Sigmund, Carl and Alfred

Why is it that the demands made of the Jews and Christians are demands that they be ‘universal’ and generically ’spiritual’ before they be Jewish or Christian? Why is it that there are no demands Muslim populations that they put aside their Islamic beliefs in favor of ‘universalist’ and ’spiritual’ accommodations? Why is it there are higher expectations (a nice word for demands) made of Jews than others?

Maybe it is because the Jewish faith, exemplified by the State of israel, embraces the belief in the sanctity of man, no matter his station. The height of Jewish spiritual aspirations is reached by the Jewish everyman, not by prophets, priests or leaders. ‘And they shall beat their swords into plowshares‘ is a testimony that in the end, communities succeed not because of their leaders, but because of the values of the individuals. Similar values are found throughout the Asian communities, irrespective of social status and similar values can be found in many other immigrant groups. The parental and communal demand for education are insatiable and excellence in academic achievement are matters of community pride.

Still, there is something about the Jews. They are at once very familiar and at the same time, very different.

Some might attribute those differences to the uncanny ability of Jews to survive as a distinctly and fiercely proud community throughout a history of persecution, but that is of minimal import. All kinds of groups have survived all kinds of trials throughout history. The ability to survive bestows no special status on any group of people. Survival is what nature is all about. Neither man or animal is rewarded for survival- we might be congratulated perhaps, but no more than that.

What does bestow a special status on any given group of people is what they accomplish and achieve. This is as true of the ‘wretched Jews’ as it is of the ‘wretched refuse’ that built this nation.

Each of us are destined to spend our time on this earth making mistakes. That is the shared human destiny. It is true of individuals and it is also true of societies, cultures and religions.

What distinguishes success from failure is determined by the number and kind of mistakes that are made, the lessons learned from those mistakes and the contributions that are made for the greater good. The fewer mistakes made, the ability to learn from those mistakes and the commitment to elevate those around us are the universal hallmarks of success.

These are the values the Jews live by. Theirs is a culture of education, innovation, adaptation and service, not only for the singular glory of God, but even more importantly, for the elevation of man, so that he might reach the ever expanding potential that was endowed to him by God. This not simply a matter of religious expression- these values are cherished by Jews irrespective of their level of faith. They are embedded in the cultural and familial collective psyche of the Jews.

As Americans, we are fortunate to live in a society and culture that shares many of those values. If something doesn’t work, we fix it. If we need to learn from our failures, we do that too, no matter how painful that might be. As a nation, we have the remarkable ability to self correct. Most importantly, America offers everyone who has been blessed to call this nation home, an opportunity to reach beyond what he or she believe is even possible. America elevates and empower all who cherish her values.

Like the Jews, this nation is defined not by an aristocracy of bloodlines or money, but rather by an aristocracy of those who made their dreams come true. The same is true for all those nations and of all faiths who embrace and share those values. It is a remarkable truth that those who make their own dreams come true also make the lives of others better. This nation gives more charity and aid to others than any other nation on earth. As our dreams our realized, our ‘tribe’ within the community of mankind expands. In more ways than one, that is our greatest blessing.

Dr Sanity, in A Most Ingenious Paradox:

It is a most ingenious paradox of life that most civilized societies and cultures encourage and support the individual in the pursuit of his or her own life, happiness and psychological growth. These societies do not lay claim to an individual’s life for the glory of the state; and in turn all members of the societey benefit as the culture’s productivity, wealth and benevolence all increase.

In other words, paradoxically, those political, economic, cultural and religious factors that encourage what is best for individual growth and maturity, are exactly what encourage the positive evolution and maturation of societies and cultures.

…Mature psychological defenses enable a creative solution to conflicts in ways that are positive for both the individual and his or her society. This is exactly what the immature defenses–such as denial, projection, paranoia do not do. On the contrary, such defenses almost always in the long run cause not only damage to the individual’s developing self, but they also eventually destroy the fundamentals of civilized behavior that can hold a society together and give it a future.

When we think back to the heady days of the toppling of the Berlin Wall, we don’t for one minute think of the speeches, government edicts or radio broadcast that were made at the time. We recall with crisp vivid memory the images of sledgehammers wielded by young and old attempting to pulverize hardened concrete. We recall images of East Berliners, choked for decades by tyranny being hoisted over the wall by young West Berliners who seemingly never tired.

When the Wall came down and in the days that followed, it was clear that no government had beat their ’swords into plowshares.’ What we saw was only made made possible by individuals who believed that they were capable of greatness, not only for themselves, but their fellow man. This is another lesson of the Jews.

There are those who say that the State of Israel does not deserve to exist because she came about only as a result of the Holocaust. There is an element of dry humor in that most of those who make those remarks are the first to deny the Holocaust ever occurred- and at the same time, think a Holocaust against the Jews is a good idea.

The State of Israel deserves to exist because of what that nation has accomplished and achieved. She has contributed mightily to the betterment of her own citizens and to the betterment of the entire world (Israel has come to the aid of over 140 nations. An incomplete list can be found here. ). For a look at some of the Jewish state’s remarkable achievements, see The Beast That Is Israel.

