corynski wrote:
But 'evil' is much more difficult. I don't like, nor use the word, as it carries religious or supernatural connotations that I don't agree with, a power or force coming from some supernatural being, such as a 'god' or a 'devil'.
Can you explain why Jews are specifically targeted for racial violence in just about every generation they've existed?
Why them?
I can only give you the standard replies, that they are reclusive and don't assimilate, trying to get everyone's money and property, or that they killed Jesus. And there's the recurrent theme of larger, more powerful groups preying upon smaller, weaker groups. Groups such as Hitler's mobs needed scapegoats, Jews were the group they turned their followers loose upon since they outnumbered them, such as Kristolnacht.
corynski wrote:
But 'evil' is much more difficult. I don't like, nor use the word, as it carries religious or supernatural connotations that I don't agree with, a power or force coming from some supernatural being, such as a 'god' or a 'devil'.
Can you explain why Jews are specifically targeted for racial violence in just about every generation they've existed?
Yes, that's true. The Gypsies were in the same category to Hitler, humanity that wasn't deserving of living. It's tempting to just assume that it's a superiority thing, to achieve a kind of one-upsmanship, and to maintain a mental edge or control over another group.
corynski wrote:
But 'evil' is much more difficult. I don't like, nor use the word, as it carries religious or supernatural connotations that I don't agree with, a power or force coming from some supernatural being, such as a 'god' or a 'devil'.
Can you explain why Jews are specifically targeted for racial violence in just about every generation they've existed?
Why them?
It's hardly just been Jews.
There's no other ethnicity on earth that has been singled out for over 2000 years as they have.
Dodging the question isn't an answer and neither is ignorance, but I can see your point. The less you know, the easier it is to make it up as you go.
Actually it seems the older I get the less I know, it's true. And there is so much more to know, I understand that knowledge is increasing at an exponential rate these days. As I read the posts on this site I see there are some very smart people here, and most certainly I'm out of my league, I will admit that.
But I don't feel I'm dodging the question, and I'll be happy to think about it with you. I admit I don't believe in what is called the 'supernatural', I've searched, and I don't see sufficient and convincing evidence of anything supernatural. Which explains to me why Jesus wasn't known about widely and written about during his infant and teenage years. So, if that is true, it would mean the Jewish people are very arrogant in their claims, and so many people, Israeli and Palestinian, have been killed, and for what? Believing in 'other' gods? I find it impossible to believe in a single 'God', whose origin is perhaps the largest unanswered question. Who created the Creator?
I've not read enough of your posts Flatliner to know what you think, so please give me your thoughts. Perhaps it's the Jewish attitude of being the 'Chosen People', but there have been thousands of gods and goddesses created by men and women since the time people gave up believing in water and storm 'spirits'. Studying anthropology has provided me with a long perspective on the evolution and development of humans, and they certainly seem to want a creator, and a heaven, and a moral code.
I think it's the money and property, together with not believing in Jesus or the New Testament. An entire world of 'average' people have the idea that the Jews are sucking up the wealth and property of the world, and that they should be punished for being greedy. And somehow the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. That's my best guess, so if that is 'dodging' the question, or simply ignorance, so be it.
corynski wrote:I've not read enough of your posts Flatliner to know what you think, so please give me your thoughts. Perhaps it's the Jewish attitude of being the 'Chosen People',
Your thoughts........
My first thought is that blaming Jews for anti-Semitism is perhaps a wrong choice.
This is a discussion of whether "evil" exists, and I pointed out one method for identifying it's existence and identity. The presence of evil is obvious in the way one ethnic group is always singled out because it indicates a unique obsession. The identity of the evil is also obvious. We only know of two entities that live beyond a human life span.
Lots of things live beyond the human lifespan. Trees, for instance.
Also, lots of groups get singled out. Gypsies, homosexuals, and you may have heard of black people or seen them on TV.
Jews have historically been persecuted largely because they have been a displaced people, always having to live in non-Jewish cultures. This always makes people targets. There is also the sad fact that the most dominant religion in the world has anti-semitism built right into its theology and scripture and that the Church spent over a thousand years preaching from the pulpit that Jews were deicidal demons.
My naturalistic and evolutionarily structured mind says that is natural behavior for human beings, it's not 'evil', it's human nature as influenced by learned behaviour, possibly as often wrong as right. In our current situation we have the luxury to think of 'what should I do', as opposed to 'what must I do'..... to stay alive, to maintain control and superiority, to keep an advantage in the future. The 'presence of evil' is a conscious construction added to whatever actions have occurred. For example, the Bible mentions the two Samarian women who are talking about their plight during hard times, and they are discussing whether to eat their children or not. Is eating your child evil? The women can survive and give birth to more children, but to starve one's self and leave a helpless child, perhaps that is a greater mistake. Is it evil to cut off the foreskin of a newborn baby boy, without his knowledge? Or perhaps just stupid, or misguided. Or just call it a 'ritual', or a 'custom'.......
And what are those 'two entities that live beyond a human life span", you are referring to?