Julie Kroll, of The Wrap, asks a fairly good question: “Why do they always blame the Jews?”
Have you noticed how celebrities who seem to reach a crisis moment in their lives lately bring up the Holocaust or engage in anti-Semitic wordplay during their outbursts — most notably Mel Gibson, John Galliano and Lars von Trier. Two were drunk, one is known for his unpredictable behavior, but still: Why blame the Jewish people?…
She goes on to give some examples of celebrities, and their relatives, making anti-Jewish comments or claiming to be Nazis. Some of them were drunk, some senile and some apparently taken out of context. But, for our purposes, we can assume that they were expressing their sincere opinions. After all, we know that many people really do dislike Jews. This much is not in question.
I knew, from the start, that Kroll would not even try to give an honest answer. Instead, this is what we get:
I read an article one of my good friends sent me from Aish.com. Historians and sociologists have come up with numerous theories to explain anti-Semitism. We will examine these one by one, and discuss the validity of each.
Economic: Jews are hated because they possess too much wealth and power.
Chosen People: Jews are hated because they arrogantly claim they are chosen by God.
Scapegoat: Jews are a convenient group to single out for blame.
Deicide: Jews are hated because they killed Jesus.
Outsiders: Jews are hated because they are different than the rest of society.
Racial Theory: Jews are hated because they are an inferior race.
Let’s examine these six frequently given reasons…
After briefly examining only the first of these reasons, economic envy, Kroll apparently ran out of space and concluded, essentially, by saying “don’t be an anti-semite”. Not once does it even occur to her that there might be some sort of behavior, or attitude, common among Jews, behind the dislike called “anti-semitism”. It’s really very simple. If it is acceptable to announce that one likes Jews, or “people of color” or gays, then this must refer to certain traits. Otherwise, such a statement is meaningless. If a person can like certain traits, then it follows that he can also dislike those, or other, traits. I’ve never heard of anybody getting in trouble for saying he “likes Jews” or “likes gays” for example. But the implication would be that, relatively speaking, he dislikes gentiles or straight people. But this is not considered a problem. If that same person were to announce that he “likes gentiles” or “likes straight people”, there is little doubt that there would be vocal objections.
As of this writing, there are only 9 comments to Kroll’s article. That is to say, there are only 9 approved comments. Here is my comment, which I doubt will be approved:
Perhaps it’s because anti-white organizations and individuals, such as the SPLC, appear to be composed largely of Jews. Here is a short piece I wrote addressing this very issue:
http://jewamongyou.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/a-disgusting-spectacle/
Here is a good synopsis how we know the SPLC is anti-white:
http://unamusementpark.com/2011/08/the-splcs-crusade-against-white-rights-no-state-fair-there/
Jews are a “middle-man minority,” which often tend to be resented by the producer-consumer majorities, who don’t see why such a big cut comes out of the economic chain. Jews particularly tend to be resented in areas with land-based wealth, where the majority population is tied to their real estate, and views suspiciously anyone who can simply uproot at any moment.
I myself: a) don’t care what religion you practice within your personal and family space; b) am not concerned so much with the behavior of Jews as with the zero-tolerance policy about discussing it. Like with blacks, the social conventions for discussing Jewish issues are not so much like that of a robust public debate as like that of telling a man his wife is ugly — whether true, false or an informed opinion, talking about some things just isn’t DONE.
The Madoff affair was widely blamed for unleashing a torrent of anti-Semitism on news commenting sites. I don’t fault Jews for the fact that one of their people concocted an outrageous scheme like that, because any ethnicity can produce crooks (Jews weren’t a large presence at Enron, for example). What needs more scrutiny is how many wealthy, educated, financially literate Jews as individuals and leaders of organizations invested with him. They must have at least strongly suspected it was a scam; they didn’t think the scam was ON THEM, of course, but they had to believe Madoff was scamming someone. The fact that so many wanted in, is worth discussing as a cultural question.
Exactly. Within the leftist media, honest discussion is out of the question when it comes to such matters. If you disagree, that’s fine – but let’s discuss the actual issues, not pretend they don’t exist.
