is a tough thing to swallow to see someone else's 3,000 year old prophecy come true for them I guess, if you are really invested in being the one and only true faith since the time of Adam...
Is that picture a REAL picture of a NYC street sign or a "touched up" one? I know that a few days ago, a portion of a NYC street was named "Yad Vashem Way." Is there any connection to that??
If the world manages to finally scratch that itch of disappearing Jews from the Earth, then what? Who will the masses turn to when they need someone to blame? I don't fool myself into thinking that self-reflection or personal responsibility would finally kick in. No one is going to look in the mirror and say "Ooooh, it was me all along. I'm at fault."
As for not caring, I think most people (in the West at least), even those who experience racism themselves don't have the front row seat to the deepest darkest levels of the human soul that Jews have been privvy to, and don't believe the depths to which it can sink. They just don't take it seriously, well, at least not when it pertains to Jews.
We know the answer. Antisemitism is often highest in a place where there are no Jews. A world without Jews would not end antisemitism. They would still find a way to blame Jews ...
True. But first they would say a people called "the Jews" never existed, and the world never did anything to them. And THEN they would invent a group of people exactly like Jews upon whom to cast off their sins. Kinda' like how Good Morning Britain claimed 6 million ambiguous "people" were killed in the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Perhaps. But, again, that might not be necessary because "The Jews" antisemities detest already do not exist. They are a made-up scapegoat applied to an existing, real people.
Jew hatred is fun! It allows ordinary “nice“ people all over the world to savour the rewards of bullying, torture, sadism, self-aggrandizement, religious and racial superiority, humiliation, theft, dehumanization and vanquishment of others (to name a few human attributes; there are many others of the same ilk) *without guilt* … because their teachers, admired authors, mullahs, pastors, priests, political leaders and popes all give it their blessing, encourage it and endorse these behaviours when carried out against Jews.
BAM! Nailed it.
My late father, similar to what you wrote, used to often say that the Jew-haters' mantra was "The Holocaust never happened, but I wish that it had".
Pat I’m quietly thrilled you picked up on the care question. :) My question now is as you’ve gone through the journey on this post accurately pointing out the millennia long illness of antisemitism, have you lost what you felt was positive in the study? Because the further we go the less positive I am on this issue. I want to believe human beings can change. And I do believe it. But they can’t change without the will to do so. And the addiction to antisemitism is so, so strong it seems to block the will As always thank you.
Thanks Bari …. I’m not sure I have (or can) appropriately find the positivity we seek, but I tried to sum it up in my successive post. Let me know what you think …
https://pat604johnson.substack.com/p/how-to-defeat-antisemitism
That’s the one I believe I responded to about caring requiring action. I read a pamphlet recently on how to fight antisemitism some of which was very interesting. A powerful aspect is active ally ship such as yours. But within the social structures where it’s embedded consciously and unconsciously. Such as churches and how even Jesus is depicted to the congregation. That is deep work that requires serious willingness. Do you think we can ever get there?
"Complicated" and "busy" are the most serious indictments of our society. It diminishes, if not removes, our ability to think critically, to fact check, to be compassionate to people around us. This is an explanation not/not a justification. So it should give us a pause to think about where we are going. But, it is complicated to make good decisions because our lives are so busy... Oy vey!
Yes. You are absolutely correct, of course.
Pat, people believe a genocide can happen but they think it is happening to some other group, like the Palestinians or trans people, not to the Jews.
Yes, I suggested that might be the case. The survey was, as perhaps inevitable, not as specific as it could have been.
Yes, our pain is universalized and then we are accused of perpetrating what was done to us on someone else. I think the term genocide was perhaps a mistake to invent. Every large- scale incidence of erasive violence deserves its own name because causes are typically specific.
Interesting. I'll ponder. What a faxcinarting concept. May I steal it?
Please feel free! Dara Horne writes about antisemitism as a lethal form of cultural appropriation. The world got some of its best ideas from us and has never forgiven us for it. Because if we still exist then what justifies the existence of Christians or Muslims? They have to confront their theft and illegitimacy, which is why they keep accusing *us* of being illegitimate.
Actually, both Christianity and Islam have taken care of the issue of taking over and replacing Judaism, through their explicit doctrines of supersessionism. Their gods, prophets and creators are thereby deemed to have replaced and superseded eded those of Judaism, indeed Judaism itself has become blasphemy and heresy. The insistent continued existence of Jews and Judaism (in all of its crazy forms) is then necessarily seen as a blight on the moral and religious landscape of the universe, one that constitutes a disgusting barrier to the full achievement of the kingdoms of God and Allah, and the arrival of the Days of Judgement and Redemption. Hence the dogged Christian and Islamic determination and enthusiasm to continue hurting,torturing, humiliating, and killing Jews.
Christians have mostly written us into their story at the moment but Islam seems to be struggling with it. It is a tough thing to swallow to see someone else's 3,000 year old prophecy come true for them I guess, if you are really invested in being the one and only true faith since the time of Adam...
Is that picture a REAL picture of a NYC street sign or a "touched up" one? I know that a few days ago, a portion of a NYC street was named "Yad Vashem Way." Is there any connection to that??
So it's a religious war between the descendants of Jacob (Israel). What about Eastern religions that are not related at all? Why aren't they hated?
If the world manages to finally scratch that itch of disappearing Jews from the Earth, then what? Who will the masses turn to when they need someone to blame? I don't fool myself into thinking that self-reflection or personal responsibility would finally kick in. No one is going to look in the mirror and say "Ooooh, it was me all along. I'm at fault."
As for not caring, I think most people (in the West at least), even those who experience racism themselves don't have the front row seat to the deepest darkest levels of the human soul that Jews have been privvy to, and don't believe the depths to which it can sink. They just don't take it seriously, well, at least not when it pertains to Jews.
We know the answer. Antisemitism is often highest in a place where there are no Jews. A world without Jews would not end antisemitism. They would still find a way to blame Jews ...
True. But first they would say a people called "the Jews" never existed, and the world never did anything to them. And THEN they would invent a group of people exactly like Jews upon whom to cast off their sins. Kinda' like how Good Morning Britain claimed 6 million ambiguous "people" were killed in the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Perhaps. But, again, that might not be necessary because "The Jews" antisemities detest already do not exist. They are a made-up scapegoat applied to an existing, real people.
Fair point.