What Anti-Semitism Really Means[W:110]

[sangha]

I really think this is a small chunk of a larger picture(which is not to downplay what you linked at all, having religion be a factor in qualification for student office is just not right, as one example from your article). We as a country seem to be spending far too much of our time splitting yourself into separate groups, by religion, by race, by ideology, by gender, by orientation. If you belong to a group that is not my group, then you are other, and bad. And I think that makes us much weaker as a nation than we could be. We no longer seem to be trying for common ground, but instead to draw lines in the sand, divides that must not be crossed. It is no one group that does this, but seemingly all groups, and I don't have any idea how we can stop it.

In order to stop it, one must first understand it and you've failed on that

You are wrong to say all groups do this. All groups have members that do this but that doesn't mean that the group itself does it. Your claim that "all groups" do this is an example of the very problem you speak of - stereotyping an entire group based on the actions of some of its' members

 

[mbig]

Re: What Anti-Semitism Really Means

Having skimmed through this topic, I'll try to get over the bad taste it left in my mouth and hopefully engage in a meaningful discussion.

Judaism is either a religion or an ethnicity, Not Both. Since there's a consensus that it's a religion, with conversions, scriptures, and rituals, it can't be an ethnicity, even if the religion originated in some ethnic group in the olden days. Thus, it's meaningless to say Jesus was a Jew, just like it's meaningless to say Muhammad was a Pagan.....

Bolded, the whopping premise error of your post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews

The Jews (..), also known as the Jewish people, are an Ethnoreligious group[12] originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East.[13][14] Jewish ethnicity, nationhood and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation,[15][16][17] while its observance varies from strict observance to complete nonobservance......​

Jews, in overwhelming majority, can be identified genetically, as there has been little conversion to the religion over the centuries and what conversion there has been is mostly for marriage into Judaism.
http://www.debatepolitics.com/middle-east/48221-2-jews-arent-real-jews.html
Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes

Though the current intermarriage rate of non-Orthodox Jews in America is over 60%.
It is becoming more muddied and will change the character of the religion (at least in America) over the next few decades.
And the persecution of Jews in the last century (and many more) was more Racial than scriptural.

It is also almost certainly wrong to claim Jesus wasn't a Jew by Both ethnicity and religion.
JESUS THE JEW

The rest - your discussion/highly opinionated comments on Israel-Palestine - is Not allowed outside the M-E section.

 

[Gaztopian]

Re: What Anti-Semitism Really Means

Bolded, the whopping premise error of your post.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews

The Jews (..), also known as the Jewish people, are an Ethnoreligious group[12] originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East.[13][14] Jewish ethnicity, nationhood and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation,[15][16][17] while its observance varies from strict observance to complete nonobservance......​

Jews, in overwhelming majority, can be identified genetically, as there has been little conversion to the religion over the centuries and what conversion there has been is mostly for marriage into Judaism.
http://www.debatepolitics.com/middle-east/48221-2-jews-arent-real-jews.html
Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes

Though the current intermarriage rate of non-Orthodox Jews in America is over 60%.
It is becoming more muddied and will change the character of the religion (at least in America) over the next few decades.
And the persecution of Jews in the last century (and many more) was more Racial than scriptural.

It is also almost certainly wrong to claim Jesus wasn't a Jew by Both ethnicity and religion.
JESUS THE JEW

The rest - your discussion/highly opinionated comments on Israel-Palestine - is Not allowed outside the M-E section.

So the Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Falash Mura, and Indian Jews are one ethnic group? the lengths to which some would go to claim Jewish purity and, its corollary, supremacy are absurd indeed.

Judaism is a religion just like any other religion: it originated in some people, the Israelites, and spread elsewhere thereafter. No one can convert into an ethnicity; everyone can convert into a religion.

 

[mbig]

Re: What Anti-Semitism Really Means

So the Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Falash Mura, and Indian Jews are one ethnic group? the lengths to which some would go to claim Jewish purity and, its corollary, supremacy are absurd indeed.....

You mean "some people" like Wikipedia, and PNAS/Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences?
On the other side we have um... you.
And speaking of Racial purity, and as I said, the persecution of Jews has been mainly Racial. ie, Hitler killed 'Half' Jews, 1/4 Jews, etc.

Your 'reply' to my well documented post/refutation was pathetic and disingenuous/FAILED.
You also FAILED/Whiffed on the Jesus/Jew matter.

And of course, your take is very humorous to Nonreligious me, a Jew And an Atheist.

 

[X Factor]

Re: What Anti-Semitism Really Means

Having skimmed through this topic, I'll try to get over the bad taste it left in my mouth and hopefully engage in a meaningful discussion.

Judaism is either a religion or an ethnicity, not both. Since there's a consensus that it's a religion, with conversions, scriptures, and rituals, it can't be an ethnicity, even if the religion originated in some ethnic group in the olden days. Thus, it's meaningless to say Jesus was a Jew, just like it's meaningless to say Muhammad was a Pagan.

As for antisemitism, only institutionalized discrimination is legitimate, for people will always have their prejudices against others. Unless someone can cite a regime that singles out Jews for maltreatment, or a place where only Jews are victimized, antisemitism remains a vestige of the past. In fact, the evidence affirms the reverse. With the recognition of its most partisan allies, Israel occupies another people and continues to deny them liberty and dignity. It brutalizes them and divest them of their humanity. And as Israel insists that it's the Jewish State and the greatest benefactor of the Jewish People, and as the world either turns a blind eye or subsidizes its occupation, the Jewish People must be the darling of the free world to be entitled to such impunity and unconditional camaraderie.

A word on Sharansky's 3Ds and the asininity of relating them to antisemitism. By occupying another people and denying them the right to self-determination, Israel delegitimizes itself. An occupation cannot be moral or humanitarian; it has no choice but to oppress the occupied to maintain order and achieve the occupation's ends. Therefore, Israel demonizes itself. Considering the unwavering support Israel receives from countries that vaunt their values of liberty and their moral superiority, Israel is indeed subjected to double standards when these countries choose to throw away everything they claim to stand for and shower Israel with their largesse despite it being a country guilty of a great moral offense.

Though I don't blame Sharansky or anyone else hiding behind antisemitism. When you have a world that's willing to be played like a fiddle, you do right by playing it like a fiddle. Here we are, dutifully concerned with the sensibilities of a people, when those very same people continue to perpetuate the decades-old ruin of another people.

So when were you planning to engage in "meaningful discussion"? Anti-Semitism denial. That's new.

 

[X Factor]

Re: What Anti-Semitism Really Means

I was talking specifically about the poster here that thinks Judaism is an ethnicity and not a religion.

Where did you get all that from what I posted?

It did seem a little antagonistic but I also think that's fully understandable given what's been said in this thread about Jews.