Why?
Read a book titled “Why the Jews?”. It sez: There are four essiantials of Judaism 1. monotheism 2. choseness (The Chosen People) 3. Torah 4. Israel.
They are hated for the very things that make them Jews.
They are, in short, hated for being good. Not for the incidental, individual, unpleasant human characteristics.
So, the only way to stop anti-semitism is to stop being Jewish. Sez the book and I agree.
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 07:10 AM
And the others are jealous for not being chosen. From Genesis 16:
11 “You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael (God hears), for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”It is generally accepted by the Arabs that Ishmael is their progenitor.
I have read with interest the religious suggestions for the hatred of Jews. But I don’t think they are quite hitting the mark. I suspect that the reason Jews are hated is that Judaism incorporates within it the values of the Enlightenment, namely, the Rule of Law rather that the Rule of Status, and the use of argument and debate to resolve differences. These notions would naturally have been a tremendous threat to the Middle-Eastern despots of two thousand years ago, and are similarly a threat to the Middle-Eastern despots of today. The fundamentals of Islam being rather different ("submission" - to whom?), with it’s reliance on revelation rather than reason, naturally there is little intrinsic compatibiity.
The fundamental characteristic of a fanatic is his fanaticism. The elevation of reason above faith is naturally anathema to fanatics.
Posted by Brian of Darlington
09/25/2005 at 10:49 AM
OCM: Your Spirituality Exercise for the day:
Meditate on the following Scripture, as it applies to you
1 Kings 13
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled himPosted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 11:19 AM
not so in depth as above, but jealousy comes to mind.
BULLDOG
Why do atheists tend to be more fanatical about their beliefs than most religious people?
Elliott: It may be that atheists want hands-on proof vs. believers who simply ‘Believe’.
Posted by piccalo
09/25/2005 at 03:22 PM
1. With the huge exception of Nazis (who also exterminated Poles, Russians, Gypsies, the mentally retarded) Jews thruout history could avoid persecution by simply stopping being Jews.
WOW! —say the Jews. Why didn’t we think of that!
2. Faith is not letting your emotions over-ride what your brain tells you is true.
Example: There is this very wild, tricky cave in Southern Indiana. At one place there is a tiny opening, into a drop-off, at the end of a tight squeeze. You must lie flat on your belly and back thru feet first—then let go. You only fall about one foot onto a ledge. That’s what your mind tells you. It’s darker than two feet up a bear’s ass, and your imagination tells you that you’re going to plunge 500 feet onto stalacmites. The faith is in the letting go.
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 03:59 PM
Looks like you been meditatin’ hard on 1Kings13.
Now meditate on “scientism” “naive realism”.
The following assignment will deal with “naive cynicism”.
As Always,
Your Friend, OINK
P.S. If ‘ya
with The Bull, ‘ya gets The Horn
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 04:23 PM
It’s not that I’m avoiding you OCM, but I do have to keep a little distance. You see, I have an appointment tomorrow at the VA Clinic to have my Serum Bullshit Level checked.
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 04:54 PM
If this discussion gets too heavy, I may be forced to post:
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD by Rev. J. Edwards July 8, 1741
-Their foot shall slide in due time- Deut. 32:35It’s quite long and unpleasant—especially the part about God holding us above The Fire like a loathesome spider.
Let’s keep it light & breezy, Huh?Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 05:29 PM
Before Christendom, the Jews were no more or less hated than any other identifiable small group of nomadic conquerors. They came out of the desert, took over Canaan and set up the Kingdom of Israel. It has been there, in one way or another, since.
They have been conquered, dispersed, regrouped, risen to a minor power, were spared by Alexander, suffered under the Seleucids, were destroyed and dispersed by the Romans. It is only in the centuries of Christendom that they seem to have gotten a special “we blame the Jews!” status (flood, drought, plague, fire, you name it). Most recently, within the last 150 or so years, they started making trouble in the Middle East by coming out of the background (they had always been there) and buying some crappy scrub land on the Med’s eastern edge that the Arabs, who only showed up in the 600’s, didn’t really want.
But then they kept coming and turned the sand pile into a burgeoning home and guess who got all envious and wanted it back? So, the contest began.
The problem with the Jews is their persistence. They hang in while other empires come and go. Like gum on your shoe. But they keep being successful. Envy is a dangerous enemy and they have fought that one for centuries.
Rickvid: You said a mouthful.
There are a helluva lot of Jews, but I don’t see many Canaanites, Medes, or Philistines.
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 05:56 PM
My answer would be that we simply know more about the Jews than many other peoples. That is due to the orgin of Chrisianity and the nature of the Jewish culture. It is also because Jews survive in various lands to tell their story.
Throughout history groups that kept their own culture, laws, and religion were viewed with great dislike by rulers and the majority culture. Tolerant societies or eras are rare.
The Jews are so dominant when we discuss persecution because they are almost the only minority that has survived for roughly 4000 years with some cohesion and a historical record. Most tiny minorities simply vanished, some by force and some by assimilation. They suffered just as much. But they are gone and their fate known only to specialists.
Hitler and others focused on the Jews to use already existing distrust. And since that happened within living memory and was fully revealed by the destruction of his regime we see it clearly and large in a way we do not see what happened in Armenia, Cambodia, or Rwanda, or those who defied Genghis Kahn or Rome.
