# Why are jews hated and/or mocked so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709 "2010-11-23T22:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/61 "2010-11-24T20:03:18Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Back to the o.p. the only people I know of who retain the outdated Jew hating thing are neo fascists and muslims. > > Maybe I’m missing something. Except that in the case of Muslims, it’s not an outdated trope dating from the Middle Ages (no specific anitsemitism history in the Muslim world, though there were anti Jews pogroms or attacks in “Muslim history”, nothing comparable with Europe’s history though). It is a recent one, completely linked to Israel and the Palestinians. And for decades, it had nothing to do with religion but with specific geopolitics (the whole Muslim angle on the so called confrontation between West and East is recent, dates at the very earliest from the mid eighties). In short antisemitim in the Arab-Muslim world has little to do with traditional Western antisemitism, though it now tends to resurrect the “arguments” of the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/62 "2010-11-24T20:22:55Z")
Even _[the Family Circus](http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/8792/3670.jpg)_ has covered this ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/63 "2010-11-24T20:38:12Z")
> [@MinkyBinks735](#): > > no and no So why don’t you go ahead and give _your_ opinion on the matter? Do you think that the bad reputation the Jews have among some is totally justified, partially justified, or not justified at all? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/64 "2010-11-24T20:53:34Z")
I don’t get it. Buy low, sell high is good business. Why do the Jews get credit for inventing this? ---
**Author:** ![GreenHell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@GreenHell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenHell)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/65 "2010-11-24T21:12:31Z")
There were some financial reasons. Jews were involved in banking at a time when Christians observed a self-imposed ban on taking interest. Since banking can be lucrative and was considered dis-reputable and mostly Jews were involved in it, there was a mixture of distaste and jealousy directed against them. Plague was also a factor. Bubonic plague is believed to have come from the Middle East. Jews were much less impacted by it for several reasons. They were naturally more resistant to it, their ancestors having been exposed to it occasionally in the past. Secondly, the rituals they observed regarding hygeine may have offered protection that the Europeans (who at the time were virtually oblivious to any hygiene to speak of) did not have. Thirdly, the Jews often lived outside of the city proper and were not exposed to the pathogen as extensively as those living where local population density was higher. They killed Jesus. You might think that Jesus being Jewish might negate this, but applying logic to prejudice often has remarkably little impact.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/66 "2010-11-24T21:13:25Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Okay, I’ll bite. What book did you read that basically says Jews regard everyone else as ‘bags of shit’? Give me a few days, I will get an exact quote, title, and author. ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/67 "2010-11-24T21:24:05Z")
_Born to kvetch_ is the title. I will have to do more research on the passage that I refered to. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/68 "2010-11-24T21:48:39Z")
> [@FE3O4ENAIL](#): > > _Born to kvetch_ is the title. I will have to do more research on the passage that I refered to. I eagerly await your [quote.] ([Born to Kvetch - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Kvetch)) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/69 "2010-11-24T22:04:31Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Except that in the case of Muslims, it’s not an outdated trope dating from the Middle Ages (no specific anitsemitism history in the Muslim world, though there were anti Jews pogroms or attacks in “Muslim history”, nothing comparable with Europe’s history though). This is not accurate. Anti Jewish sentiments in the middle east were different from those in Europe but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a legacy of religrious discrimination. Just that it came in a different flavor. Western anti-semitism found such fertile soil precisely because the general dynamic was accepted. Nor is a phenomena that predates 48, by quite a bit, “completely” linked to it. Nor would that matter even if true “People hate blacks because of demands for reperations/crime/gangsta rap/Rwanda.” not only lacks logical coherence and persuasive power, it is, to put it mildly, the worst type of nonsense. Trying to explain/justify/describe racism in terms of politics is like dancing about architecrure. ---
**Author:** ![MinkyBinks735](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@MinkyBinks735](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkyBinks735)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/70 "2010-11-24T22:16:21Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > Let me guess, in your neighborhood a “house getting robbed” means someone showed up with a hitch and hauled it away. actually it is not ---
**Author:** ![MinkyBinks735](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@MinkyBinks735](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkyBinks735)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/71 "2010-11-24T22:17:28Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Yes, but those aren’t _reasons_. Racism works backwards and tries to find justifications. > It’d be like saying that some people are racist against blacks because they’re often thought of as criminals or being involved with drugs or prone to violent crime. But that puts it in exactly the opposite direction. _Because people are racists_, they think that blacks are prone to criminality, illegal drug use and violent crime. _Because people are anti-semites_ they think that Jews are cheap, miserly, etc… > > I am (somewhat) willing to grant the benefit of the doubt on the phrase “the chosen people”, but it does betray a high degree of willful ignorance. Just like one might look askance at someone who was claiming that Catholics are cannibals, even if the mistake was an honest one. Ok. I