I wouldn’t be so sure they thought he was ripping someone off. Smart people can frequently be clueless about money. One of the things I recall hearing was that Madoff’s returns weren’t outrageously high, just too steady. One could easily be fooled into thinking he was smart about risk analysis.
That’s true of SOME of his clients.
But others were mega-rich investors, used to moving large of money in and out of hedge funds and other sophisticated instruments. (They weren’t primarily famous athletes and film stars, whose riches are independent of financial acumen.) The fact that one of the top superstars of financial world was using an auditor with no other clients, just couldn’t have escaped the notice of many of them.
The Washington Post ran a guest op-ed on Madoff’s Willing Partners, alledging that at least some of his investors thought they were on the profit, not loss, side of a scam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121902977.html
THIS is what I consider a relevant Jewish issue.
I meant to add to the above:
It deserves to be discussed in an open, respectful environment; not shut up into the dark recesses of hate speech, in which the only positions are total denialism and Joseph Goebbels.
The problem with the Madoff scam is that he got away with it for a long time, because he didn’t sweeten the pot so much to warrant too much suspicion, but he did “show” good enough returns to get people to invest. At least for awhile, Madoff found the happy median between too good to be true cheating and actual honest investing practices. But it still was a Ponzi scheme; it would collapse sooner or later.
The reality is that anti-semites are not all drunks, senile or illiterate. In fact, the majority are well-educated lefties. Obama is surrounded by them. And the camp that Brevick attacked was brainwashing teenagers and young adults in anti-semitism. Socialism seems to be ideologically anti-semitic. Probably because the ideal socialist man must be uniform in beliefs and behavior; no multiculturalism allowed (except as a temporary, destructive tactic).
conscientious individuals who do not blame the jews are disadvantaged when things get tough, especially over a prolonged period of time.
As a general rule, people like people who like them and don’t like people who don’t like them. To take this one step further, people tend to remember the negative experiences with a person or group more than the positive ones. And then these experiences influence the way one feels about other members of that group. Of course, this applies equally to all people. One of my pet peeves concerning such discussions is the assumption that one group is prejudiced but the other is not. That in itself is an implicit smear because no person or group has a monopoly on “prejudice”. Of course, not all criticism is rooted in prejudice. But sometimes it can be hard to tell.
Well, the economic theory to explain anti-semitism has more plausibility today than the other five reasons cited. I think the “scapegoat” theory, to the extent that it’s valid could be considered partially a subset of the economic theory, and also partially a result of the political sympathies and activities of many Jews. In any case, it’s rather decidedly inconvenient in this day and age for an individual to blame the Jews for any bad thing in society.
Most anti-semites don’t seem that bothered by, for example, Hasidim who practice strange customs and are most likely to believe in the idea of the Jews as the Chosen People. Most of the people who would care about “Deicide” (conservative Christians) are, if anything, philosemitic.
Of course, the other major reason that Kroll didn’t even mention, but that JAY did, is that many organizations promoting goals that run counter to the interests of whites are disproportionately Jewish. This fact is, if anything, much more important than the overall economic status of the Jews.
I don’t think it’s just or productive to blame the Jews, collectively, for the political agenda pursued by certain Jews. But if one wants to get to the heart of why many people don’t like the Jews, it helps to be honest about the possible reasons, something that Julie Kroll apparently wasn’t interested in.
Sometimes people say anti-semitic things because they know it will likely get them attention if they say those things so I think some of those celebrities who say such things are just looking for attention.
A healthy political system should be made proof against the kinds of cartel/cabal-arrangements that people accuse Jews of. Whether or not Jews are behind the Hollywood entertainment cartel, the Fed’s printed money monopoly, the student-loan crisis, etc.–reforms need to be made to distribute power (not redistribute wealth and certainly not redistribute income) back to communities.
I suggest abolishing legal tender laws and the Federal Reserve and breaking up vertical information monopolies. Abolishing personal income tax and shifting the burden to corporate income tax would also be nice idea.
Anyway, that’s how I feel. Without concentrations of power and excessive secrecy a lot of these concerns would be lessened, and Jews and their critics could address each other without so much tension and name-calling.
(I agree with your indictment of SPLC and thanks for linking to Unamused’s.)
