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NYC’s anti-Semitic spree

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
It seems it has more to do with people of colour feeling they have been used and abused by Jewish store owners and landlords.
Or perhaps their mindset is simply being challenged by the minority who made it good despite discrimination.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Are you serious? That's like saying that because the Chinese government does wrong it would make so-called sense for people to attack Chinese. Ridiculous.
"People" are notoriously idiots who confuse and conflate ethnicity with nationality. It happens every day. We are being forced to call dark-skinned Americans who have never been to Africa, "Africa-Americans", now, because we're too stupid to differentiate between ethnicity and nationality.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
I think there are many reasons depending on where you are, but one of them is the blaming of other cultures for society's problems. It's much easier to point at certain groups and blame them for the bad things that are happening around us than to look deeper and find the real causes. Meanwhile, innocent people are suffering and those who cause harm to others and the planet are having the time of their life.
I agree, completely, which is why I commented as I did on this thread. I don't think we want to look at ourselves, ever, when bad things happen, for fear of uncovering our own complicity. And I think that's exactly why I'm getting so much 'blow-back' from my initial comment.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
You don't acknowledge that people can simply be prejudiced? That they can irrationally hate? You think that hate has to have a legitimate reason??? Really?
I think what they are is not the reason that they are what they are. And I think it's important that we try and find the reasons that they are what they are, "legitimate" or not.
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
I almost never meet a Jew and think to myself, "that person's a Jew". I would have no way of knowing he/she were Jewish until they told me. Which is why most of these attacks are against synagogues and Jews in traditional garb. Because the attackers wouldn't know their victims were Jews, otherwise. So the idea that Jews "stand out" in some way is not that reasonable. So is there something about Judaism, itself, that invites this ire? I don't see it, either.

In the past, in Europe, I think Jews were 'stand-offish' relative to the communities in which they lived, and this invited the ire of the people around them. They were viewed as being elitists, and that did make them targets. But I'm not seeing that these days. Most Jews blend into their surrounding society so well that they are nearly indistinguishable. So there would be no reason for that old elitist ire to manifest.

So, if it's not a personality clash, and it's not a religious/ideological clash, what it is?
stereotype.jpg
 

rosends

Well-Known Member
Tangential note -- do you notice the pin he is wearing? The US flag? I am reminded of a conversation I had with my dad many years ago -- right at the beginning of the Gulf War. I walked out to the car and saw a red, white and blue ribbon attached to the mirror and a US flag on the antenna.

I asked my dad why he put that there (dad was a US Air Force vet who loved America but didn't wear his politics on his sleeve). He said "because if we, as Jews, aren't open and obvious about our support of the country, we are going to be criticized as anti-American." He saw that Jews are the first ones to be blamed, so we have to overcompensate and be most publicly supportive.

I see the pin in that picture as exactly the same thing.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
None of this explains why we have been seeing such an uptick in attacks on Jews, specifically, around the world.
Hate feeds off of hate. One act of hatred will empower others to do the same. In particular, the shootings by the Black Hebrew Israelites in Jersey City have empowered other black anti-Semites to act out. Their hate was always there, but that one act of violence enabled them to find what it took to strike. This will roll for a while. How long? I don't know. As you say, it's a world wide trend.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I think what they are is not the reason that they are what they are. And I think it's important that we try and find the reasons that they are what they are, "legitimate" or not.
Why do you look for reasons for anti-Semitism but not hatred of blacks or Mexicans or gays or women or whatever?
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
There is always a reason, even if the reason is unreasonable. Hatred is not a self-sustaining entity that involuntarily captures people's minds and hearts. It is a choice. And people make that choice for some reason(s). And when we see a trend in hate inspired violence, we should pay attention to what is driving those choices, because just writing it off to insanity does nothing to help us mitigate the danger and suffering those choices are going to cause.
Most people do not *consciously* choose to be bigots. They get swept up in it for reasons they are not aware of.
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I almost never meet a Jew and think to myself, "that person's a Jew". I would have no way of knowing he/she were Jewish until they told me. Which is why most of these attacks are against synagogues and Jews in traditional garb. Because the attackers wouldn't know their victims were Jews, otherwise. So the idea that Jews "stand out" in some way is not that reasonable. So is there something about Judaism, itself, that invites this ire? I don't see it, either.

In the past, in Europe, I think Jews were 'stand-offish' relative to the communities in which they lived, and this invited the ire of the people around them. They were viewed as being elitists, and that did make them targets. But I'm not seeing that these days. Most Jews blend into their surrounding society so well that they are nearly indistinguishable. So there would be no reason for that old elitist ire to manifest.

So, if it's not a personality clash, and it's not a religious/ideological clash, what it is?
YEs, the ultra orthodox Jews stand out because of their traditional garb. Are you saying it is okay to target them for persecution because of their ethnic clothing? You don't think the US is big enough to handle that sort of diversity?
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Hatred is actually self-sustaining, without any other reason beyond otherness. It is invented, taught, accepted as normal and justified and is often its own justification. What drives the choice is hate and a need to act out. Trying to tie it to anything else results in victim-blaming. When the "anything else" is totally unrelated, its choice tells about the explainer, as well.
This was so well said it deserves to be read again.
 
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