That is correct. Professor Eve Garrard of Manchester University that we cite above, as well as her earlier article on the “Pleasures of Antisemitism" in Fathom Journal (free) has major segments on Jew-hatred, including on David Nirenberg’s anti-Judaism thesis that I alluded to in the last paragraph. Thanks for your comment.
How is it that Friend's horrid family history ignores recent horrid Palestinian history? This article on bias has bias built in. "...a one-sided narrative that portrays Palestinians as victims of Israeli criminality that downplays Hamas’ barbarism." One side does mere "criminality," while the other gets "barbarism."
Whole hapless families get crushed under the buildings brought down while chasing alleged Hamas fighters. Would Netanyahu similarly crush a building full of Jews to chase an alleged Hamas fighter? If not, how is this not wholesale racist slaughter? Forty times the atrocity of Oct. 7th doesn't fix the harm. It multiplies it. It's just more innocent victims having group identities viciously and indiscriminately inflicted on them. Netanyahu is generating the antisemitism that will last for generations.
Don't dare protest his crushing a city to occupy it later. Don't object to Israeli settlers forcefully seizing prime land. Don't object to snipers shooting journalists, pregnant women, and even children. To do so risks defunding universities or deporting students. To do so risks the ire of Jews who act like such protest or objections are worse than slaughter itself.
I've liked the Jews I've met through UU circles. Most of them were secular or of the Serwin Wine or Zalman Schachter sort. Most were more humanistic or humanitarian than overtly Jewish. While I haven't followed the UUA/AIW mailings (I'm classically conditioned away from things UUA for reasons David Cycleback rightly articulates), I value Jewish Voices for Peace. Protecting Jews by accusing antisemitism will only increase it. More Jewish persons, rabbis, and temples should object to the Netanyahu/Trump agenda to instead deliberately respect and protect Palestinians and Israelis both,
"This article on bias has bias built in. "...a one-sided narrative that portrays Palestinians as victims of Israeli criminality that downplays Hamas’ barbarism."
You leave out a critical few words in your quote of my response to a question ; "UUA/AIW presents a…."
I was not asked to assess the sufferings on both sides. It was a response to the UUA/AIW 2024 statement.
On another point you write:
"I've liked the Jews I've met through UU circles. Most of them were secular or of the Serwin [sic] Wine or Zalman Schachter sort. Most were more humanistic or humanitarian than overtly Jewish."
Are you saying that Jews whose Judaism ("overtly Jewish") you don’t like, presumably the majority , are less humanitarian?
I did not come up in the midst of this mess, as you have. I remember in high school finding out we could tease Steve Golden for being Jewish, so we called him "the Jew." When I later learned how hurtful that might have been to him and his family, I tried to contact him to apologize.
I later came to know little bits of reasons for Jewish pride and defensiveness. I met those who valued their immersion in Jewish togetherness (called a mitzvah?). I learned the hyper horror of the Holocaust, when Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Polish people, and liberals were systematically used and murdered. I started noticing lots of movie producers and singers were Jewish, and I liked such movies and music. Jewish humor appeals to me. Intelligent argumentation as core in Bar and Bat Mitzvahs is wise.
I knew even less about Palestinians. Rescuing Jews and providing protected space in their traditional homeland seemed just and generous, but the pushing aside of the Palestinians to do that led to cycles of resentment, reaction, and domination to control such responses. Old mutual racist resentment and accusations seem the plight of both these Semitic peoples. They aren't the only neighbors in the world that constantly contend. In all such cases, it's a sad and stubborn problem.
I share the world's disgust at the hideous violence by Hamas. It fits right in with the ongoing sense of victimization that Jewish people have traditionally inherited and resented. Have there ever been any reasons for such antisemitism, or has it always been blind hatred for no reason? Why would Palestinians dare object to being treated as "less than" their dominating neighbors? Pathetic stone throwing and indiscriminate rockets injure Jewish persons, having nothing to do with the historic tensions. But so does the systematic high-tech destruction of Gaza injure and kill them in return. Both sides suffer unjust racist revenge, only recently, some forty times more innocent, hapless Palestinians killed than Jewish ones. Are they forty times less worthy?
Does Israel have the "right to defend" itself? Yes. Do Palestinians have a similar right? Yes again, but they don't have the allies and weaponry. If they could retaliate, sending missiles to bring down whole schools and hospitals to get at Jewish leaders or soldiers, would that similarly qualify as self-defense? Such "attacking with defensiveness" could ruin all worlds. Much is made of Iran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon. Not much is made of Israel's hundreds of them, coupled with a willingness to retaliate to any attack with wholesale annihilation of identity groups.
