People Love Helpless Jews (to paraphrase a book title, People Love Dead Jews) - Jews that fight back, not so much

[jbg]

A while ago I read People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn. The book's premise is that dead Jews, i.e. Holocaust victims (Anne Frank in particular) and other similar people are a lot more popular than actual, identifiable living Jews. The author writes a lengthy chapter on a righteous Gentile, Darian Fry, The gist of that appears to be that Darian Fry was not well liked as an actual person and got little glory. What the author did tell us about him was that aside from his year engaging in rescue he was extremely unhappy and not easy to get along with.

I paraphrase the title of People Love Dead Jews to People Love Helpless Jews. During the 1950's and the first half of the 1960's Israel and the Jews were media and liberal political darlings. Jewish songs used for hora dancing were popularized by popular singers such as Arlo Guthrie.

[youtube]12FmPyEqXvc[/youtube]

That changed rather suddenly after the 1967 War. Israel, blockaded by Egypt at the key port of Eilat, struck preemptively. The U.S., torn apart by Vietnam, was no help. Britain and France, their 1956 allies, had switched sides. Fast forward to today, where Jews are basically unwelcome on college campuses. People loved us when we were down and almost out. They wept copious tears for the Holocaust. However, in another context, as the companion song to We Are the World says, Tears Are Not Enough, by Northern Light.

[youtube]-ZLClmhSkGs[/youtube]

This theme is also well in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead.

 

[Colt]

A while ago I read People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn. The book's premise is that dead Jews, i.e. Holocaust victims (Anne Frank in particular) and other similar people are a lot more popular than actual, identifiable living Jews. The author writes a lengthy chapter on a righteous Gentile, Darian Fry, The gist of that appears to be that Darian Fry was not well liked as an actual person and got little glory. What the author did tell us about him was that aside from his year engaging in rescue he was extremely unhappy and not easy to get along with.

I paraphrase the title of People Love Dead Jews to People Love Helpless Jews. During the 1950's and the first half of the 1960's Israel and the Jews were media and liberal political darlings. Jewish songs used for hora dancing were popularized by popular singers such as Arlo Guthrie.

[youtube]12FmPyEqXvc[/youtube]

That changed rather suddenly after the 1967 War. Israel, blockaded by Egypt at the key port of Eilat, struck preemptively. The U.S., torn apart by Vietnam, was no help. Britain and France, their 1956 allies, had switched sides. Fast forward to today, where Jews are basically unwelcome on college campuses. People loved us when we were down and almost out. They wept copious tears for the Holocaust. However, in another context, as the companion song to We Are the World says, Tears Are Not Enough, by Northern Light.

[youtube]-ZLClmhSkGs[/youtube]

This theme is also well in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead.

David Fieldman, director of the institute for the study of antisemitism said, "People who dislike Jews rarely dislike only Jews."

 

[Kathryn]

Hey, I was born in 1962 and I thought the Israelis in 1967 were pretty ******. Oh well.

 

[rocala]

The book's premise is that dead Jews, i.e. Holocaust victims (Anne Frank in particular) and other similar people are a lot more popular than actual, identifiable living Jews.

I find this very hard to believe. I can imagine that victims of the holocaust would elicit great sympathy but that is something different. In my life I have never come across anything like the authors premise.

 

[PureX]

Playing the perpetual victim just gets really old after a while. Eventually no one wants to hear it, anymore. And especially so when they are no longer victims, but just as capable of victimizing others as everyone else is.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I find this very hard to believe. I can imagine that victims of the holocaust would elicit great sympathy but that is something different. In my life I have never come across anything like the authors premise.

It is true that later generations not associated with past horrors tend to be less affected in the future as they themselves had not experienced the same nightmare as their ancestors had.

It's why I think these things repeat throughout history.

 

[rocala]

Playing the perpetual victim just gets really old after a while. Eventually no one wants to hear it, anymore. And especially so when they are no longer victims,

Yes it can. It can lead to rather strange situations.

Back in the 70's I worked in Israel for a little while. One day I was going somewhere and I stopped a man to ask directions. He pointed down the road and said "go to the museum, do you know the museum?" Yes I knew the museum. "Well" he said quite angrily "that museum used to be a British Army barracks. Your people used to hang our people in there." They did not hang enough I tactfully replied. He then continued giving me directions and we parted without further ado. Only in Israel.

 

[Colt]

 

[libre]

Humanity definitely does have a martyr complex, I don't think it's unique to Jewish people.