Posted by KenS
09/25/2005 at 06:01 PM
For some reason, G-d preserved OCM through his recent accident and trials of health. Rather than reflect that there may be a message here, for him, OCM chooses to throw stones at Oink and those of us who do believe.
I firmly believe OCM’s tasks here are not done, which is why he was preserved. It may be it is to bedevil Oink and that is his higher purpose. Frankly, I doubt it though.
Success breeds comtempt from those who cannot be sucessful for themselves.
The Hobo
Hmmmm? (Keeping it light) I see OCM’s survival
as something we want to hush up. Atheists may use it as an argument that God is not just, or is not in charge. 
Of course, it’s also an argument against Natural selection.. 
Posted by Oink
09/25/2005 at 08:34 PM
"Faith declares what the senses do not see, but not the contrary of what they see. It is above them, not contrary to them.” —Blaise Pascal
Not focused on-topic but...Skipper, could you do this again? Have a “Why?” post, maybe weekly? Could we write to suggest topics to you? For instance, why are some people, and I am not barking the shins of liberals with this (tho they seem to invite said barking) why are some people just so blindly given to treat pseudo-science and fad science so very seriously? I mean, Babs is a great singer and not a bad actress, but.....why? (From Drudge)
NEW YORK—This summer’s back to back superstorms are proof positive we have entered a new period of “global warming emergency,” artist/citizen Barbra Streisand warns.
Streisand is back on the scene to promote her reunion disc with Barry Gibb.
As hellstorm “Rita” churned in the Gulf, Streisand sat down for a promotional interview with ABCNEWS’s Diane Sawyer.
“We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense,” Streisand urgently declares.
But Sawyer did not remind Streisand that a Category 5 hurricane struck the Bahamas with 160 mph winds—when the singer was five years old, in 1947!
And when Streisand was 8 years old, a Cat 5 hurricane—named “Dog”—packing 185 mph churned-away in the Atlantic.
When she was 9, a Cat 5 storm named “Easy” ripped the seas with 160 mph sustained winds.
Streisand was 13 years old when “Janet” hit Mexico with 150 mph winds.
Streisand was celebrating her sweet sixteen as “Cleo” formed with 140 mph.
At 18, Streisand read news about “Donna” AND “Ethel”—both storms carried 140 mph winds and formed 9 days apart in 1960!
One year later, when Streisand was 19, it happened again: Two Category 5 storms scared the world: “Carla” and “Hattie!”
“Carla” maxed out at 175 mph winds the year Streisand made her television debut on “The Jack Paar Show.”
And who could forget Hurricane “Camille”—which smashed into the United States with 190 mph, just as “Funny Girl” garners eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture and one for Barbra as Best Actress.
Up next on the weather warning watch, Streisand says to ABC: “There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it’s amazing to hear these facts.”
Developing…
Well, you see OCM, I was trying to walk home but I was having trouble standing
and there was this nice Maple ......
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 08:49 AM
Good post, Rickvid (sorry you didn’t mention Hazel and Edna).
BS always seems to suppose that her ability to sing like a bird justifies her tendency to think like one.
If she is capable of integrating any concept above the level of, say, appropriate dress for a junior-senior prom, it would be a gratifying surprise.
However, I don’t expect to be surprised.....
OCM,
You kiddin’ man? I live in the Emerald Empire! Trees everywhere. Actually, fewer per acre here in Seattle than in NYC, but....
There are lots of reasons to clean up and protect the environment, but Global Warming is not really a good one. The effects of GW (NOT GW Bush) are very evident in the Pac Northwest. Glaciers melting, rising sea levels, more land laid bare, animals disappearing, extiction. I tell ya’, 13,000 years of glacial retreat has left this area all kinds of changed, what with mountains and volcanos and fields and forests and rivers and lakes and people and stuff. None of that was here 13 - 14,000 years ago!
Maybe we should do a massive restoration program to return the glaciers! Oh, wait, global cooling was all the rage 25 years ago. And ozone. Where’s that these days?
An interesting topic that has been somewhat sidetracked by OCM and Oink. Though I tend to side with Oink.
Anti-Semitism is not the word to use when discussing anti-Jewish bigotry. The Arabs are also Semites.
The biggest problemn the Jews face is their biblically-documented promises from God. And the fact that a branch of Judaism became Christianity. The Christians joined in condemning the Jews because ‘They’ crucified Christ.
This is absurd. The ‘Jews’ didn’t crucify Christ. A few Jews who were members of the Sanhedrin lobbied for His crucifixtion.
Last time I checked, Jesus was a Jew, as were His disciples. Christianity is a branch of Judaism.
Back to the question: Why are Jews hated?. Simple… the Jews represent the morals God gave the House of Israel. The Jews seem to be all that is left of Israel.
We have a similar hatred here in the USA. The hatred of homosexuals for the Boy Scouts. Why? The Boy Scouts represent morality. Homosexuals are, by definition, immoral.
BobF: Here is a map of the typical discussion— Topic >>OCM >>PotSmoking>>OffTopic.
I may contribute in an incidental way
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 08:26 PM