My own country engaged in such unethical defense/revenge in Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. We showed their armies our will to kill civilians en masse. Nor is this unique. Genghis Khan had his version. There are Bible stories of killing all the civilians and their animals. Would the destruction, emptying, and rebuilding of Gaza (as Trump and Netanyahu seem to toy with) qualify as a new round of "God on our side" zealot self-righteousness? What sort of a world do we model and perpetuate?
From my uninvolved, barely aware perspective, I see hardly any Jews objecting to the historic and current Palestinian plight. I see and value JVP and J Street exceptions to this (I don't follow the UUA/AIW efforts) and occasional references to Jewish students joining in the increasingly repressed Palestinian protests. But I don't know of rabbis and whole temples demonstrating their disagreement with Netanyahu's current militant, murderous Zionism. Almost all the Jews I have known were kind-hearted, humorous, musical, sexy, and fun. Ignoring and excusing the ongoing indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza because of even worse Nazi programs doesn't fit my experience of Jews.
Which is why I risk the ire of Jews and others to assert that Netanyahu is generating the antisemitism Jews will inherit and resent for generations. To not object to such an atrocity for fear of being accused of being anti-Semitic seems preemptively defensive and evasive. It's a sticky, prickly problem that trips up free speech with repression and expulsion rather than mutual understanding.
I don't accuse you of this, Robert. We're all stuck in this nagging trap of cycles of accusation and revenge, tit-for-tat, who-started-it? what-to-do? conundrum. My blundering ignorance might not help at all.
When I first learned of Leon Festinger's "theory of cognitive bias," now called bias theory, I saw it as our propensity to think we're right and collect evidence to prove it so. Buy a Chevy and you'll notice Chevy ads. Throw in the amygdala's tendency to remember harm and be wary, coupled with generalized group categories ("That blond lady jilted me; I resent blonds), slopifies our thinking. If injured, we tend to think in general terms, lumping evidence for or against our side. Riled emotions and hyperactive "get you/got you back" social patterns make empathy rarer and wisdom weakened.
I remember Rabbi Sherwin Wine saying the reason people resent Jews is that they're "ambitious." Fair enough. Would that that suffice. As is, both sides of the Semitic people are caught in a dehumanizing, difficult divide. Skillful leadership that respects and enhances the dignity of both is as needed as it is lacking.
Absolutely fascinating.
One thing left out of his discussion is simple Jew-hatred. More and more, the left seems unhinged about Jews.
That is correct. Professor Eve Garrard of Manchester University that we cite above, as well as her earlier article on the “Pleasures of Antisemitism" in Fathom Journal (free) has major segments on Jew-hatred, including on David Nirenberg’s anti-Judaism thesis that I alluded to in the last paragraph. Thanks for your comment.
How is it that Friend's horrid family history ignores recent horrid Palestinian history? This article on bias has bias built in. "...a one-sided narrative that portrays Palestinians as victims of Israeli criminality that downplays Hamas’ barbarism." One side does mere "criminality," while the other gets "barbarism."
Whole hapless families get crushed under the buildings brought down while chasing alleged Hamas fighters. Would Netanyahu similarly crush a building full of Jews to chase an alleged Hamas fighter? If not, how is this not wholesale racist slaughter? Forty times the atrocity of Oct. 7th doesn't fix the harm. It multiplies it. It's just more innocent victims having group identities viciously and indiscriminately inflicted on them. Netanyahu is generating the antisemitism that will last for generations.
Don't dare protest his crushing a city to occupy it later. Don't object to Israeli settlers forcefully seizing prime land. Don't object to snipers shooting journalists, pregnant women, and even children. To do so risks defunding universities or deporting students. To do so risks the ire of Jews who act like such protest or objections are worse than slaughter itself.
I've liked the Jews I've met through UU circles. Most of them were secular or of the Serwin Wine or Zalman Schachter sort. Most were more humanistic or humanitarian than overtly Jewish. While I haven't followed the UUA/AIW mailings (I'm classically conditioned away from things UUA for reasons David Cycleback rightly articulates), I value Jewish Voices for Peace. Protecting Jews by accusing antisemitism will only increase it. More Jewish persons, rabbis, and temples should object to the Netanyahu/Trump agenda to instead deliberately respect and protect Palestinians and Israelis both,
"This article on bias has bias built in. "...a one-sided narrative that portrays Palestinians as victims of Israeli criminality that downplays Hamas’ barbarism."
You leave out a critical few words in your quote of my response to a question ; "UUA/AIW presents a…."
I was not asked to assess the sufferings on both sides. It was a response to the UUA/AIW 2024 statement.
On another point you write:
"I've liked the Jews I've met through UU circles. Most of them were secular or of the Serwin [sic] Wine or Zalman Schachter sort. Most were more humanistic or humanitarian than overtly Jewish."
