Antisemitism

[Woolygimp]

Can someone explain to me why there is so much Antisemitism in the world?

I'm relatively young, 20, but I cannot recall a single thing that sets Jews apart from anyone else or that would warrant widespread racism.

I can maybe see from the standpoint of the Palestinians, but from Americans/Europeans?

I'm really curious as to what is the catalyst for all this hate, because really it dwarfs all other forms of racism as this has been going on for thousands of years.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

Generally speaking I think in Europe it has deep historic roots due to religious intolerance, nationalism etc.. In addition it is probably today fueled somewhat by the large moslem minorities in many countries. But it is really very diverse, an anti-semitt (sp?) in France has almost nothing common in his reasoning with one in Russia. I don't think it is so very specific towards Jews though, I see similar prejudices towards other "non-national" minorities like Roma people, especially in Eastern Europe.

[BCPVP]

A start

[AWoodside]

Well, there are all the usual reasons for bigotry that have been compounding over several thousand years... I'm sure others will elaborate on those. I think what really makes Jews an easy target though is the fact that there aren't that many of them, and a lot of them are very much against out-breeding. A large percentage of Jewish people will only procreate with other Jewish people, because they have such a strong sense of cultural identity. I'm not saying this is a bad thing per-se, they can certainly do whatever they want. I do think this type of self-segregation makes them an easier target for the bigots out there though.

[Woolygimp]

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A start

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Yeah, probably should've wikipedia'd it before posting.

thanks.

[Felix_Nietzsche]

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Can someone explain to me why there is so much Antisemitism in the world?

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SHORT ANSWER:
The Jews killed Jesus and the hatred this inspired has been passed on like a tradition for hundreds of years.

LONG ANSWER:
I think it has a lot to do with:
1. The origins of Christianity
2. The Jewish culture

1. Jesus, who was a Jew, was killed by Jews. So the founders of Christianity had a lot of hatred towards those who killed Jesus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Se...hristian_world
"Antisemitism was widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages. In those times, a main cause of prejudice against Jews in Europe was the religious one. Although not part of Roman Catholic dogma, many Christians, including members of the clergy, held the Jewish people collectively responsible for the death of Jesus, a practice originated by Melito of Sardis. Among socio-economic factors were restrictions by the authorities. Local rulers and church officials closed the doors for many professions to the Jews, pushing them into occupations considered socially inferior such as accounting, rent-collecting and moneylending, which was tolerated then as a "necessary evil"."

2. Because of anti-semitism, the Jews banded together for self-protection and kept among themselves. This isolation from gentiles, created a social barrier between Jews and gentiles. Also Jews were relegated to trades such as rent collecting and money lending....and in these trades it is easy to make enemies to collect unpaid debts. They probably, with much justification, practice discrimination against gentiles. But perhaps it was less discrimination and more favortism towards fellow Jews....

The German philospher Nietzsche argued that anti-semitism actually made the Jews stronger 'what does not kill me makes me stronger'. And history proves Nietzsche right. An American rabbi lamented that the Jewish culture in the USA was dying because they were being killed by kindness. What he meant was since there is very little anti-semitism in the USA, more Jews were intermarrying with gentiles and the Jewish culture was getting diluted.

As for muslim anti semitism, part of this comes from Christian anti-semitism, part from clashes of culture in the middle east, and partly from the history of modern Israel....

As an atheist I think the whole Jesus walking on water and rising from the dead is a myth similar to the Greek Gods of Mount Olympus. So the killing of the Jewish Rabbi named Jesus, through their Roman masters, is way overblown and therefore anti-semitism is pretty silly. But I agree with Friedrich Nietzsche that anti-semitism has done more to preserve the Jewish culture than any other factor.

Bottom Line: Anti-Semitism is an ancient TRADITION passed on by the founders of Christianity!

[JuntMonkey]

"Israel can do no wrong" bothers me tons.

Jews are the chosen people with higher IQ's and are better than the rest of us.

I've always thought the "killed Jesus" argument was the dumbest thing in the world for fairly obvious reasons.

[MrMon]

The smart-ass answer to the charge of deicide has always been "If the Jews didn't kill Jesus, where would Christianity be? Instead of condemning the Jews, Christians should be thanking them for proving he was the messiah."

That thought aside, last Friday I was driving back home from KC when I started getting bored and went to AM on the radio. Scanning through, I happened to hit upon KAAY Little Rock, 1090 KHz. I normally would skip right by a religious broadcast, but the antisemitism contained in the Good Friday sermon being broadcast was just jaw-dropping. I thought most mainstream churches had long ago dropped those references, even though there still in the Bible, but this guy was pointing right to it and saying how the Jews are still out there today, lying about the resurrection of Jesus and their responsibity for his death.

If this had been some small town station and some isolated preacher, I wouldn't have thought much of it, but KAAY is a 50,000 watt clear channel blowtorch, so if someone wants to hear anti-semitism, it's right there on your radio dial for everyone to hear, right in middle America.

[SNOWBALL]

How are you quantifying this antisemitism? Maybe the better question is "why do people believe that antisemetism is prevalent?"

My impression is that it isn't actually as prevalant as it seems. Jews were almost exterminated, so to be on the safe side they are very sensitive to antisemitism, and will often call something anti-semitic when it isn't.

[andyfox]

"Jews [. . .] will often call something anti-semitic when it isn't."

Often? Some examples, please?