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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 3, 2023

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Yes, Jews have been dealt with as a persecuted minority for a very long time. Of course the people who hate Jews don't say they are persecuting them for reasons of religious and ethnic prejudice, they say it's because they're a "threat."

Yes, now who should we believe?

The 1000 companies that fired the employee or the 1 employee that keeps claiming that all these companies are biased against him? What should the HR dept do?

It's sheer coincidence that hundreds of different peoples across time and space all coordinated to inexplicably hold this abhorrent hate for such a fine, distinguished people.

This is a tired argument but this was in reply to your remark:

If that were actually happening, they'd be noticed and stopped.

Historically, problematic behavior from a small ethnic group has been noticed and stopped many, many times.

Whether you agree or disagree that the perception of a 'problematic' behavior was accurate or that the behavior was ethically 'problematic', I think we can both agree on that.

Now regarding your 'Chinese robbers' claim, the idea is that highlighting a certain demographic and random event can distort the perception of that demographic.

I agree.

But perhaps we can have data on that?

There was quite a bit of kvetching over this delightfully-titled piece 'The Specifically Jewy Perviness of Harvey Weinstein'.

I'm not going to go through all of them, but I'll assume that like this one, they do not provide any rebuttal that Weinstein is a specifically Jewish-type of pervert, or that Jews are more likely to be perverts than non-Jews.

I do believe that Jews are over-represented in the demographic of 'powerful people that commit sex/or and financial crimes'.

But I don't have data. I don't have data that would show me that it's only because they're over-represented in the demographic of powerful people,

or if on top of being over-powerful, they are also over-perverted.

If somebody had that kind of data to dispute my assumptions, that'd be great!

The Trump-era Jewish [sex] scandals seem to have faded from the news, perhaps due to the Biden family's own affairs making the topic inappropriate to bring up for journalists, compared to the earlier appetite for salacious rumors of the 'dossier' etc.

It's sheer coincidence that hundreds of different peoples across time and space all coordinated to inexplicably hold this abhorrent hate for such a fine, distinguished people.

No, it's not sheer coincidence. Prejudices can be passed down for centuries, and prejudices that are mindlessly passed on like that are usually not rational. Why do you think the Korean woman I mentioned hated Jews? Do you think she'd ever met a Jew? Do you think Jews are undermining Korean culture?

Your alternate hypothesis appears to be "Everyone has always hated Jews because they deserve it." So what did Jews from Exodus to 13th century England do to deserve being hated? It certainly wasn't manufacturing media you dislike. If I understand your argument correctly, it's something like, Jews are - biologically? or culturally? - compelled to undermine and attack whatever culture they are living in. It's just a thing Jews do. All of them (modulo a rounding error of "Not All Jews"). That's why everyone from the Babylonians to King John to the Nazis wanted to get rid of them. There exist, ahem, more historically grounded explanations, but you reject them for the more gratifying justification "No, they were asking for it."

Why do you think the Korean woman I mentioned hated Jews? Do you think she'd ever met a Jew? Do you think Jews are undermining Korean culture?

It's possible that she would have known due to local events.

I'm not too familiar with Korea or Korean antisemitism.

I know of one family active in the East that may have generated some antisemitism in China

the Sassoon family that was involved in the Opium trade which had a huge historical impact.

Like an older, oriental version of our very own Sackler family.

You can tell me whether she met a Jew and whether you think Jews are undermining Korean culture.

If American culture is undermining Korean culture, then I could see somebody blame some Jews for that.

I'm not too familiar with Korea so I couldn't tell.

Your alternate hypothesis appears to be "Everyone has always hated Jews because they deserve it." So what did Jews from Exodus to 13th century England do to deserve being hated?

According to the Scriptures, one man from God's favorite Jewish family went to Egypt and quickly rose in power.

God placed him in such circumstances and gave him such good advice that he was able to save Egypt and his Jewish brethren from a famine.

Then Pharaoh may have gotten jealous, due to that man's rapid rise to power and control of the kingdom's resources (grain supply that God had advised him to store leading to a monopoly during the years-long famine).

For some reason Pharaoh wanted to enslave the Jews and the Jews had to force him to let them go through various God interventions.

I don't know what the Egyptians themselves wrote about the episode.

