Why are jews 'picked on' so much?

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

thread closed

[Blackburn]

Are you trolling?

[Dunk]

OP, if you make fifteen more posts in the span of two minutes, people might take you more seriously.

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

No, I am wondering why this is the case (I'm a jew btw)

[Os Cangaceiros]

They've been a dispersed population; a diaspora. Their minority status in many nations has enabled their persecution.

(That's not to say that Zionism is in any way justified, though.)

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

They've been a dispersed population; a diaspora. Their minority status in many nations has enabled their persecution.

(That's not to say that Zionism is in any way justified, though.)

Thank you for the serious, non-judgemental answer. :lol:

[Jose Gracchus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maafa

Jews don't have a monopoly on suffering bub.

Like, where did all the Indians go?

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

This is kind of a double edged sword.

If I'm not a jew, I'm trolling. If I am a jew, I'm ignoring the suffering of other races.

Great. Just close the thread please :cool:

[Jose Gracchus]

This has nothing to do with your identity as a Jew. Relax.

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

I know that Blacks have suffered greatly, but I am talking about the jews here. Why are they discriminated to much and why do fascists make such a big deal about such a small race

[Comrade Crow]

Stfu and let's do some math.

Jewish culture is largely centered around it's own community. Historically, this meant ghetto and sectioned off living communities. Currently, even without this, Jewish life is largely about the home, the work and the synagogue. It's culture is very insular and this creates the "other," stereotype that can become the scapegoat. This 'otherness' breeds suspicion. This is why Jews get 'picked on so much.' This is also why the Arab/Muslim community will probably face the same thing in Western countries.

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

Stfu and let's do some math.

Jewish culture is largely centered around it's own community. Historically, this meant ghetto and sectioned off living communities. Currently, even without this, Jewish life is largely about the home, the work and the synagogue. It's culture is very insular and this creates the "other," stereotype that can become the scapegoat. This 'otherness' breeds suspicion. This is why Jews get 'picked on so much.' This is also why the Arab/Muslim community will probably face the same thing in Western countries.


thankyou, i have to say i wasnt expecting a serious answer when i made this thread but you proved me wrong :D

[PhoenixAsh]

I highly suspect you are a troll...

Nevertheless...the answers may be found in religious non compatability.

Jews were a monotheistic religious culture surrounded by non monotheistic cultures and denied their Gods, refused to accept those cultures even when they dominated the Jewish culture militarilly and therefore denied the truth and validity behind their cultural hyrarchical structure. For example...they refused to accept the diefied status of their emperors or kings. And that got them prosecuted. It most definately pissed off the Romans and Egyptians. (The Seleucids simply disliked any other religious and cultural expression....and outlawed Judaism as incompatible with Hellenistic culture.)

But centuries before that the Jewish kingdom had a history of revolts and rebellions which led to their diaspore. They revolted in 700 BC against Assyrian rule and as a result Shalmanezar V move a large part of the population to other parts of the Assyrian empire. The Egyptians did the same. And the Romans finished it. The diaspora moved jews all across the world where they did indeed form easilly targetted minorities.

In contrast by the way...was every other culture and religion which did not deny the deified premisse of the leader. Those got assimilated as was their pantheon. Especially by the Romans who simply adopted new Gods or assigned their Gods the attributes and names of the Gods from different cultures...and had an ever expanding pantheon.

Then came the rise of Christianity. And Christians also suffered the same persecution as the jews for pretty much the same reasons. The only difference was that the Christians did not have their own kingdoms. They only managed that after convincing the Roman emperor to convert....and then naturally they were the dominant religion and they made damned sure they stayed that way. They also incorporated pagan believes into their own religious practices...and were better at public relations marketing than Judaism...in fact missionary work is an essential tennent in Christianity. It is not in Judaism. This may sound overly simple...but thats the gist of it.

And since Christianity blamed the jews for the crucifixion and death of Jesus and the Jews deny Jesus as part of the holy trinity and stick to the old covenant and reject the new covenant...well...that pretty much made them a fair target in the eyes of the Catholic Church. And since the hierarchical structures relied on santification of worldly power by the church through God; the worldly power rejected the Jews and limited and secluded them from society more...making them yet easier targets.

And then there were centuries of repression; discrimination; myth forming; etc. etc. which created a very persistent view of jews in Europe and Western Russia. Later political factions simply played into this long standing christian-judaic bloodfeud and the existing predjudices.

Jews in the Muslim world were less subject to prosecution...though it happened....but then again...just as much as Christians were and sometimes even less so. The real problems started there with the Jewish migrations into Palestine...and he rise of Zionism.

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

I highly suspect you are a troll...

1.) You suspected wrong.

2.) Why is it that whenever someone on here asks a question that involves any controversial subject they are accused of being a troll?

[Comrade Crow]

2.) Why is it that whenever someone on here asks a question that involves any controversial subject they are accused of being a troll?

Trolls ain't welcome in dis hood, where u frum cuz?

[LevDavidovichBronstein]

Trolls ain't welcome in dis hood, where u frum cuz?


Earth, I have no affiliation with any state or national identity whatsoever.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Why are jews 'picked on' so much?

Different reasons in different places and times, but most often just as a classic scapegoat.