Are you saying that Jews whose Judaism ("overtly Jewish") you don’t like, presumably the majority , are less humanitarian?
Thanks for replying, Ronald.
I did not come up in the midst of this mess, as you have. I remember in high school finding out we could tease Steve Golden for being Jewish, so we called him "the Jew." When I later learned how hurtful that might have been to him and his family, I tried to contact him to apologize.
I later came to know little bits of reasons for Jewish pride and defensiveness. I met those who valued their immersion in Jewish togetherness (called a mitzvah?). I learned the hyper horror of the Holocaust, when Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Polish people, and liberals were systematically used and murdered. I started noticing lots of movie producers and singers were Jewish, and I liked such movies and music. Jewish humor appeals to me. Intelligent argumentation as core in Bar and Bat Mitzvahs is wise.
I knew even less about Palestinians. Rescuing Jews and providing protected space in their traditional homeland seemed just and generous, but the pushing aside of the Palestinians to do that led to cycles of resentment, reaction, and domination to control such responses. Old mutual racist resentment and accusations seem the plight of both these Semitic peoples. They aren't the only neighbors in the world that constantly contend. In all such cases, it's a sad and stubborn problem.
I share the world's disgust at the hideous violence by Hamas. It fits right in with the ongoing sense of victimization that Jewish people have traditionally inherited and resented. Have there ever been any reasons for such antisemitism, or has it always been blind hatred for no reason? Why would Palestinians dare object to being treated as "less than" their dominating neighbors? Pathetic stone throwing and indiscriminate rockets injure Jewish persons, having nothing to do with the historic tensions. But so does the systematic high-tech destruction of Gaza injure and kill them in return. Both sides suffer unjust racist revenge, only recently, some forty times more innocent, hapless Palestinians killed than Jewish ones. Are they forty times less worthy?
Does Israel have the "right to defend" itself? Yes. Do Palestinians have a similar right? Yes again, but they don't have the allies and weaponry. If they could retaliate, sending missiles to bring down whole schools and hospitals to get at Jewish leaders or soldiers, would that similarly qualify as self-defense? Such "attacking with defensiveness" could ruin all worlds. Much is made of Iran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon. Not much is made of Israel's hundreds of them, coupled with a willingness to retaliate to any attack with wholesale annihilation of identity groups.
My own country engaged in such unethical defense/revenge in Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. We showed their armies our will to kill civilians en masse. Nor is this unique. Genghis Khan had his version. There are Bible stories of killing all the civilians and their animals. Would the destruction, emptying, and rebuilding of Gaza (as Trump and Netanyahu seem to toy with) qualify as a new round of "God on our side" zealot self-righteousness? What sort of a world do we model and perpetuate?
From my uninvolved, barely aware perspective, I see hardly any Jews objecting to the historic and current Palestinian plight. I see and value JVP and J Street exceptions to this (I don't follow the UUA/AIW efforts) and occasional references to Jewish students joining in the increasingly repressed Palestinian protests. But I don't know of rabbis and whole temples demonstrating their disagreement with Netanyahu's current militant, murderous Zionism. Almost all the Jews I have known were kind-hearted, humorous, musical, sexy, and fun. Ignoring and excusing the ongoing indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza because of even worse Nazi programs doesn't fit my experience of Jews.
Which is why I risk the ire of Jews and others to assert that Netanyahu is generating the antisemitism Jews will inherit and resent for generations. To not object to such an atrocity for fear of being accused of being anti-Semitic seems preemptively defensive and evasive. It's a sticky, prickly problem that trips up free speech with repression and expulsion rather than mutual understanding.
I don't accuse you of this, Robert. We're all stuck in this nagging trap of cycles of accusation and revenge, tit-for-tat, who-started-it? what-to-do? conundrum. My blundering ignorance might not help at all.
When I first learned of Leon Festinger's "theory of cognitive bias," now called bias theory, I saw it as our propensity to think we're right and collect evidence to prove it so. Buy a Chevy and you'll notice Chevy ads. Throw in the amygdala's tendency to remember harm and be wary, coupled with generalized group categories ("That blond lady jilted me; I resent blonds), slopifies our thinking. If injured, we tend to think in general terms, lumping evidence for or against our side. Riled emotions and hyperactive "get you/got you back" social patterns make empathy rarer and wisdom weakened.
I remember Rabbi Sherwin Wine saying the reason people resent Jews is that they're "ambitious." Fair enough. Would that that suffice. As is, both sides of the Semitic people are caught in a dehumanizing, difficult divide. Skillful leadership that respects and enhances the dignity of both is as needed as it is lacking.