Things to think about

Amen, @Paco Dennis. Don't know if you're familiar with this song, but it also gets to the heart of the matter.

Lives in the Balance by Jackson Browne

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear

You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend

But who are the ones that we call our friends?
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone

And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
(There are) and there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
We can't even say the names

They sell us the President, the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing, from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars

I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die

And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
(There are) and there is blood on the wire
 
The essential point that needs to be emphasized: the reason for anti-Jewish hatred and persecution has absolutely nothing to do with things Jewish men and women did, said or thought. Religious and racial persecution is not the fault of the victim but of the persecutor and antisemitism, like all prejudices, is inherently irrational. Framing history in a manner that places the reason for racial hatred with its victims is a technique frequently employed by racists to justify their hateful ideology.

The reasons why Jews specifically were persecuted, expelled, and discriminated against throughout mainly European history can vary greatly depending on time and place, but there are overarching historical factors that can help us understand the historical persecution of Jews - mainly that they often were the only minority available to scapegoat.
 
dusty said:
The essential point that needs to be emphasized: the reason for anti-Jewish hatred and persecution has absolutely nothing to do with things Jewish men and women did, said or thought. Religious and racial persecution is not the fault of the victim but of the persecutor and antisemitism, like all prejudices, is inherently irrational. Framing history in a manner that places the reason for racial hatred with its victims is a technique frequently employed by racists to justify their hateful ideology.

The reasons why Jews specifically were persecuted, expelled, and discriminated against throughout mainly European history can vary greatly depending on time and place, but there are overarching historical factors that can help us understand the historical persecution of Jews - mainly that they often were the only minority available to scapegoat.
Click to expand...
The full context of this article on why jewish people are persecuted can be found on Redditt if you search AskHistorians – why were jewish people persecuted all throughout history.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top