For 13th century England, the story is a little bit more familiar, and already explained in the link I posted

What happened was that, if landowners could not pay their debts to the Jews, they forfeited the property they had put up as collateral. As Jews could not own land, this then reverted to their master, the king, who systematically built up his holdings. It meant that the Jews were accidental agents in a substantial land transfer to the king, and in increasing his powers nationally.

Basically the Jews were helping the {federal} government) increase its power at the detriment of the locals.

Concentrating the power in the hands of a minority. They didn't have a Wall Street to Occupy back then, but the story is similar throughout history.

Today we can see Jewish advocacy groups push for federal hate crime laws or federal gun laws, or EU-level anti-homophobia, pro-refugee laws, etc.

It's just a thing Jews do. All of them (modulo a rounding error of "Not All Jews").

Well, I already explained why I think there was a selection.

The insider who knows that pitchforks might be coming is more likely to have an exit plan ready, and thus survive and transmit his cunningness to living people today.

I don't know what the ratio is, or can be.

I think that there are some key players, let's say an Epstein or a Wexner or a Soros, the owners of Disney, media companies, porn companies...

But around that there are some other more minor key players, the Marx, the feminist, holocaust and critical theory writers...

And then there are foot-soldiers within the media, within these NGOs or within the bureaucratic machines, that make all of it come together.

It only takes something like <5% of the African-American population to be seriously dangerous to get the 13-60 murder figure, so I don't know what proportions of American Jews it takes to create the JQ.

A lot of them are already dead, too, they just keep living in the brain of impressionable goyim.

the Nazis

I have some ideas about that one.

Weimar Republic perversions.

Economic crisis blamed on Jewish activities (true or false?). Jewish communist revolutionaries.

Jewish transgenderism researchers

There exist, ahem, more historically grounded explanations, but you reject them for the more gratifying justification "No, they were asking for it."

What does 'historically grounded' mean? The past is a foreign country, and history is written by the victors.

Team Jew has been trampling on the carcass of the West for a while, so I'm a little bit skeptical of their production.

Plus lately I've grown more and more suspicious of experts in general.

Not a good argument, but I think some can see it as fair if they've been around a Western government in the last few years.

It's possible that she would have known due to local events.

Nah, man. If there were any Jews within 50 miles, it was maybe one or two English teachers. I hardly think they were sneakily conspiring against the Asian goyim.

According to the Scriptures

The Scriptures give reasons for genociding all sorts of people. If you want to go with "We should hate the Jews because the Bible tells us to," well, that is a position some denominations may still take, but I don't see why anyone else should find it convincing.

Basically the Jews were helping the {federal} government) increase its power at the detriment of the locals.

Funny, then, how it was the kings who owed them money who were the ones who instituted the expulsions.

They were hated because some of them were rich, and they lent money, and nobody likes having to pay their debts.

You have a lot of just-so stories here which seem like ad hoc justifications for "I just don't like Jews."

Funny, then, how it was the kings who owed them money who were the ones who instituted the expulsions.

They were hated because some of them were rich, and they lent money, and nobody likes having to pay their debts.

Yes, and that is still a thing. There are a lot of people in the Democrat constituency who are calling for student loan debt to be forgiven.

If somebody plays a roleplaying game with rewards after quests, with a choice each time between gold or reputation (gained by giving away the gold to the needy). And they consistently pick the gold over the reputation.

What is their reputation going to be like?

Perhaps the Jews of England in the 13th century did not have any choice, and really had to do money-lending.

Is that true? Or was there no choice that they liked?

Would a Jew be able to convert and own land, integrate into the farming community? Would that have saved them from expulsion?

What about now? 2023 America? What is stopping a young American Jew from joining the US military or buying a plot of land to farm?

Who is forcing them to go to Ivy League, get into the money-lending industry or the media / entertainment / porn industry?

You have a lot of just-so stories here which seem like ad hoc justifications for "I just don't like Jews."

You haven't provided any explanation on your end. We are just to believe that millions of people through history had the same irrational behavior and beliefs for no reason.

Who would make the best decision, prejudiced backwater Korean woman, 13th century English peasant, or expert rationalist EA investor when offered to invest in FTX?

Yes, and that is still a thing. There are a lot of people in the Democrat constituency who are calling for student loan debt to be forgiven.

