A wicked proposition
I have been thinking about this for some time but have not mentioned it before because almost any mention of race and ethnicity is prone to being misunderstood, if not actively demonized. Yet what I want to say is, I think, commonsense and is certainly well-meant. Yes. I know about the road to hell.
What have Indians, Chinese and Jews got in common? High IQs maybe but there is something more important that a knowledge of history would tell you: All three have been heavily persecuted in lands where they have been minorities -- the Chinese in S.E. Asia, the Indians in East Africa and the Jews we all know about.
Sadly, I have to say that I think that is human nature. We can struggle against it and we might even change the minds of educated people but I think the average Joe in any society does not like to think that his society is run by those he perceives as aliens. That doesn't mean I condone what Indonesia did to the Chinese or Uganda did to the Indians any more than I condone what Hitler did. But do note that the Jews in prewar Germany occupied a space in Germany not dissimilar to the space that Jews occupy in America today: At the top of most heaps.
Jews in America today seem perfectly safe but Jews in Germany once seemed that way too. The Prussian parliament announced the emancipation of the Jews as early as 1812 and Frederick the Great welcomed them when just about no-one else would. As a result the German Jews of the 1930s were the most assimilated Jews in the world. It did them no good.
Why did it do them no good? It did them no good because Hitler tapped into precisely the sentiment I mentioned: resentment of dominance by an ethnically distinctive elite. Hitler waxed eloquent about Jewish dominance of banking, commerce, science and industry and there were plenty of examples for him to point at. And there was little objection to that among non-Jewish Germans.
So what should Jews learn from that? I think that they should learn that they are not as safe as they think. The antisemitic comments I get on my blogs (DESPITE the Israeli flag I have flying on them all) are both frequent and virulent and the antisemitic cadre formed by Muslim-Americans is well known.
And the ever-encroaching socialism promoted by the Democrats has already long ago halted any growth in the average incomes of Americans -- despite great technological and scientific improvements. And the Obama-induced Great Recession seems finally to have put America into economic reverse-gear. Even a Romney/Ryan victory would seem to have only a slim chance of reversing the huge debt overhang that Obama has bequeathed to America -- so an outright economic collapse via Weimar-style inflation seems all too possible. And amid an economic collapse the people at the head of most parts of "the system" could be very exposed. Politicians will certainly prioritize saving their own skins above all else and pointing the finger at people other than themselves is totally predictable.
Let us suppose (for instance) that Romney/Ryan is defeated this year and an (overdue) inflationary thunderclap befalls America shortly thereafter. What is Obama going to say as the 2014 mid-terms approach? The dislike of Jews among African-Americans is well-known and Obama is an African-American politician who has no problem with race-hate (embodied in his pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright). And even among white Democrats there is a barely-suppressed stream of antisemitism that occasionally breaks the surface. So if Obama pointed to Jewish bankers as the culprit for America's woes he would have almost every prominent African-American and Muslim-American on his side immediately. And the media will swallow anything that Obama says. And it's all downhill along a well-trodden path from there.
Republicans might object (as some did in response to FDR's imprisonment of Japanese Americans in WWII) but the well-oiled and media-enabled Leftist abuse machine would soon drown that out.
Are there any steps that Jews can take right now that will help them in the future? I think there is one. I will be blunt about it: Jews occupying prominent positions in American life should make aliyah. Israel needs their money and talents and they need Israel.
Friday, August 17, 2012
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3 comments:
I think there's a lot true in the above article. Let's see if I can add a few things. Most of the phenomena mentioned become especially true during times of negative social mood (characterized by recessions, depressions, falling stock markets (it's called the mood meter for a reason)). During such times, there seems to be something in human nature that equates difference with danger, and that reminds me of the story from Esther about the Persian king basically hating the Jews because they were different and acted differently. That agrees quite well with the proposition that the average Joe does not like the idea that his society is run by those he perceives as aliens or those not like him. During times of positive social mood, the average Joe feels pretty good, doesn't want to rock the boat and take a chance on changing what he perceives as working, and is in a tolerant mood. (For an example, just think of Clinton's notorious sexual infidelity being forgiven and tolerated during the Roaring Nineties, and contrast that with Anthony Weiner's sexual perversion chasing him from office in 2011, during the still-unfolding depression.)
I am also reminded of several predictions made by Robert Prechter, President of Elliott Wave International, which he made for in October 2003 for the still-unfolding bear market in the U.S. Some of the more relevant predictions, particularly #69:
22. Social groups, including economic, political, religious, genders and classes, will polarize and splinter further. That is, they will polarize both internally and with respect to opposing groups.
24. Religion will become increasingly popular. Its advocates will become increasingly passionate. Religious intolerance will increase.
57. Race relations will become strained and violent.
59. Mob violence will break out more often than it did from 1982 to 2000.
60. Mass demonstrations, expressing anger with some social situation, will occur.
63. Hedonism will flourish. Pornography will become more bizarre. These trends will meet with social and political backlash, as mainstream behavior will simultaneously become more conservative.
69. Anti-gay, racist and xenophobic entities will organize and openly pursue their agendas.
88. Areas of cities will become dangerous places in which street gangs “rule” some neighborhoods.
92. Gangsters, pirates and other outlaws will become popular folk heroes.
93. Entertainment media will feature fewer heroes and more anti-heroes.
101. Terrible secret activities that we could not even imagine will take place, some to be revealed only years or decades later.
Alternative possibility: Defend the right to keep and bear arms. I don't think there has ever been an "ethnic cleansing" in an area that recognized that right.
On the other hand, a U.S. demagogue has too many minority groups to deal with to be able to concentrate on just one.
It looks like Robert Prechter predicted the 1970s a generation late.
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