I just posted something to the wierdjews community that I liked. . .

[xiphias]

Someone in weirdjews asked "why do people hate Jews?"

I put some work into my answer . . .

The primary reason is that people hate what's different than them.

That's it, really.

Humans evolved as tribal critters, and our instincts are to react to other humans outside our tribe as threats: the more like us other humans are, the easier it is to think of them as inside our tribe. Jews, historically, have had a different culture, language, and ethnicity as most of their neighbors, so we appear to be a threat, just 'cause we're different.

I could go over a few of the specific things that various cultures came up with as rationalizations to hate us: we killed Jesus, we use the blood of Christian children to make matzah (and let me just say, eeew, ick about THAT bizarre notion), our religion allows us to lie, cheat, and steal from people who aren't Jewish (not true, but a common thing to throw at other groups: the exact same thing is said about Gypsies), we control the media and the banks and are all rich are conspire to keep the Gentiles down (wouldn't it be nice to have that sort of power?) -- but, basically, those are all things that people made up just to deal with the fact that people evolved to be really bad at dealing with folks that are different than they are.

Same reason people are racist.

Interestingly, Muslims tend to be less racist than the general run of folks. Because they define "inside the group" as Muslim, and "outside the group" as not Muslim -- and anybody can be a Muslim. So racism, per se, is relatively less common in the Islamic world than in the non-Islamic world.

Some cynical people have said that humans aren't ever going to be able to overcome racism/religious discrimination/cultural discrimination/whatever until we meet another intelligent alien species. At which point humans are just going to go and discriminate against THEM, instead.

See, it's a definitional thing.

People need to feel that they are living for a reason. That means that they need to define themselves, and the easiest way to define oneself is negatively, by looking at the universe of possibilities of how people can live and what people can be, and saying, "NOT that, NOT that, NOT that, NOT that . . . " and whatever's left, that's what you are, that's your identity, that's how you define yourself.

There are better ways to do it -- you can consider what you are instead. But that takes more work. So almost everybody defines him or herself by what he or she isn't.

And most people aren't Jews. So, we are the "other" to 98% of the world's population. We're different.

And, because of that, we're suspected, and not quite trusted.

It's basic human nature.

Comments

[phantom_wolfboy]

Someone in weirdjews asked "why do people hate Jews?"

I put some work into my answer . . .

The primary reason is that people hate what's different than them.

I would feel a lot happier with that explaination if both sentences had the word "some" in them. "Why do some people hate Jews?"

"The primary reason is that some people hate what's different than them."

We don't all, you know.

'Course, you aren't necessarely doing this to please me. ;-P

Other than that, a reasonable answer to a difficult question.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, the question that was asked was "Why do people hate Jews," in the context of a seventeen-year old girl wanting to know why there were people out there who hated her without even knowing her, so I'm not responsible for the form of the question: she wanted to know why she was hated; that's how she asked the question, so I left it in that form.

As for the other . . . I think I'd personally leave it the way I wrote it. Because I think it is a human trait to hate those who are different. I'm sure there are some people who, just naturally, don't, but I think the general case is to have that trait.

And I think that most people who don't exhibit that trait are that way because they have worked to not be that way. I think that not having that fear and hatred mostly comes from having been carefully raised as a child, or from a lot of thought and introspection as an adult.

I don't think it's a trivial thing to avoid.

And I want to honor those people who have managed to overcome that trait. I think there's more honor in overcoming a negative trait than in simply being born without it.

To say that some people hate and fear what's different from them is a different statement than to say that hating and fearing what's different from one is a human trait, and that, therefore, those who don't hate and fear what's different from them deserve respect and honor for overcoming that trait.

I think I believe that latter one.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I agree with you. And I think this answer is excellent.

A.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

I agree with this analysis - but I'd add one other, possibly unexpected twist: I suspect that some folks (at least today) might be jealous. Not nessecarily of percieved wealth or influence, although those are often the most often cited - I think that those are also things that are mostly manufactured by folks with an axe to grind. But more of the sense of... *handwave* Hm. Like, there's a certain perception from the outside that those on the inside think themselves superior; and for those on the outside, there may be a nagging doubt that it might be true. A particularly nasty form of the grass being greener syndrome. For people without a community, or who feel dissatisfied with their own community, seeing other people who have strong communities might be difficult to understand. I think I have a little of this; I don't have any particular ethnic or religious background, and sometimes I really regret that, but it's not something I can do anthing about other than build a community for myself now. I do know that some people, having these feelings can lead to all kinds of strange behavior, up to and including psychotic hatred for others who have something that they percieve themselves lacking.

Just another thought. :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

You've probably seen Aish HaTorah's "Why The Jews?" presentation (oh wait, I guess it's also a book by Prager & Telushkin), on this very question. I found it interesting. Basically, the thesis is that it's not only that Jews are seen as "other" (since there are lots of "others" that are better tolerated), but that something specific to *Jewishness* inspires hate in other people, so what could that be? And they conclude that (to cut to the chase) it's because Jewishness per se carries a message people can't bear: essentially, the existence of absolute moral standards, and the idea of personal human responsibility to them.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Certainly the only time I've ever felt anything resembling "hate" towards "Jews" it was deep resentment towards a group of Jewish posters on rec.arts.sf.fandom who were espousing absolute moral standards and human adherence to them -- or to put it less charitably, smugly claiming people belonging to other religions were "deluded" and that being wished a happy hannukah when it had been over for days was an overt attack instead of misguided goodwill, from a position of absolute and deeply sanctimonious knowledge of right and wrong. My mind suddenly filled with an image of someone saying "I think I'll send that nice Mr F a Xmas card. No, hang on, he's Jewish, he'll take offence, much better to... have a pogrom!"

I shouldn't need to say that I felt like this for about five minutes, and only about some specific people who were being assholes, the majority of Jewish people on rasseff were being sensible about the whole thing. But it was an interesting insight both into how that sanctimonious "absolute moral standards" thing can be deeply annoying, and also how one can so easily generalise from "X.Y, and Z are assholes" to the wider group -- that I could do that even for a moment rocked me, it doesn't go with my view of myself at all, even as I was reminding myself of all the sensible Jewish people I know, it was shocking me that I needed to do that.