Your last few posts have been rather extreme reaches to connect "Thing I don't like" with "Other thing I don't like."

If somebody plays a roleplaying game with rewards after quests, with a choice each time between gold or reputation (gained by giving away the gold to the needy). And they consistently pick the gold over the reputation.

Are we still talking about Jews here? What is your basis for claiming that Jews, as a people, "consistently pick gold over reputation"?

Perhaps the Jews of England in the 13th century did not have any choice, and really had to do money-lending.

I don't think anyone claims there were literally no other occupations for medieval Jews, as obviously not every Jew was a money-lender. But it was one of very few high-paying professions open to them. What is your point here? We know historically why moneylenders were not popular, but are you claiming that banking/lending is inherently disreputable, that anyone who takes that up as a profession deserves an occasional purging, and that Jews have a propensity for it because of their Jewishness?

Do you see how in your rather shotgun approach to "Why hating Jews is rational," you are completely failing to present any kind of coherency?

What about now? 2023 America? What is stopping a young American Jew from joining the US military or buying a plot of land to farm?

Nothing. There are Jews in the military, and I'm sure there are Jewish farmers. Since you again seem to be implying something about what occupations Jews go into, why don't you give me some facts about what professions Jews are or are not disproportionately engaged in, and then explain your theory of its significance.

Who is forcing them to go to Ivy League, get into the money-lending industry or the media / entertainment / porn industry?

Nothing. What's wrong with going to the Ivy League, or wanting to go into finance or media and entertainment? Do you consider it disreputable for non-Jews to do that? ("Porn" seems to be something you inserted just because it implies exceptional degeneracy, though I'm not aware of porn being a particularly "Jewish" industry.)

You haven't provided any explanation on your end.

What am I supposed to be explaining? You are the one presenting the thesis ("Jews are grubby and dishonorable and deserve what they get"), which means you are the one with the burden of justifying your claims. I'm challenging them, and I've explained why your claims are largely specious.

We are just to believe that millions of people through history had the same irrational behavior and beliefs for no reason.

Europeans have had a prejudice against Jews for centuries for reasons of ethnic and religious prejudice, of the sort that are common in every society throughout history.

It's not complicated, and if you want to claim that no, it's actually because Jews are in fact wicked child-stealing, well-poisoning, money-grubbing parasites, you need to provide some evidence. "Well, obviously people didn't just hate them for no reason" is not an explanation.

What is your basis for claiming that Jews, as a people, "consistently pick gold over reputation"?

Individual Jews have historically chosen to be money-lenders which is a profession, like tax-collector, that people do not like members of. So much so that the Jewish money-lender became a stereotype.

I don't know how many money-lenders in a given group you need for that group to be associated with greedy money-lending, maybe only 1 in 100 or 1 in a 1000, but that is definitely what happened.

Given these 2 facts, one would expect individuals to want to steer clear from a negative stereotype.

why don't you give me some facts about what professions Jews are or are not disproportionately engaged in, and then explain your theory of its significance.

Regarding the military, it seems that

they make up less than 1%,which is under-represented.

It's an issue considering how enthusiastic individual Jews can be for American soldiers to be engaged in various foreign lands.

though I'm not aware of porn being a particularly "Jewish" industry.

Here's a source.

Some of the biggest porn websites are owned by Jews, for example Mindgeek.

why don't you give me some facts about what professions Jews are or are not disproportionately engaged in, and then explain your theory of its significance.

Individual Jews appear to be prominently represented in high-profile financial crimes.

For example in the news recently, Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX), Charlie Janice (Frank) or Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos).

Interestingly, Bankman-Fried was the #2 individual donor to the Democrat party (after Soros, also an individual Jewish financier), while Janice's scheme was to bring (fake) student loan debtor information to JPM.

Part of the Democrats' platform was to use the power of the government (remember the Magna Carta, explicitly written to protect the people from individual Jews influencing government), to meddle in the way student loans were repaid.

Do some individual Jews support Democrats to steer their student loan policies toward regulations they will personally profit from financially?

What's wrong with going to the Ivy League, or wanting to go into finance or media and entertainment? Do you consider it disreputable for non-Jews to do that?

Yes, somewhat. While it is not necessarily dishonorable to work in finance, it is most certainly one of the levers of the power of the powers-that-be which I consider to be profoundly immoral. Same for media, and entertainment as well.

