January 19 2008

Some years ago, I happened to see a television documentary titled Western Civilization And The Jews. The program left me with two lasting impressions.

The first thing I realized was that Western Culture owes the Jewish People a debt of gratitude for contributions that are out of proportion to their numbers. Jesus, Spinoza, Freud and Marx are just a few of the Jewish thinkers who cannot be ignored during any serious discussion of Western thought.  Whether one agrees with the ideas of these men or not, there is no denying that they shook up preconceived notions and forced the world to take a fresh look at life.  There have also been multitudes of Jewish novelists, musicians, artists, scientists and doctors who have made significant contributions to society.

The second thing I realized after seeing this documentary was that the persecution of Jews has followed a predictable pattern throughout history.

For a century or so, a country had relatively enlightened rulers. Jews and other "foreigners" were welcome. Because of the free exchange of ideas, science and the arts flourished.

After a while, the government became so corrupt or incompetent that the lives of the ordinary people became desperate and the populace was on the brink of revolt. Terrified of being overthrown, the king would look around for somebody to blame for the situation he had created.  Aha!  The Jews, of course. They looked a little different. They had their own religion, language and culture. They weren't like everybody else.  It was easy to convince the people that everything that was wrong in the land was due to some sinister Jewish plot.  Jews were killed or driven out, along with anyone else who was too different.  Society became closed and fearful. The arts and sciences stagnated.

Decades later, more intelligent rulers came to power.  Jews were welcomed back and the whole cycle repeated itself.  It was as predictable as the changing of the seasons.

Today, Jews are too wealthy and established in North America to be easily scapegoated, but we still need bogeymen, so we have found new "Jews" who are behind everything evil.  They're Muslims, especially Arab Muslims.  The bias in the media is obvious.  Since the completely unjustified American invasion of Iraq, about a million Iraqis have died violently, most of them unarmed civilians, including young children.  Still, the Americans are portrayed as the liberators and the Iraqis fighting to get their country back are the terrorists.  None of that justifies the suicide bombings or other acts of violence committed by the Iraqis, but the media coverage has hardly been even handed.

When those fanatics flew their planes into The World Trade Center, it was an act of "Islamic terrorism".  When Timothy McVeigh blew up a building in Oklahoma City, he belonged to an evangelical Christian group, but we heard nothing about "Christian terrorism".

Some day, we'll tire of Arab or Muslim villians and look for another group to demonize.  Because Western nations are nervous about the rise of China, the Chinese will be likely suspects.  After all, they look different from us Caucasians.  They have their own language and culture.  What more proof do you need that they're planning something horrible?

George

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