I agree with you. Returning power to the local level would go a long way towards ending corruption and allegations of corruption. In the US that’s called “state’s rights” and was actually established in the constitution. However, the federal government has been slowly increasing its power over the states.
Also, one quibble I have is that we should have a consumption or sales tax instead of a corporate tax. Corporate taxes means our public expenses are transferred to the corporations putting them at a disadvantage against foreign competitors. And I don’t want to do anything that makes our businesses less competitive.
A fair quibble. I respond that, with unlimited liability, proprietorships are at a disadvantage relative to corporations, and that a corporation tax helps even that out somewhat. Furthermore, the advantage a corporation tax puts on foreign competitors can be balanced out with tariffs. Both of these taxes are modest revenue sources for a federal government that obviously can’t be trust with anything more than moderate revenue sources. I don’t object to the motor-fuel tax either. I wouldn’t want any of these taxes to be extremely high though.
Consumption taxes are okay at the state level, where most spending should be taking place.
I want to defend Lars von Trier from being lumped in with the others in that quote. If Ms. Kroll is referring to the same film clip I saw, von Trier was doing a comic routine, “admitting” to be a Nazi, after saying a lot of funny things about the subject. Not only is he not an anti-semite, he grew up believing himself to be Jewish, but his mother later revealed that his father was someone else. I saw that clip at Heeb, a Jewish website, and the person who wrote that article apparently had the same take on it I do, that he’s just very un PC but not a Nazi. He had to make one of those apologies, which are not real apologies but pandering to people who can’t understand a joke.
Here’s a link to my post about it:
http://latteisland.blogspot.com/2011/05/filmmaker-lars-von-trier-banned-from.html
Yes, the author was actually called out on that one in the comments – one of the comments that was approved.
If some “youth” shoots up a subway station, everyone rushes in to explain, to excuse, to diminish the seriousness of the offense. But say something which is “anti-semitic,” even if it’s nothing specific, and all you’re allowed to do is to apologize in the most humiliating manner possible. And even that may not save your career.
Honestly this makes me wonder what Jews are thinking; don’t they realize that ever more Americans, including non-ethnocentric White liberals, are becoming anti-Jewish?
Although I might be mistaken about that, treating anti-semitism as something with no “acceptable” explanation is surely not a wise strategy long-term. It’s almost analogous to these “Slutwalk” protests, where women say that because rape is unacceptable, behaving in a risky way shouldn’t lead to it. Make sense? (probably not!)
Some time ago, I had an extremely disagreeable experience with a Jewish client at work which substantiated almost every cliche (rude, endless haggling, hostility, spontaneous “favors” done only to put me into her debt, etc.). At the end of this nightmare I almost said to her “In 10 years time, when you’re asking yourself why people always have it in for your tribe, I want you to remember how you’ve treated me and the others in this office.” But that would have just extended the nightmare.
Jews can’t be blamed for the “humiliating” way in which people apologize after making a anti-semitic statement. And if someone is haggling you just ignore them and say no. ANd if someone doesn’t want to apologize they should just say no. Jews can’t be blamed if some people haven’t learned how to say the word no.
Let me clarify the “Slutwalk” comment: these women say they want to prevent rape, but they also want to behave in a “slutty” way without it increasing their risk of getting raped. In a like manner, someone like Miss Kroll wants to prevent anti-semitism, but she also wants to be free to behave in a “sheeny” way even if that pisses off a lot of people. I hope that makes a bit more sense.
People have a right to behave however they want. People also have a right not to give into peoples demands. If someone accommodates demands that they perceive to be unreasonable then that person should not blame the one making the demands. The blame is on the one who gives into the “unreasonable” demands. Giving into unreasonable demands is spineless. A spineless person should not blame others for the fact they are spineless.
SOJ-
That guy never said he gave in to her demands. He said she was a pain in the ass who played dirty tricks. If he had given in to her demands then, yes, he would have been responsible for giving in to her demands. Regardless, she’s still responsible for being an ass who plays dirty tricks. It’s simple logic, son. It just ain’t that hard.
He should just ignore the lady if she is being a nuisance. Just hang up the phone the second he hears her voice.
If I blamed the entire white race just because I’ve encountered some stupid white people I would be an anti-white bigot. In saying that I am not implying you support his position on jews I am simply making an observation.
