I’m just a fellow writer trying to figure out why the world hates Jews too. There’s no shortage of theories, but I’m not sure there’s a logical answer that will ever satisfy most of us by truly explaining the cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy of Jew hatred.
Different people likely have a variety of different reasons, but I think you’re onto something that many probably share a highly agreeable demeanour and lack critical thinking skills that leaves them vulnerable to the mysterious allure of the anti-Jew Kool-Aid. One things for sure, once they start drinking it, it sure does seem to rot their brains in a jiffy.
I’m trying to stop asking why and instead want to shift my focus toward how do we deal with the reality of it and how we can support each other better. We can’t control other people’s mental illnesses, we can control how we react and protect ourselves and our community.
I think our best bet at fighting antisemitism is being able to articulate and define it- that’s what I attempted to do in my article by defining it as a conspiracy theory. Because so many people who perpetuate antisemitism actually believe they are pursuing justice- from the Crusaders to the Nazis to the 🍉mafia- all these folks think/ thought they are / were doing the world a favor by disempowering Jews and dispossessing them of their land, property and lives. By giving the jewish community the language to call out and define antisemitism as a conspiracy theory we have the ability to fight it in the way that one fights conspiracy theories- a very jewish method actually- by asking questions and teaching logical debate and defense of one’s position. I actually think this is why the world hates Jews- because we dare to question authority- we wrestle with g-d, we debate g-ds commandments, we reject blind faith and worshipping idols (not just statues but modern day idols of celebrities and politicians who can do no wrong). My hope is by asking questions we can guide those who are engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories (even the “complimentary” Jewphila ones like Jews are rich, clever and powerful) to realize they are generalizing an entire group of people and that it’s illogical. In the words of Anne Frank “what one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does reflects on all Jews,” by pointing out the double standard of logic applied to Jews we can dispel antisemitic beliefs. I also think part of the issue when it comes to fighting antisemitism is that people don’t understand who Jews are- since 1791 in the western world we have, in an attempt to gain citizenship and equal rights, represented ourselves as merely a religion/ belief system- instead of a diasporic tribe with a belief system that revolves around our indigenous land and the practices of caring for our land and people in that land following the book written about our history in that land. Because we are misunderstood as simply a religion in modern day America (despite American history and world wide history of defining us as a race as recent as 1968 in the USA) current college students at American universities do not believe that Judaism is an immutable and unchangeable aspect of an individuals identity- (which the modern liberal consensus would never insult an unalterable characteristic of identity) instead the modern American left views religion as backwards and Jews as a religion.
TLDR, we must know who we are as Jews, as a people, and we must know what antisemitism is and be able to define these things for ourselves in order to educate others.
Interesting commentary. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
wow thanks so much for taking the time to read! Can't believe an icon like you has read my work<3
I’m just a fellow writer trying to figure out why the world hates Jews too. There’s no shortage of theories, but I’m not sure there’s a logical answer that will ever satisfy most of us by truly explaining the cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy of Jew hatred.
Different people likely have a variety of different reasons, but I think you’re onto something that many probably share a highly agreeable demeanour and lack critical thinking skills that leaves them vulnerable to the mysterious allure of the anti-Jew Kool-Aid. One things for sure, once they start drinking it, it sure does seem to rot their brains in a jiffy.
I’m trying to stop asking why and instead want to shift my focus toward how do we deal with the reality of it and how we can support each other better. We can’t control other people’s mental illnesses, we can control how we react and protect ourselves and our community.
I think our best bet at fighting antisemitism is being able to articulate and define it- that’s what I attempted to do in my article by defining it as a conspiracy theory. Because so many people who perpetuate antisemitism actually believe they are pursuing justice- from the Crusaders to the Nazis to the 🍉mafia- all these folks think/ thought they are / were doing the world a favor by disempowering Jews and dispossessing them of their land, property and lives. By giving the jewish community the language to call out and define antisemitism as a conspiracy theory we have the ability to fight it in the way that one fights conspiracy theories- a very jewish method actually- by asking questions and teaching logical debate and defense of one’s position. I actually think this is why the world hates Jews- because we dare to question authority- we wrestle with g-d, we debate g-ds commandments, we reject blind faith and worshipping idols (not just statues but modern day idols of celebrities and politicians who can do no wrong). My hope is by asking questions we can guide those who are engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories (even the “complimentary” Jewphila ones like Jews are rich, clever and powerful) to realize they are generalizing an entire group of people and that it’s illogical. In the words of Anne Frank “what one Christian does is his own responsibility, what one Jew does reflects on all Jews,” by pointing out the double standard of logic applied to Jews we can dispel antisemitic beliefs. I also think part of the issue when it comes to fighting antisemitism is that people don’t understand who Jews are- since 1791 in the western world we have, in an attempt to gain citizenship and equal rights, represented ourselves as merely a religion/ belief system- instead of a diasporic tribe with a belief system that revolves around our indigenous land and the practices of caring for our land and people in that land following the book written about our history in that land. Because we are misunderstood as simply a religion in modern day America (despite American history and world wide history of defining us as a race as recent as 1968 in the USA) current college students at American universities do not believe that Judaism is an immutable and unchangeable aspect of an individuals identity- (which the modern liberal consensus would never insult an unalterable characteristic of identity) instead the modern American left views religion as backwards and Jews as a religion.
TLDR, we must know who we are as Jews, as a people, and we must know what antisemitism is and be able to define these things for ourselves in order to educate others.