My news alert that Israeli Daniel Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel prize in chemistry motivated this posting.
As long as there are Jews there will be anti-semitism. But quite frankly as a Jew I'm sick and tired of it. It has permeated Western civilization for millenia and resulted in the death and suffering of millions. Israel is the anti-semites proxy and they join radical Islamists in their desire for elimination from the face of the planet.
The origins and reasons for this are perverse and all-pervasive. The purpose of this posting is not to attempt to explain it. Unfortunately, in a world where humans suffer and seek others to blame for their lack of satisfaction, success, happiness the Jews are the perfect scapegoat.
Frustrated and pathetic there are many who seek to explain their own sorry state by seeking the conspiracy behind the way the world works. Their websites obsess over who is a Jew and what they are doing to make their pathetic lives miserable. They cannot possibly accept the truth they may be unintelligent, untalented or unmotivated to seek and achieve what they deem missing. They suffer from some sort of disturbed obsessive mental /emotional "disease".
Personally, I have met many Jews in my life. Some are compassionate, caring, brilliant, creative, successful geniuses. Others are sad, disturbed, losers. The point is this--they are just human beings like every other group on the planet.
Here are the facts if anyone is interested. Jews represent .24% of the population of the world. That is less than one quarter of one percent !
Jews represent more than 20% of Nobel Prize winners since its inception in 1901.
Do Jews "influence" business and Hollywood? Are they more highly represented than their .24% of the population. Yes! But why has that happened? Could it be that they have worked harder, are talented and intelligent? "No", the anti-semites will proclaim. Its a conspiracy!
I find it more than curious that the anti-semites never speak about the "influence" of Jews in literature, art, music, chemistry, physics, medicine etc. Those are the "influences" which, by the way, help everyone on this planet.
It would be my deep preference if we all stopped stereotyping each other based on religion, ethnicity, race, political positions etc. and "judge" every individual as just that--an individual.
But if that isn't going to happen any time soon, then just be open to the real facts about Jews and move on.
Hi Steve,
I share your frustration in the seemingly "pervasive" nature of anti-semitism, which is pathological and perverse. Though I did take note and was pleased with the world-wide coverage and lauding of compliments on Dr. Shechtman. It was encouraging that Sweden didn't take a biased approach to awarding an Israeli with the Nobel Prize, as they are notoriously biased and hyper critical of Israel.
The only somewhat negative report that I read of his Nobel Prize was the coverage from the Christian Science Monitor, which reported the award to Schechtman, but also took note in the same article about the apparent brain-drain in Israel. Though not surprising and nothing new with the CSM.
The developed world has for some time taken note of Israel's achievements in science and technology. I read a commentary piece on JPost once, which stated something like, "if you want to make a call with a cellphone, or need an MRI, or use computer security software, it is highly likely that you are using Israeli-developed technology."
Anti-semitism will not disappear anytime soon, so the best we can do is to educate those who are open minded "to the real fact about Jews" and for those who are not to "move on."
Posted by: Jon Leitner | October 09, 2011 at 06:23 PM