 

[libre]

They did not hang enough I tactfully replied.

I have trouble understanding how that sentiment is 'tactful' in any sense.

 

[rocala]

I have trouble understanding how that sentiment is 'tactful' in any sense.

Short Answer -

sarcasm /sär′kăz″əm/

noun​

1. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.
2. A form of wit characterized by the use of such remarks.
   "detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice."
3. A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest.

Long Answer -
There were quite a few of us foreign volunteers there. All from WWII allied or occupied countries. We all had family connections with what the Nazis did and the suffering they caused. My step-father joined up aged 16 and unto his death would wake up screaming about some unspeakable experience that he could not mention. I lived in Lohamei Hageta'ot. That place was started by camp survivers and incredibly brave resistance people. We revered them and I for one spent much time at their excellent museum. I became very friendly with the curator.

Yet we were getting so many lectures and comments from people born long after the troubles in Europe. I have had people moaning to me about the Romans for god's sake. Where I worked, one woman refused to even speak to me because I was European or gentile or some other racist crap. We were all getting very sick of it. None of it was from survivors, they were always wonderful, friendly people.

So when this man starts talking about the barracks I know, that the barracks was a place where troops at war with Nazi Germany were attacked by certain Jewish groups, Irgun and Lehi. Yes Palestine had its problems but for them to attack their allies was unforgivable in my eyes.

It was a bit of banter between two blokes who were not going to take any crap. That is why he helped me and we parted amiably.

Sorry if my working-class youthful style was not refined enough for you, but as @PureX wisely said "playing the perpetual victim gets really old after a while.

 

[AsianActivist]

David Fieldman, director of the institute for the study of antisemitism said, "People who dislike Jews rarely dislike only Jews."

This. As a minority living in the United States, I feel strongly that the Jewish struggle for survival, self-determination, and human rights is very much similar to my own.

 

[Revoltingest]

This. As a minority living in the United States, I feel strongly that the Jewish struggle for survival, self-determination, and human rights is very much similar to my own.

Easier struggle to survive than it is for Palestinians.

 

[Nakosis]

A while ago I read People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn. The book's premise is that dead Jews, i.e. Holocaust victims (Anne Frank in particular) and other similar people are a lot more popular than actual, identifiable living Jews. The author writes a lengthy chapter on a righteous Gentile, Darian Fry, The gist of that appears to be that Darian Fry was not well liked as an actual person and got little glory. What the author did tell us about him was that aside from his year engaging in rescue he was extremely unhappy and not easy to get along with.

I paraphrase the title of People Love Dead Jews to People Love Helpless Jews. During the 1950's and the first half of the 1960's Israel and the Jews were media and liberal political darlings. Jewish songs used for hora dancing were popularized by popular singers such as Arlo Guthrie.

[youtube]12FmPyEqXvc[/youtube]

That changed rather suddenly after the 1967 War. Israel, blockaded by Egypt at the key port of Eilat, struck preemptively. The U.S., torn apart by Vietnam, was no help. Britain and France, their 1956 allies, had switched sides. Fast forward to today, where Jews are basically unwelcome on college campuses. People loved us when we were down and almost out. They wept copious tears for the Holocaust. However, in another context, as the companion song to We Are the World says, Tears Are Not Enough, by Northern Light.

[youtube]-ZLClmhSkGs[/youtube]

This theme is also well in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead.

People tend to feel compassion for the underdog. If you are winning, i.e. defeating your enemies, not so much. If you want support, better to be seen as a victim. Some kind of evolutionary trait, I suspect. So people can't help themselves.

 

[Colt]

This. As a minority living in the United States, I feel strongly that the Jewish struggle for survival, self-determination, and human rights is very much similar to my own.

Yes! I've always admired Asians for their work ethic, intelligence and strong family commitments. Great American citizens!

 

[AsianActivist]

Yes! I've always admired Asians for their work ethic, intelligence and strong family commitments. Great American citizens!

Actually, there are tons of east asians who are lazy, dumb, and have horrible family situations. I am fully against depicting east asians as some sort of "model minority" as it really is a covert form of racism esp. against other minorities.

Yes there are dumb asians after all 1.5 billion Asians are living under the evil genocidal CCP and even if 1% of them supported them it would mean 15 million dumb asians lol.

 

[LuisDantas]

Being 55 now, I have seen feelings about world politics change considerably.