Some ask why Jews are so much an integral part of our reality and consciousness. They are tired of hearing of the Holocaust and they resent what they believe in undue Jewish influence in many areas of the human endeavor. They are quick to point out that only a few evil men were really responsible for the Holocaust and the history of anti Semitism is one of a few evil men doing evil things.

Jews are in our reality and consciousness because wherever there is institutionalized oppression there is anti Semitism. Wherever there is evil there are people who make no secret of their hatred of Jews. The Jews have been the canaries in the coal mines of human history for a very long time.

Hitler did not exterminate Jews by himself, nor was the effort mechanized and without human intervention. Mao, Pol Pot and Stalin had millions upon untold millions of their political enemies exterminated. They did not kill by themselves. They had hundreds of thousands of willing helpers, people who not only killed willingly but did so with delight and pleasure. Countless more millions could not even be bothered to care.

Today there are countless millions who are willingly goose stepping to the beat of this generation’s tyrants. The spell of the blood red and the necrotic black soul of those who worship the swastika have yet to be rejected.

Shrinkwrapped, in Pity The Poor Anti Semite:

When people attribute a negative trait of their own to others, it is projection, by definition. Another instance occurs when Europeans and Arabs describe the Israeli treatment of Palestinians as genocide or Nazism.

It is the various Arab Islamic fascists groups that call for the destruction of Israel and murder of the Jews yet they ascribe such ideas to the Jews.

The anti-Semite necessarily defines himself as monumentally inferior to the Jew.

This resides in the core of the anti-Semite and renders him permanently damaged and weakened. Only the aid of a being much greater than themselves, Allah, can save them from disaster. Short of such divine intervention, they are doomed to remain defeated. The Muslim nations of the world do not see it as within their abilities to compete in a world of high technology, higher education, competitive open economies; no, they look to nuclear weapons, only available to them by virtue of their Allah given oil money rather than by the sweat of their own brows, to bring them relief from the often imagined depredations of the now conflated Jewish/American demi-Gods.

There are consequences to turning our backs on history- and in the end, those consequences have nothing to do with the Jews. See also Shrinkwrapped’s On Holocaust Denial And Child Abuse.

A lesson in the lack of self awareness (the environment in which anti Semites flourish) can be found in Dr Sanity’s, in The Mask Slips:

In fact, the real problem of not knowing one’s self, and trying to avoid devastating self-awareness, is that the dark side is perfectly content to let the light side believe that goodness and light are running the show. The dark side is actually an expert at finding creative and disguised ways to express its destructiveness.

I am, of course, speaking about the unconscious mind, where the darkness can almost always be found in each of us. The last thing that our dark selves wants is for its unconscious processes to be made conscious through the development of insight and self-awareness; precisely because that is the only way to alter the self-destructive path that an individual or a group may sometimes be on.

Sometimes they can convince themselves that because their behavior has some good intention or idealized fantasy behind it, it doesn’t matter that it results in exactly the opposite result from the fantasy in the real world. That is how that dark side works–behind the mirror; hiding behind the mask of goodness.

In a way, the Arab world anti Semites and Iran’s Ahmadenijad and their supporters and apologists are doing the world a favor by pointing to the nefarious Jews.

In their blind rage and hatred, they invite comparison- and the emperors of hate have no clothes. They are empty and devoid of any values that might elevate man.

The Jews- and the State of Israel-  are examples of what kind of successes are possible. Despite the history of horrific persecution, they have flourished. Those who hate Jews with the fury of blind rage, are examples of a different kind- of the magnitude of failures and degradations that are possible when the values that elevate man are replaced with the values that humiliate, denigrate and enslave man.

Mathias Keuntzel.

Islamic antisemitism does not of course only affect Britain. In some circles in Germany too antisemitism has increasingly become a part of Muslim identity. We hear “Jew” being used as a term of abuse, we witness the adulation of rappers who call for attacks on Jews, and we hear the term “Nazi” used as a compliment.

In Berlin a Muslim schoolboy called for “all the Jews to be gassed”. A gang of school students trapped one of their fellow pupils in a chemistry lab, telling him “now we will turn on the gas taps”, while during a visit to the Museum of German History a group of Muslim students gathered round a replica of an Auschwitz gas chamber and applauded. You see, they did not view the Holocaust as a warning, nor were they denying that it happened; it was being taken as an inspiration, as proof that it is possible, that millions of Jews can be killed. But are things any better in Britain?

“In Hampstead Garden Suburb, swastikas and the words ‘Kill all Jews’ and ‘Allah’ were daubed on the house and car of Justin Stebbing” reports the Times. “Dr Stebbing, who works at a hospital, said: ‘I felt violated. It’s horrible.’”  Swastika, “kill all Jews” and “Allah” – the very topic of my talk today.

According to journalist Richard Littlejohn, “I met a Jack the Ripper tour guide in East London who was beaten up by a group of Muslim youths, who took one look at his period costume – long black coat and black hat – and assumed he was an Orthodox Jew and therefore deserving of a kicking. They didn’t want a ‘dirty Jew’ in ‘their’ neighbourhood”.

Finally an opinion poll of 2006 – according to the Times - “revealed that a horrifying 37 per cent of Muslims polled believed that the Jewish community in Britain was a legitimate target;

…and no fewer than 46 % thought the Jewish community was in league with Freemasons to control the media and politics.’”