[WikiEN-l] WHO IS ANTI-SEMITIC?

I can't discuss this on Wikipedia. I didn't want Martin and Angela to keep harassing me...and they refused to stop doing so. Yet when I did to them what they did to me, I was banned, and they were allowed to do whatever they wanted. That' fair...if you are mentally unbalanced. Or if you just hate Jews. WHO IS ANTI-SEMITIC? Few in post-war America have ventured anti-Semitic remarks in public. Generalizations, however, can be made on the basis of certain factors: educational level, income, age, race, religion, place of birth, and geographical location. Those holding anti-Semitic beliefs tend to hold other prejudiced, intolerant, or undemocratic views in general. They are most widespread among the uneducated and poorer members of American society. Education is a key variable. The least educated score highest in anti-Semitic attitudes, except for blacks. Decline in negative images of Jews, as well as in general intolerance, can be correlated in the last two decades with the higher level of education of the community. More knowledge of minorities, possession of cognitive skills to think rationally, and understanding of the virtues of tolerance and civil rights have meant less negative images of Jews. Anti-Semitism is highest in the working class and lowest among professionals and the middle class. Anti-Semitism is higher among Protestants than among Catholics. About 80% of Southern Baptists and 70% of Missouri Synod Lutherans agree that Jews remain unforgiven for the death of Christ. Religion has been a powerful reinforcement of anti-Semitic views; 45% of all American anti-Semites get their anti-Semitic ideas from religious indoctrination or from some religious influence. The number of prejudiced among fundamentalists is some 7% greater than among non-fundamentalists. Older people tend to be more anti-Semitic than younger individuals. This might be explained by lower educational level, by the fact that anti-Semitism was more prevalent when the older people were themselves young, and by the possibility that the aging process might have led to greater feelings of insecurity and intolerance. Foreign-born Americans in general, partly because they tend to be older and less well educated than the average, hold stronger anti-Semitic views than the native born. Rural residents, especially in the South and Midwest, tend to be more anti-Semitic than urban residents. There appears to be little difference in beliefs between the sexes. The greater degree of anti-Semitism among blacks than among the white population is disenchanting for those with memories of Jewish sympathy for the plight of blacks, and of actions, even at cost of life, to remedy that plight. Jews have always been more concerned about the state of blacks than have members of other religions, and given disproportionate support and financial aid to civil rights organizations. Black prejudice, often inherited from the Christian fundamentalism imbibed in youth, essentially stemmed from disparaging economic stereotypes of Jews as money-grubbers, callous storekeepers and landlords, uncaring employers of black domestics, and as individuals who would use their economic power to degrade blacks. Moderate black leaders, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., praised "the contribution that Jewish people have made toward the Negro's struggle for freedom." They acknowledged the Jewish help and alliance in black organizations and in the campaigns in the South with their freedom riders and voter registration teams. However, from the 1960s on, the alliance had become strained. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), formed in 1960 with Jewish help, within a decade, under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael, began attacking "the Rothschilds" as well as "Zionist Jewish terrorists." Malcolm X denounced Jews as part of the white exploitative majority and wrote, "I don't care what a Jew is professionally, doctor, merchant, housewife, student or whatever�first, he or she thinks Jew," and talked of "Jews who sapped the very lifeblood of blacks." The extremist Black Panthers, the Black Muslims, believing in a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, and some black intellectuals were vocal in anti-Jewish sentiment. All recent polls and surveys, as well as other empirical evidence, show that black anti-Semitism is considerably higher than that of whites at every educational level. Two-fifths of blacks, compared with one out of five whites, can be characterized as having high or moderate anti-Semitic beliefs. Looking at the surveys of black anti-Semitism, five features seem significant. The first is that it has increased relative to that of whites. Secondly, black anti-Semitism is higher in the urban North than in the more rural South. Thirdly, it is manifested more on economic than on other issues. Those blacks who had economic dealings with or who perceived economic mistreatment by Jews record a higher level of anti-Semitism than those who do not. Blacks remain more opposed than do whites to political anti-Semitism and to social discrimination, but negative beliefs on some noneconomic matters, especially on Israel, have also increased. Fourthly, blacks who have personal contact with Jews, mostly in a subordinate role, are likely to be more anti-Semitic than those who do not, the reverse of the relationship between adult whites and Jews. Most significant, it is younger blacks and the better educated who exhibit the strongest negative attitudes. This may be the consequence of the competition with or envy of Jews by aspiring black professionals. The anti-Semitic level of elite black leaders is about double that of blacks as a whole. Assertions of black consciousness and power from the 1960s, greater racial pride and solidarity, meant rejection