Historical Inertia, Projection and Ignorance Hobble Diaspora Jews

Submitted by Dave (United States), Jan 27, 2019 at 14:22

Many Jews living in western countries still have painful memories of Christian persecution, especially those from eastern Europe, and while their relatives in Israel have the same memories, Israelis must contend with Islamic jihadism, which is a more present danger. Diaspora Jews need to stop looking in the rear-view mirror and instead look ahead and see the positive changes in Christian attitudes, and also see the oncoming train of Islam.

In fairness, Jews have not had a country for two millenia, and were often persecuted by nationalists. Since Zionism is a form of nationalism meant to solve the problem of powerlessness, it's understandable that there would be some cognitive dissonance about Israel. Israelis, on the other hand, have had a first-hand lesson on the protective virtues of the nation state.

Israelis also have a much greater incentive to figure out Islam, a topic that diaspora Jews are often unfamiliar with, and are discouraged from viewing critically due to politically correct pressures in the media and educational institutions.

Finally, Jews, like everyone else, tend to project their own experiences onto others, and often view Muslims as the persecuted refugees that they were, incapable of dishing out their own style of vicious racism and intolerance. They need to turn off the TV, stop navel-gazing, and access sites like this one for accurate information.

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