If the people in charge shared my ethics then I would not necessarily see it as immoral (then again, the industry would look much different).

Europeans have had a prejudice against Jews for centuries for reasons of ethnic and religious prejudice, of the sort that are common in every society throughout history.

And Middle-Easterners and some over people across the planet.

Basically anybody who has at some point in history interacted with them.

It's not complicated, and if you want to claim that no, it's actually because Jews are in fact wicked child-stealing, well-poisoning, money-grubbing parasites, you need to provide some evidence. "Well, obviously people didn't just hate them for no reason" is not an explanation.

You already conceded that people don't like owing money to people, so money-lending is a profession that tends to carry a bad reputation.

What other explanation do you need?

There's also the war-mongering, the exploitation of government power for one's own personal goals...

The issue is that when a very distinctive individual from a minority becomes incredibly infamous due to spectacular ignominy, all of the other individuals who share traits in common with that individual, work in the same industry, have similar business practices, come under heightened scrutiny.

I don't know how many spectacularly nefarious individuals it takes for that minority to catch a durable bad reputation.

If exposure to the harm that these very special individuals commit has catastrophic consequences, then it might be worth it [rational] to shun the whole group, even if minor benefits are lost from the 'good ones' in the process.

Antisemitism can be a rational heuristic if enough individual Jews commit enough harm.

Individual Jews have historically chosen to be money-lenders which is a profession, like tax-collector, that people do not like members of. So much so that the Jewish money-lender became a stereotype.

Stereotypes are not always based on rational observations of what most members of a group do. If a few Jews become famous for being moneylenders (and there were relatively few Jews in medieval England), then it's very easy to see how "Jewish moneylenders" became a stereotype.

"Most moneylenders were Jewish" does not imply "Most Jews were moneylenders," nor does it come close to imply, as you do, that there is something inherent to the Jewish character that makes them seek money above other things.

Given these 2 facts, one would expect individuals to want to steer clear from a negative stereotype.

Why? You think Jews in a position to become rich in the only avenue available to them would have said "Hmm, better not do that, people might think even less of Jews than they do now?"

Really, your entire post is a bunch of anecdotes and ad hoc reasoning, strung together to justify "Why I don't like Jews."

Chinese cardiology.

Antisemitism can be a rational heuristic if enough individual Jews commit enough harm.

I assume you'd also say this heuristic is reasonable to apply to, say, white people, Europeans, Christians, etc.?

Stereotypes are not always based on rational observations of what most members of a group do.

That was not my claim.

My claim was :

I don't know how many money-lenders in a given group you need for that group to be associated with greedy money-lending, maybe only 1 in 100 or 1 in a 1000, but that is definitely what happened.

nor does it come close to imply, as you do, that there is something inherent to the Jewish character that makes them seek money above other things.

Choosing to become a money-lender does indicate something about the character of an individual, that they choose wealth over reputation.

For example Sam Bankman-Fried chose wealth / power over reputation.

You think Jews in a position to become rich in the only avenue available to them would have said "Hmm, better not do that, people might think even less of Jews than they do now?"

They could have. Or simply 'being wealthy is not worth having a whole village/town hate me and my family'.

It's a choice that individuals have made in history. The ones that were spectacularly successful with that strategy (avoided the pitchforks) ended up migrating all over the world it turns out, and now they are in charge of the Western world's media and academia and telling me that I shouldn't dislike them for being money-lenders.

That's the thing with greed, it gives you power.

There are no fat people that got so fat that they managed to take over society and tell everyone else : 'you're not allowed to tell me to go on a diet!'

And if you tell me, but not all Jews are money-lenders.

That's true. But the people that claim to speak on behalf of groups of or all Jews (the ADL, the World Jewish Congress, etc) never disavow money-lenders.

If you don't want me to believe that most if not all Jews support greedy money-lenders who push for open-border propaganda, feminism (contraception, anti-family policies, promiscuity) etc, then show me these groups of Jews who disavow them!

I assume you'd also say this heuristic is reasonable to apply to, say, white people, Europeans, Christians, etc.?

Very much so. If a Japanese woman told me that she stays away from white Americans due to the crime rate of American servicemen, I would understand.