Why anti-Semitism? I don't get it.

[alfaniner]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

 

[Beady]

By Jews, do you mean the money-grubbing Christ-killers? [/facetious]

The germ of your answer is in that question.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[shemp]

Well of course you don't see them. They're shapeshifters!!! That tree in your yard could be a Jew and you'd never know it! Meanwhile, the ones with yarmulkes are android decoys.

 

[Fizil]

My understanding is that there are two primary reasons:

1. Christian bigotry against the people who killed their god.
2. Christian attitudes toward loaning money. Christians were not supposed to charge interest on loans, Jew could, and some made their fortunes being bankers. Consider the modern attitudes by many people toward bankers as a class and imagine those bankers belonged to a distinct group of people. You can imagine negative attitudes toward the banking class transferring to the group they belong to.

 

[angrysoba]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

Why do bad things happen if they aren't caused by Jews, huh?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

I'm with you, I don't get it either. I get it why Germany under Hitler made Jews the target. I get it why new immigrants that maybe do better with store ownership or something might be targeted. I get it why the Israelis have so many Arab and Persian enemies.

But WTF? How is that anything the current alt-right nationalists in the US should have an issue with?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

My understanding is that there are two primary reasons:

1. Christian bigotry against the people who killed their god.
2. Christian attitudes toward loaning money. Christians were not supposed to charge interest on loans, Jew could, and some made their fortunes being bankers. Consider the modern attitudes by many people toward bankers as a class and imagine those bankers belonged to a distinct group of people. You can imagine negative attitudes toward the banking class transferring to the group they belong to.

That just doesn't explain it. I suppose some small faction of Mel Gibson followers might fit that definition. But they don't seem like the push headstones over crowd or the send out bomb threats crowd.

 

[Fizil]

That just doesn't explain it. I suppose some small faction of Mel Gibson followers might fit that definition. But they don't seem like the push headstones over crowd or the send out bomb threats crowd.

It doesn't necessarily explain antisemitism now, but I believe those are the primary explanations of how antisemitic sentiment originated in Europe. Modern antisemitism is simply a self propagating hatred that has been elaborated over time as the hatred passed from one generation to the next.

 

[marplots]

We forgave them for killing Jesus - but we didn't forget.

 

[tyr_13]

Why aren't bigots more rational?

The set self-selects against it.

 

[Mumbles]

Why aren't bigots more rational?

The set self-selects against it.

Yep. That train's never late (NSFW link).

As for these particular guys, they idolize Nazi Germany and their attempt at what is in their view a white ethnostate, enough to act as a pathetic shadow of it. And that includes sneaking around drawing what are supposed to be swastikas (sometimes they get it right!), desecrating graves, and so forth.

 

[Planigale]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

Note that these are not my views but an answer to your question.

1) Jews regard us as dirty (unclean), they will not shake our hands, they keep themselves separate and think themselves better than us (the chosen people).
2) They give better deals to the Jews than the rest of us.
3) They don't contribute to the general good (specifically Jewish charities).
4) They wear stupid clothes
5) They have a stupid haircut
6) They speak their own language
7) They support a government that oppresses my people (only applicable if you are muslim?)

Most of these apply to the 'obvious' orthodox jew.

Of course many of these things can be applied to other groups e.g. Pakistanis. Often also subject to racism.

I think there is something in humans that make them resent the obvious other. Something that needs educating out of us. I think it is important to ensure that racism is not allowed.

Personally I would not walk round Bradford wearing a salwar kameez and cover my hair (hijab), but was 'forced' into it to by my mother for particular occasions. I do feel that those women wearing a Niqab are alienating; I feel that they feel superior to me so I do irrationally resent them. Having lived in North London, I can see how people can feel that wearing different clothes and speaking amongst yourselves a language other than English, having separate schools, makes you seem 'aloof'.

(To be fair to my mother I was a compliant and quiet teenager so being forced meant being told to do so.)

 

[TragicMonkey]

A minority that doesn't assimilate into the majority's culture, and shows no interest in doing so, irritates some people. They feel it's a judgment on them.

