Antiquities of the Jews - they are my siblings, why aren't they yours?
Jake Farr-Wharton 4 comments
I had a profound experience when I visited Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany late last year. I went through a similar rollercoaster at Anne Frank's Haus in Amsterdam.
As part of the German educational curriculum, all German kids are taken to an internment/concentration camp in an effort to help them connect with their history. There were several children's (mid teens) excursions at the camp while we visited and in the main, I was disgusted by the behaviour of the teens.
I watched as one kid walked up to the glass encased 'uniform' that the victims were made to wear, gained the attention of his friends, then simulated shooting the inanimate uniform. I shouted at them, already in a daze, and they moved on, laughing nervously.
Having just published my first book, I'm elbow deep in book two, a compendium of irrational beliefs, and the cretinous morons who hold them. One of the chapters is dedicated to a well known holocaust denier - a propagandist who spreads the flame of intolerance, lighting fires as he goes.
It certainly doesn't help that the pope refers to Catholics as being as badly persecuted as the Jews. It certainly doesn't help that the underclasses of every society in the world find it easier to regurgitate propaganda than to hold a researched opinion for themselves.
The Jews are among the most poorly treated individuals in history, and they are guilty of little more than wanting to be themselves, maintain their own traditions, their own beliefs and their own lives. Christians and Muslims yearn to spread their morally repugnant religion, Jews do not, and never have.
Personally, anti-Semitism does not make any sense to me.
With that said, this does not excuse the defence of this ridiculous notion of a ‘holy land’. Israel has committed war crimes in the recent past and does not deserve the ‘backing’ of the USA for their ‘sanctioned’ and ‘legal’ attacks on Palestinian flotillas, or the occupation of seized territory. But this is neither the fault, nor the responsibility of anyone outside of the Israeli government and no Jew should bare the brunt of this.
How could the holocaust happen? Furthermore, how can such anti-Semitism persist in countries and times that embrace multiculturalism?
Irrespective of religion, colour or culture, we are human. Despite our borders and the ferocity and vehemence of belief in actual difference, there are none; we are all human.
Borders, gods, cultures and lands are artificial, fake and irresponsible. They insert a meaning into differences, a meaning that is inherently bad because it is inherently different.
If you feel that you are any different to the Jews, I strongly suggest you look at your genome. You are the same. If they are any different, then so are you.
Jake Farr-Wharton
Wednesday 2nd February 2011 | 04:55 PM...in response to this comment by Rodney. Thanks Rodney, the book is doing really well (despite only being available electronically at the moment).
Here's the thing, I am anti-Zionist. Israel exists, Palestine exists; continuing, and perpetuating a war which is as much based on ideology as land 'ownership'.
I abhor the sanctions, they perpetuate the fallacy of 'us and them'.
The people who live there are entitled to the land, not because it was supposedly divinely handed to them, but because... where the hell else are they going to go?
In every culture studied, it is a lack of access to education (usually determined by socioeconomic status) which determines the rate of religiosity and criminality, so Israel would do well to open the gates, send in the teachers and welcome them to the Middle East. Obviously, nothing is as simple as this, however, at some point, Israel is going to have to acknowledge that they gain nothing by continuing this war, and they will eventually begin to lose allies.
That said, this is an opinion, nothing more, nothing less.
I'd be interested to hear your opinion though, Rodney, as I'm sure you'd have more insight into the issue that I.
I intend to visit Israel next year, so I hope that they'll let me in!
Jake Farr-Wharton
Wednesday 2nd February 2011 | 05:10 PMI sure am.
Rodney
Wednesday 2nd February 2011 | 04:25 PMWow, you wrote a book? That's really cool. I will have to check it out.
I have never been to any of the camps to see first hand what they were like, however I remember my first visit to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum in Israel) and to say I found it hard work is putting it mildly. I remember when I was near the end of walking through it, I was not even looking at the exhibits any more because I knew if I read another word or saw another picture, I'd break down in public (and being an Aussie male, that would never do!). So I went to the toilets at the exit, went into a stall and cried like I've never cried in my life.
I don't think cultures and societies having differences is a bad thing. We all need to belong to groups and the groups need to be unique and small enough to have meaning. What we do need, however, is to accept those differences or at least simply not care about them. Of course, there are times when cultural differences are going to be so significant that two cultures will not be able to get along on a particular issue - but that does not mean the two cultures cannot get along in general. It also should be a non-issue where the cultural differences are superficial and don't cause harm to anyone.
As you say, we're all human. No group of people are inherently evil or inherently good. The notion that Jews are genetically evil is unfortunately a very Christian notion that has managed to spill its way into every other segment of society. Only a complete moron would believe it but there's apparently several hundred million morons in the world.
I also can understand that many people may be "anti-Zionist", however I'm yet to meet one. Every anti-Zionist I've ever had the pleasure of conversing with has proven themselves to be anti-Semitic after only a few words. Jews are the only nation / people who are denied a homeland in their eyes and you'll have to excuse me if I am of the belief that, given the way all the other nations have treated the Jews, that I need to know there's a place that safe for Jews to go; where they're not at the mercy of a host government, who can turn overnight.