understand. Thank You, that was very helpful ---
**Author:** ![MinkyBinks735](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@MinkyBinks735](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkyBinks735)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/72 "2010-11-24T22:19:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In college (in the US), I heard “Jew” used as an insult _all the time_, though nearly always referencing the skinflint stereotype. > > “How dare you Jew me out of a dollar!”, etc. > > I didn’t hear it _once_ in Britain, although I presume there are much more anti-Semitic countries in Europe. Yes, in the US it is used very often, that is why i brought it up. I have been told that the majority of places outside of US don’t use it that way very much ---
**Author:** ![MinkyBinks735](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@MinkyBinks735](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkyBinks735)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/73 "2010-11-24T22:21:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So why don’t you go ahead and give _your_ opinion on the matter? Do you think that the bad reputation the Jews have among some is totally justified, partially justified, or not justified at all? I do not know why the jews get mocked, hence why i posted it as a question. if i knew the answer there would be no point in posting this. go back and look at my comments. i have posted “my stance” on here enough already. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/74 "2010-11-24T22:26:48Z")
> [@MinkyBinks735](#): > > Yes, in the US it is used very often, that is why i brought it up. I have been told that the majority of places outside of US don’t use it that way very much The U.S. has more Jews than any other country, and you wouldn’t expect to hear this in Israel. There aren’t that many Jews anywhere else, at least in the grand scheme of things. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/75 "2010-11-24T22:31:27Z")
> [@MinkyBinks735](#): > > I do not know why the jews get mocked . . . Every ethnic group is mocked to some degree. A more interesting question is: Why are the Jews the one ethnic group that produces most of their own ethnic humor? Any given Polish joke probably was not invented by a Pole, but any Jewish joke (beyond the most pedestrian “Why do Jews have large noses?”\* variety) is very likely the work of a Jew. In the U.S., at least. \*Because air is free! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/76 "2010-11-24T22:33:50Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > This is not accurate. Anti Jewish sentiments in the middle east were different from those in Europe but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a legacy of religrious discrimination. Just that it came in a different flavor. > Western anti-semitism found such fertile soil precisely because the general dynamic was accepted. Right. Muslim/Jewish relations were generally better than Christian/Jewish ones and pogroms were rarer until modern history, but they weren’t trouble free. In general medieval Muslim attitudes towards Jews can probably be generally summed up as one of tolerant contempt. There were times of relatively high achievement by Jews in Muslim service ( i.e. as in some of the Taifa states of Spain ), but not infrequently they were followed up by repressive backlashes ( as with the Almoravids that absorbed the Taifa states ), often as the general population objected to Jews being in power above them. Most typically anti-Jewish sentiment in Muslim areas tended to start with local Christians, spread to the poorer Muslims and then up the economic chain, with usually the government being the last to react under pressure ( for most Muslim governments Jewish subjects were “safe” and productive, hence worth protecting up to a point ). Not surprisingly it was politically chaotic and/or economically stressed times that tended to provoke the most animosity in the lower classes. Accordingly we see European-style anti-semitism really starting to spread in the Muslim world starting with the late 18th-19th century, during a prolonged period of political weakness and economic disruption. This was also the period that witnessed the spread of ethnic nationalism to the region, which likely contributed as well. For example it appears that it was only in the 19th century ( i.e. the Damascus Affair of 1840 ) that the blood libel appears to have been imported into the Muslim Middle East via subject Christians. The founding of Israel undoubtedly accelerated and fed this new-style anti-semitism, but it had been building for some time before that. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/77 "2010-11-24T22:58:58Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Trying to explain/justify/describe racism in terms of politics is like dancing about architecrure. Um…what? ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/78 "2010-11-24T23:05:56Z")
I will have to go to the library to get the quote about Jews being Holy and Gentiles being profane. That part I stand by as being in the book. ( Please think of John Cleese being held out of a window , upside down, by his ankles as you read the following backpedal) The " bag of shit " part , after some thought, is no where in the book. It is a completely erronous interpretation of what was written. I admit that the error is fully mine, and I apologise for making it. I deeply regret my lack of understanding. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/79 "2010-11-24T23:09:59Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Um…what? _Exactly_ ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709/80 "2010-11-24T23:13:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I eagerly await your > [quote.] > ([Born to Kvetch - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Kvetch)) 🙂 I will have to go to the library to get the quote about Jews being Holy and Gentiles being profane. That part I stand by as being in the book. ( Please think of John Cleese being held out of a window , upside down, by his ankles as you read the following backpedal) The " bag of shit " part , after some thought, is no where in the book. It is a completely erronous interpretation of what was written. I admit that the error is fully mine, and I apologise for making it. I deeply regret my lack of understanding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-jews-hated-and-or-mocked-so-much/561709.md?page=5)