Of course the lady is responsible for being a nuisance, I never said she wasn’t. My point was was the fact she was a nuisance is not the responsibility of the jews. Just as if a white gentile does something dumb that doesn’t reflect on me even though I am a white gentile too. Again to re-iterate I am not implying you support his position on jews. I am just mentioning this to elaborate on my position.
SOJ
“He should just ignore the lady if she is being a nuisance. Just hang up the phone the second he hears her voice.”
It sounds like that’s pretty much what he did. Except for hanging up. I wouldn’t recommend that.
“If I blamed the entire white race just because I’ve encountered some stupid white people I would be an anti-white bigot.”
He never said anyone should ‘blame the entire jewish race’ for what she did.
“In saying that I am not implying you support his position on jews I am simply making an observation.”
What exactly was his position — that someone behaving badly reflects poorly on their respective group? Yeah, I think most people would agree that it does whether they think it should~ or not.
“My point was was the fact she was a nuisance is not the responsibility of the jews.”
No, it’s not the responsibility of “the jews” but she certainly wasn’t doing jews any favors, now, was she?
“Just as if a white gentile does something dumb that doesn’t reflect on me even though I am a white gentile too.”
Sure it does.
The blame is on the one who gives into the “unreasonable” demands. Giving into unreasonable demands is spineless. A spineless person should not blame others for the fact they are spineless.
Agreed.
Whites worldwide really just need to start growing a pair and fighting back. That alone would result in massive changes.
I think the resentment against Jews is partly because many are “assimilated,” yet obviously different. People want neighbors who are like them. I’m starting to feel that way about Chinese-Americans, who are like white Americans in some ways and not like us in other ways.
I only started finding the Chinese annoying when they started becoming more numerous and politically and culturally influential in California. Before that, I liked them.
So, regardless of what some Jews have done, that’s not the real issue. The real issue is that Jews are obviously different, even though we live with non-Jews and are very visible because of our slightly higher achievements, on average.
Jews are at fault for not realising this, and insisting on living everywhere instead of being Zionists and Ashkenazi Nationalists. The latter two identifications are the only ones that are based on truth. Anyone who thinks they’re “assimilated,” and tries to prevent the majority from having some resentment about having strangers living with them, is in denial.
Of course I’m an assimilated Jewish-American, but that’s only because our Zionist forebears screwed up and didn’t create a state in a safer area.
“Of course I’m an assimilated Jewish-American, but that’s only because our Zionist forebears screwed up and didn’t create a state in a safer area.”
Right on!
How do you feel about the Ickes Plan?
It should have been done, because Jews would have taken responsibility for their ethnicity and given up on reforming everyone else, but OTOH, by the end of WWII, it was already too late to prevent the holocaust. If the early zionists had gone to Uganda or anywhere else but Palestine, the holocaust wouldn’t have happened, because emigration from Europe would have been easier without British concerns about angering the local Arab population.
I know one of the main talking points of anti-zionists is that the US is supporting Israel and not supporting US interests. It’s more complicated than that. It seems to me, the net result of US policy is pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian. If not for American interference in Israel’s business, the Palestinians would have been reduced to abject surrender 30-odd years ago. The US has coddled the most anti-Israel elements in the world for my entire life, e.g. Suez Canal, etc.
So if, for the sake of fairness, pro-white Jews take up the “America first” talking points in this context, it’s not fairness so much as surrender. All things being equal, I’d prefer the US to have a strictly isolationist foreign policy, but what we have now is a pro-Arab policy, and this is why I have a good conscience about being rather stridently pro-Israel, and thinking the Israel lobby and the crazy Christian zionists can be my allies.
Latte Island
Have you heard of the Kimberly Plan to build a Jewish state in the mineral rich and sparsely populated Pilbara region of Western Australia? Then PM John Curtin rejected it because it would have brought an alien presence to Europe. I hope the Australians are kicking themselves now, not only for the obvious reasons, but also because the presence of a few million jews would have helped facilitate economic growth and attract tourists to a near deserted and overlooked region with high potential. We probably could have converted the few Aborgines that lived in the region. It wouldn’t work today, but would have worked as late as the early 20th century.