I think it's important to distinguish the anti-Judaism of feudal Europe from modern anti-semitism - though neither was particularly pleasant for the oppressed. At various times under Catholic Europe, Jews were segregated and treated as a separate caste with different rules - like with many other groups in feudalism. In England Jews could not live inside the city of London, for example, and formed enclaves - Jews were also permitted to "change-money" whereas Christians were not under feudal Catholicism (which is ironic that people are persecuted and forced to take up this social niche while also being blamed as evil for taking than nice). In short, Jews were singled out and persecuted for being heretics and made easy scapegoats for European ruling classes who blamed unexplained deaths or illnesses on Jews, if not witches or some other imagined threat. It should also be noted that if an induvidual Jew converted to Christianity, then they (or only their offspring in some cases) would not have restrictions against them for being "Jewish".

This is in contrast to modern anti-semitism which treats Jewish people not as a religion but as a race more or less. I didn't matter to the NAZIs if someone converted, the problem with jews to them was "blood" and inherent. This is true more or less with most modern anti-semites and the persecution of Jews in this context generally has nothing to do with following the wrong religion or any pretense dealing with religious ideas. In fact most modern anti-semites blame jews for social problems, economic problems, and in the US and NAZI Germany "spreading Bolshevism" and radicalism.

[bailey_187]

Many Jews were rather wealthy in Europe (due to being able to deal with money lending from Christians?), so workers with jewish bosses etc may be fooled into beleiving that the problem is the Jews, not capital ,so anti-semitism became a sort of misplaced "anti-capitalism". I think August Bebel called anti-semitism the "socialism of fools". Same thing happened in the Czech areas of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, as most capitalists there were Germans prior to the wars (although the Germans didnt face anything similar to what the Jews would eventually suffer)

[Principia Ethica]

I'd like to thank the people who posted serious and thoughtful replies to this question. I often wondered why (as far as historic reasons and such) but it just seemed like it was in bad taste for someone non-Jewish to ask it. . .or I was afraid of how I'd be perceived if I did ask the question. . .like maybe people would imply that I was thinking that I was looking for a "fault" of the Jewish people just by asking.

I've always felt that if I knew more about the "seeds" of Antisemitism, I'd be able to fight it better. There are strong undercurrents of it here in the south and now I am armed with a more than just calling someone a bigot :)

[JustMovement]

why were the first 5 answers accusing the OP of being a troll or bring israel, or other peoples suffering (as if mentining the persecution of the jews somehow diminshes other peoples suffering) immediately into the equation without the the OP even having mentioned zionism?

The jews have suffered immensely throughout history, even before the holocaust. theres some bad attitudes around here.

[Rafiq]

Why are Kurds picked on a lot? It just so happens that Europe was not alwasys as diverse as it is today. You had people of tha Nationality and Jewish people. That's it. Do the math.

[RED DAVE]

Stfu and let's do some math.

Jewish culture is largely centered around it's own community. Historically, this meant ghetto and sectioned off living communities. Currently, even without this, Jewish life is largely about the home, the work and the synagogue. It's culture is very insular and this creates the "other," stereotype that can become the scapegoat. This 'otherness' breeds suspicion. This is why Jews get 'picked on so much.' This is also why the Arab/Muslim community will probably face the same thing in Western countries.To which I might add (as a Jew), that, especially in Western Europe, prior to the advent of modern financing, many Jews were (some still are) involved in finance. In Eastern Europe (and North and South America) many Jews (my grandfather included) were involved in small businesses (food stores, light manufacturing, landslordship, etc.). As a result, in many parts of the world, "Jew" is more-or-less synonomous with "capitalist."

And to top it off, an inordinate number of Jews, proportionately, were/are involved in revolutionary politics. And we have to add the negative example of Zionism and Israel.

Old Jewish joke:

Question: What's an antisemite?

Answer: Someone who hates Jews more than necessary.

RED DAVE

[The Dark Side of the Moon]

Stfu and let's do some math.

Jewish culture is largely centered around it's own community. Historically, this meant ghetto and sectioned off living communities. Currently, even without this, Jewish life is largely about the home, the work and the synagogue. It's culture is very insular and this creates the "other," stereotype that can become the scapegoat. This 'otherness' breeds suspicion. This is why Jews get 'picked on so much.' This is also why the Arab/Muslim community will probably face the same thing in Western countries.

You know nothing. Are you stupid? Ghettos are where Jews where forced to go before the nazis thought of the final solution. As for being a minority, there like black people(I'm not racist, one of my best friends is black) they just got the reputation from parents, and other kids, hell I was picked on because I wanted to be Jewish. As soon as I told them that I was atheist, they started picking on because I was communist. There all idiots to say the least
And the reason I turned atheist was because I really started thinking, not because I was being picked on

[Zealot]

I would have to agree pretty much with what everyone else said. Under the Roman empire they were considered intolerant because they only accepted one god whereas romans had no problem assimilating foreign gods which led many to believe that Jews were atheists. They were also considered ungrateful and foolish because romans attributed the success and greatness of their empire to their gods. There are many other reasons besides that but Jews certainly do not have a monopoly on persecution...far from it.

[bailey_187]

lol did someone actually just say "im not racist i have a black friend" :lol:

[The Dark Side of the Moon]

Yes, I did

[RED DAVE]

lol did someone actually just say "im not racist i have a black friend" :lol:
Yes, I didMaybe you should rethink that. In case you didn't know it, that a classic liberal cliche.

RED DAVE