of white, primarily Jewish, control of black organizations. For many black leaders, the politics of integration changed to the politics of confrontation. That confrontation has taken the form of disputes over political goals and the exercise of power. But also the dismissal in 1979 of Andrew Young as American ambassador to the United Nations for meeting with a PLO official, the abusiveness of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's remarks about Judaism as a "gutter religion" and his declared admiration for Hitler, the references to New York City as "Hymietown" by presidential candidate Jesse Jackson in 1984, the injection of Black-Jewish animosity into the 1988 Democratic party primary in New York, have all inflamed passions on both sides. Blacks hold about 10% less favorable attitudes to Israel than do whites. Jews and blacks have strongly differed on questions of open enrollment in New York City colleges and, above all, on the issues of quotas for employment. Yet, the old black-Jewish liberal coalition, with its mutual support for electoral office and for policies favoring integrated schools, civil rights, and vitality of urban areas on the one hand, and issues significant to Jews, especially the security of Israel on the other, has not broken down. Besides a few radical left groups, most contemporary vitriolic anti-Semitism stems from a wide diversity of extremist right-wing hate groups, small in size, essentially anti-democratic and estranged from political and social reality, Identity Church groups and neo-Nazi organizations, living with the memories of Adolf Hitler, and limited to between 400 and 450 members, and the various, small Ku Klux Klan bodies. Some of these groups have engaged not only in hate rhetoric against minorities and racist ideology, but also in crimes, from synagogue bombings to armed robbery and murder, and fanciful conspiracies to overthrow the U.S. government. These groups, whose members are often disaffected and frustrated, share overlapping beliefs: hostility to government which is seen as illegitimate; enmity toward Jews and non-whites; attacks on Jewish interests supposedly controlling government, finance, and the media; and purported Christian concepts by which white Protestants are seen as the "chosen people." The better known of the hate groups are the Aryan Nations, the Christian Defense League, the Posse Commitatus, the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, and the Christian-Patriots Defense League. Probably the most aggressive of the non-religious hate groups are the "skinheads," gangs of shaven-headed youths who glorify violence, and have been responsible for an increasing number of assaults as well as anti-Semitic bigotry. The Liberty Lobby, the most active and the best financed anti-Semitic organization in the country, describes itself as "a pressure group for patriotism," and maintains close connections with a number of members of Congress. Its weekly newspaper, The Spotlight, started in 1975 and now, with a circulation of about a quarter of a million, is the most widely read right-wing extremist paper in the country. Among its favorite targets are Zionism, and people defined euphemistically as "dual loyalists" or "international bankers." The Institute for Historical Review was created in 1979. Its chief concern has been to deny or minimize the reality of the Holocaust and explore Jewish "atrocity propaganda" through a number of books and materials with anti-Semitic themes and by annual conventions. Extreme groups in the U.S. have remained small and outside the political mainstream. In recent years their membership appears to have declined even further. American politics embodies and public opinion coheres around a consensus of political moderation in which anti-Semitic beliefs are not respectable. The country, with certain qualifications, exhibits a lower level of overt prejudice and bigotry than ever before in racial and religious matters. Jews as a group are no longer blamed, except by a zany fringe element, for the nation's problems or condemned for not being truly American. Indeed, in the working of the American political system today, Jews both as political activists and participants, and as elected and appointed officials have played a prominent role. Yet, the portrait of anti-Semitism is a composite of conflicting traits. If most churches no longer insist on Jewish responsibility for the Crucifixion, those of an orthodox or particularist persuasion are inclined to do so. An appreciable minority, between one-fifth and one-quarter, still believe Jews have too much power. Some remain obsessed by Jewish domination of the media and banking. Two other major problems remain. Black anti-Semitism, stemming from religious teachings and economic stereotypes, exacerbated by the politics of confrontation and, to a lesser degree, a rise in adherence to Islam, is a troubling issue. The issue of Israel, support for its policies, aid for its security, and Jewish relations with the state has not yet led to an increase in anti-Semitism. But about a quarter of non-Jews are highly unfavorable to Israel, and young people are more likely to be so than are older people. Appropriate anxiety should be shown for the rhetoric and the potential for violence of those extreme groups which have anti-Semitism high on their agenda, though their membership is small and declining. But that anxiety should not be excessive. Even admitting a significant minority of the population can be regarded as having anti-Semitic attitudes, Jews have not been made scapegoats for economic or social problems. What is finally important is that the existing anti-Semitic beliefs have not led to an organized movement with any serious support for violence against Jews. [M.Curt.] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com