Back in the 1970s there seemed to be more hope of a lasting peace. The 1990s were quite a lot more casual towards continued conflict, although I believe there was a bit of wishful thinking that it would be an "unfortunate requirement" so that that elusive lasting peace could be achieved. 9/11 seems to have renewed willingness for endless conflict on pretty much everyone.

If you ask me (or even if you do not), we are all terribly unfortunate that so many of the world's people are Christians and Muslim and therefore taught from an early age to accept all kinds of absurds as long as there is someone around telling them that it is "god's will". Far too many people end up conforming to that nonsense.

The Jewish People, for good and worse, are largely defined by their adherence to long-lasting traditions and their unwillingness to be absorbed into other cultures. That both made them endure and ensures that they will always be perceived as some sort of outsiders, and therefore convenient vessels for mistrust. That is a dangerous state of things when the reek of nationalism rises anew, as has been happening in recent decades.

 

[Stevicus]

A while ago I read People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn. The book's premise is that dead Jews, i.e. Holocaust victims (Anne Frank in particular) and other similar people are a lot more popular than actual, identifiable living Jews. The author writes a lengthy chapter on a righteous Gentile, Darian Fry, The gist of that appears to be that Darian Fry was not well liked as an actual person and got little glory. What the author did tell us about him was that aside from his year engaging in rescue he was extremely unhappy and not easy to get along with.

I paraphrase the title of People Love Dead Jews to People Love Helpless Jews. During the 1950's and the first half of the 1960's Israel and the Jews were media and liberal political darlings. Jewish songs used for hora dancing were popularized by popular singers such as Arlo Guthrie.

[youtube]12FmPyEqXvc[/youtube]

That changed rather suddenly after the 1967 War. Israel, blockaded by Egypt at the key port of Eilat, struck preemptively. The U.S., torn apart by Vietnam, was no help. Britain and France, their 1956 allies, had switched sides. Fast forward to today, where Jews are basically unwelcome on college campuses. People loved us when we were down and almost out. They wept copious tears for the Holocaust. However, in another context, as the companion song to We Are the World says, Tears Are Not Enough, by Northern Light.

[youtube]-ZLClmhSkGs[/youtube]

This theme is also well in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead.

I don't think Israel was ever really thought of as "helpless," but for most of my life, the point was driven home in America that they really did need our help. They were surrounded and outnumbered, but they were also tough and often portrayed as scrappy underdogs. I'll never forget Charles Bronson in the TV-movie "Raid on Entebbe." Imagery like that kind of forged my early impressions of Israel, although I recognize now that they were contrived, TV images designed to influence public opinion.

But for the most part, I've been able to separate Americans living here in America from their counterparts or ancestral forebears in the "old country." However, that would sometimes vary from individual to individual. I can understand why some people are guarded against it, considering our history.

Sometimes, our government's relationships with other countries can impact the lives of people from those countries who happen to be living in the United States. This is where it gets a bit dicey, although ideally, innocent people should not be attacked or vilified just because some people might associate them with someone or something that is bad. But there is unfortunate history of things like that happening, such as the internment of Japanese Americans during WW2. Or even after 9/11, there was a rise in attacks on Muslims and Arab-Americans.

One particularly notorious incident was when someone here in Arizona attacked a Sikh guy wearing a turban - because he thought he was an Arab and wanted to get revenge over 9/11. This is the kind of dim-witted, addle-headed mentality which is all too common in this country - and it seems to be getting worse.

One thing that does seem apparent from all of this is that academia might not be quite so insulated as they would like to be. The right-wing has put a good deal of focus on school boards and education in general, with quite a push against what they call "CRT" and "woke" politics. And with the college campuses kicking up into disorder, they can present them in an even more unfavorable light in the eyes of the people. While some people compare this to the protests of the 1960s, keep in mind that Nixon won in '68 and '72 - not exactly a victory for the left. The public wanted a tough, law-and-order President to restore order.

 

[metis]

The Jewish People, for good and worse, are largely defined by their adherence to long-lasting traditions and their unwillingness to be absorbed into other cultures. That both made them endure and ensures that they will always be perceived as some sort of outsiders, and therefore convenient vessels for mistrust. That is a dangerous state of things when the reek of nationalism rises anew, as has been happening in recent decades.

Actually, the vast majority of Jews are secular and have mixed in quite well in countries whereas Jews are not persecuted.

 

[metis]

Playing the perpetual victim just gets really old after a while. Eventually no one wants to hear it, anymore. And especially so when they are no longer victims, but just as capable of victimizing others as everyone else is.

Who says Jews are not victims?