 

[baron]

Jews are successful in business, excel massively in the sciences, don't attempt to impose their own culture onto wider society (on the rare occasions where the two differ) and arguably contribute to society proportionally more than any other ethnic or religious grouping. Reason enough for a bit of hate from inadequates world wide, don't you think?

 

[Belz...]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

I think it's because they were spread around the world with no nation of their own and were seen as outsiders pretty much everywhere.

 

[fagin]

Like catholics?

 

[Crossbow]

I grew up in a place with hardly any Jews that I know of. I confess to ignorance of why this is such a strongly hated group by certain factions, whether in the US or abroad. I mean, one doesn't see roaming gangs of kids with yarmulkas making trouble, as far as I know.

I suppose it's kind of a loaded question but with the recent resurge of incidents and references I got to thinking about it again.

I think it was well said in the Umberto Eco book The Name of the Rose:

"If your true enemies are too strong, then one must choose weaker enemies."

 

[luchog]

I'm with you, I don't get it either. I get it why Germany under Hitler made Jews the target. I get it why new immigrants that maybe do better with store ownership or something might be targeted. I get it why the Israelis have so many Arab and Persian enemies.

It's about history. The Nazis' attitudes toward Jews were not unique to them, and were not new. They built on a long-standing animosity toward Jews that has existed for many centuries, and has been built on over and over during that time. Russian pogroms against Jews predated the Nazis by a significant period.

Much of it is derived from the historical isolationism of Jews, and their involvement in finance and banking, as mentioned earlier; but that's only part of the story. The history of antisemitism is a long and complex one with multiple sources and contributing factors.

The Middle-Eastern attitudes toward Jews goes back much farther than the founding of the current state of Israel, there have been Jewish communities that have existed there for centuries, since the conquest and dissolution of the historical state of Israel by the Persian empire, and been the repeated target of persecution and attempted genocide during that entire time. This was exacerbated with the rise of Islam in the Middle-East, and its insistence on marginalizing or destroying anyone who did not convert, which most Jewish communities actively resisted doing. Like in Europe, Jewish communities were considered "the other", and a good deal of negative propaganda was created against them. Much of European antisemitic propaganda has older historical sources and antecedents.

When Jews started to move there from overseas during the late 19th century, local governments enacted laws which made it illegal to sell property to Jews. During WWII, the local governments collaborated with the Nazis' attempted genocide of the Jews.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Christians were not supposed to charge interest on loans, Jew could, and some made their fortunes being bankers.

I was under the impression, possibly wrongly, that Jews were forbidden in some countries/societies from entering certain professions or undertaking many business activities and that moneylending/financing was one of the few things, or perhaps the only thing left open to them.

 

[luchog]

I was under the impression, possibly wrongly, that Jews were forbidden in some countries/societies from entering certain professions or undertaking many business activities and that moneylending/financing was one of the few things, or perhaps the only thing left open to them.

It was sort of a combination of the two. In many societies, there were jobs that were considered unsavory or "unclean", or in other ways relegated to the lowest castes and outcasts. In many cultures, this would be things like butchering/tanning, and undertaking. In Christian and Muslim cultures, "usury" was forbidden. In Muslim cultures, that meant that they were not allowed to charge interest (which they got around by charging various other fees to make a profit). In Christian cultures, that meant only very low levels of interest could be charged, 10% being the hard ceiling (you couldn't charge more than that, because G-D only asked for 10%).

Since Jews were outcasts and not subject to those laws, they could get away with charging interest, and at higher rates than Christians were allowed to. This enabled them to quickly grow very wealthy, which led to a lot of animosity and suspicion, which resulted in a lot of conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish propaganda, and eventually blood libel.

Not all of this money-lending was approved of by the cultures they lived in, and some of it was effectively "black market". But anyone who made a stink and refused to pay soon found themselves cut off from all other Jewish sources of money, and many nobles were heavily indebted to the Jewish bankers. This would occasionally result in purges and pogroms when the debts got too high and the nobility decided they didn't want to pay, and would rather just take the money.