Paul Howes is inviting Israeli jews to settle in Pilbara, and build a desert city similar to Beer Sheva.
I knew Australia was one of the places the early zionists considered, I didn’t know about the Kimberley Plan, which was later and could have saved a lot of Jewish lives.
I just googled Paul Howes and Pilbara, and my impression is that he wants the desert city to be modeled on Beer Sheva, but for Australians…reasonably enough, I doubt Australians want a bunch of Israeli immigrants, especially with all the Muslims there.
Latte Island
You never know. Muslims might be its biggest supporters if it meant liberating Palestine. Ahmadinejad even suggested to resesttle Israeli jews in sparsely populated areas of Canada and of course his remarks caused a firestorm. I was hoping that influential anti zionist jews like George Tsuris and Kissinger would help with the establishment and down payment of Ozrael.
A few other Australians have offered Israelis land to settle, but they were not members of the government. I don’t think it would go over well. An American Muslim who invited Israeli Jews to settle in America was quickly branded as an antisemite, and I can understand why, though I did not like the language they used. I do believe Jewish nationalism is preferrable, but a Jewish state must be self sufficient, coexist peacefully with its neighbors, and not rely on the holocaust to define its collective identity. The jewish establishment has got to ascend from the rock beneath which it has been dwelling and recognize that the status quo is causing more long term damage to future generations of jews than any of their identified priorities.
That said, I do not want the Palestinians to get the upper hand and become the new jews, immune to criticism, and gain the untouchable status. I don’t want them to be rewarded for their bad behavior, and the only way we can accomplish this is to pull away as fast as we can, mute our own self proclaimed community leaders, and allow the muslims to make mules of themselves.
Latte Island
I gather you’re a young jew like myself (correct me if I’m wrong.) The jewish establishment is unleashing an unnecessary burden on younger jews, and we’ll ultimately have to pay the price. I won’t deny I am concerned about their behavior partly for my own interests.
In addition, the left also has a tendency to romanticize/deify the oppressed and whitewash their history of any wrongdoing. I feel that in addition to having to face backlash for the behavior of the Israeli lobby, we will haave to worship at the altar of the Palestinian for the rest of our lives.
GS Girl: no, I’m in my late 50s, also I identify as a zionist and don’t have a problem with the Israel Lobby, because, while they overstate their case, they’re doing a necessary job. This is similar to Evangelical Christian support to Israel in that, even though I think their reasons for supporting Israel are based on crackpot theology, and I don’t like their social conservative agenda, I accept their support because they and the Israel lobby are needed to protect Israel. History has put everyone in an awkward position, but since the pro-Palestinian side is lying about so much, it’s okay to make common cause with people who are a little weird.
Theoretically I have no problem with diaspora Jews supporting Israel, but they have to do it with their own money, and they can not advocate for their host countries to go to war. That is counterproductive and inevitably cause a backlash against Jews residing in that country and against Israel itself.
Oops, my reply went to the wrong place, here’s a duplicate:
I know one of the main talking points of anti-zionists is that the US is supporting Israel and not supporting US interests. It’s more complicated than that. It seems to me, the net result of US policy is pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian. If not for American interference in Israel’s business, the Palestinians would have been reduced to abject surrender 30-odd years ago. The US has coddled the most anti-Israel elements in the world for my entire life, e.g. Suez Canal, etc.
So if, for the sake of fairness, pro-white Jews take up the “America first” talking points in this context, it’s not fairness so much as surrender. All things being equal, I’d prefer the US to have a strictly isolationist foreign policy, but what we have now is a pro-Arab policy, and this is why I have a good conscience about being rather stridently pro-Israel, and thinking the Israel lobby and the crazy Christian zionists can be my allies.
I wouldn’t say the US foreign policy is “pro Arab,” though they have tried to keep Israel in line in the past. Palestinians do get more attention than their cause merits on an international stage. I am wary of the typical Arab complaints about the West. They will demand nothing short of your head on a platter. It’s absurd to say Palestinians are deprived of support, as they have the luxury of fitting the European colonial narrative, as well as having the entire muslim world at their beck and call.
I happen to agree that anti-semitism among white nationalists would greatly diminish if it didn’t appear to be largely jews being the ones promoting these destructive policies and populating orginizations like the SPLC and ADL.
That said its not all jews nor is it only jews promoting these policies.
Jews like jewamongyou do a great service to everyone.
If the white nationalists who are anti-jewish held white gentiles to the same standard they hold jews then they would be anti-white bigots. The amount of white gentiles involved in promoting anti-white policies and the eagerness with which they do it is staggering. Some might try to make the excuse that these white gentiles were misled however that excuse is not valid.
White people are not little six year old children who have no responsibility for their actions. White people have as much personal responsibility for their actions as any other race.
I have seen white nationalists criticize blacks for not taking personal responsibility however I don’t see many white nationalists claiming personal responsibility for what they do and I don’t see them recognizing the white race’s responsibility for being in its situation.
I guess maybe not all white nationalists are anti-jewish though. The movement is so disorganized though its really hard to get a grasp on what is going on with that scene.
80% of the comments on AmRen and 95% on Stormfront are from guys with nothing better to do than bitch about their lives and fault minorities for it.
I think what most WN’s want is a factory job like their dad got out of HS that paid middle-class wages for low-IQ work.
This is not to imply that the people who RUN AmRen don’t have their heads in the right place, but I wish they would do more to appeal to a higher class of reader (like JAY).
The question brought up has an obvious answer. Amy Chua’s first book, “World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability” (2003), explores the ethnic conflict caused in many societies by disproportionate economic and political influence of “market dominant minorities” and the resulting resentment in the less affluent majority. Throughout history, rich people have exploited poor people. In the U.S.A. the big government liberals who use government to enrich themselves and import Latinos and other poor people are exploiting the “market non-dominant majority” (and soon to be minority). Amy Chua answers the question.
I meant to write “… exploiting the market non-dominant majority …” in the preceding post. At one time, Turks hated Armenians just as much as Central Europeans ever hated Jews, and so on. When you’re poor, you naturally look for any scapegoats you can.
All this talk and the original question remains unanswered. Why would drunken celebrities in particular lash out against Jews?
I don’t think it has anything to do with the SPLC.
Patrick
If Professional Jews and other influential Jews always speak in terms of their Jewishness, and use it to justify their behavior and positions, opponents will always associate that behavior or position as a “Jewish position.
That does not justify their opponents attributing the positions they have to their jewishness though. The ethnic based rhetoric those people are using should be looked past and people should realize that even though people like Abe Foxman are using ethnic based rhetoric that their opinions don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of everyone in the jewish community.
It doesn’t justify it but it does serve as an explanation. I think the Jewish Establishment is too political for its own good, and is behaving in a self destructive manner, and exploiting the rest of the Jewish population. I am interested in Hinduism too, and I wish Lindsay would stop trashing it.
It is definitely something to be aware of but it just doesn’t seem to be very productive to try to place blame. I guess placing blame on either side isn’t productive. So maybe the best way forward is to look at anti-semitism and just try to explain that it is a mistaken way of perceiving the situation. Maybe its not productive to blame the anti-semites or certain jewish organizations for anti-semitism. I guess maybe its just a situation where an alternative worldview needs to be presented to give people an option of having another way of looking at things.
The Jewish establishment is causing more problems for an undeserving younger generation of Jews. Damn right Abe Foxman represents his own interests only; if he had the interest of all jews at heart, he would quit his job.
I do not deny that not all jews are perfect angels, but here is what i do not get about anti semitic, and paricularly white racialist anti semitic logic.
Why is it that if a Jew does something bad, the white nationalist says that it is because he is a jew and it is in his genes to be evil and anti white. But when a white person does something bad, it is not attributed to his whiteness, but rather because he is a “liberal” or “race traitor” or even a “shabbos goy”.
I just think that if it is considered ok to blame all jews for the actions of a few, then it is ok to blame all whites for the actions of a few. so lets start blaming all whites for the actions of people such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, executives at Tyco, Executives at Enron, Martha Stewart, etc..
an example of this would be the immigration act of 1965. They love to blame jews for it, and thus blame jews for starting America’s path to non-whiteness. Now of course I do not deny that many jewish organizations supported the law, and lobbied for it, however, as far as i know, it was a white congress that voted for the bill, and a white president who signed it into law.