Posted on 12/28/2019 7:56:45 AM PST by yesthatjallen
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Sarah Bernhardt and Franz Kafka; Albert Einstein and Rosalind Franklin; Benjamin Disraeli and (sigh) Karl Marx — how is it that a people who never amounted even to one-third of 1 percent of the world’s population contributed so seminally to so many of its most pathbreaking ideas and innovations?
The common answer is that Jews are, or tend to be, smart. When it comes to Ashkenazi Jews, it’s true. “Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average I.Q. of any ethnic group for which there are reliable data,” noted one 2005 paper. “During the 20th century, they made up about 3 percent of the U.S. population but won 27 percent of the U.S. Nobel science prizes and 25 percent of the ACM Turing awards. They account for more than half of world chess champions.”
But the “Jews are smart” explanation obscures more than it illuminates. Aside from the perennial nature-or-nurture question of why so many Ashkenazi Jews have higher I.Q.s, there is the more difficult question of why that intelligence was so often matched by such bracing originality and high-minded purpose.
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But as the story of the Lithuanian rabbi suggests, Jewish genius operates differently. It is prone to question the premise and rethink the concept; to ask why (or why not?) as often as how; to see the absurd in the mundane and the sublime in the absurd. Ashkenazi Jews might have a marginal advantage over their gentile peers when it comes to thinking better. Where their advantage more often lies is in thinking different.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“It’s working hard, and being used to not blindly accepting thinking from the dominant surrounding culture. And God’s specific blessing.”
Except every November when they (or at least 70% of them) go into the voting booth and pull the leftist lever that better assures their future demise. [FYI, I’m one of the 30% who does it correctly.]
THE PURPOSE of the article was not what 90% of the article told you - about how smart many Jewish people are, and why. NO; THE ACTUAL PURPOSE of the article merely used that theme as a vehicle to point you to “right wing extremists” (”white nationalists”) as the supposed biggest anti- semites today.
Alien intervention?/s
Six Day War.
Thanks Poindexter.
Isn’t it PC sacrilege to admit there may be actual differences between ethnic groups? Isn’t that a slippery slope to actual critical thinking? I am seriously shocked!!
Lol.A very smart Catholic friend used to say ( like about so many Catholics on the Supreme Court) that The reason Catholics are so smart is because they had to eat fish on Fridays.
Marx himself graduated from the prototype of the modern “university”, the University of Jena.
True in some ways, and true in comparison to gentile neighbors. But Old World Jewish families could also be very strict by today's standards.
I tell my RCIA catechumens that God chose the Jews because they are just like the whole rest of the human race, only moreso. (Only partly joking here)
Where their advantage more often lies is in thinking different.
If one is of theological thinking:
1) The Israelites were God’s Chosen People. BUT CHOSEN FOR WHAT PURPOSE? I will let the reader reflect on that.
2) I always liked Malachi:
Mal 1:2 “I have always loved you,” says the LORD. But you retort, “Really? How have You loved us?” And the LORD replies, “This is how I showed My love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob,
Can’t you just hear the response from the chosen? “Go choose someone else, this is too hard.”
One of the best definitions of love is the word “choose”. In fact, God almost defines love as choosing here. When you love someone, you choose them above all others. That gives new meaning to Jesus saying, “Do you love me?”
I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to grammatical errors. If you review my posts I have no doubt I could be skewered with numerous examples of bad grammar. The difference is I do not write for the NYT. I am a retired IT guy.
Maybe they are just people that, I dont know, work hard and really value success, religion, tradition (Fiddle on the Roof joke here), and status? That they cling to that tightly even in the face of incredible oppression over the centuries?
Eye spel gud bcuz eye hav spelchekr.
THE PURPOSE of the article was not what 90% of the article told you - about how smart many Jewish people are, and why. NO; THE ACTUAL PURPOSE of the article merely used that theme as a vehicle to point you to “right wing extremists” (”white nationalists”) as the supposed biggest anti- semites today.
But what is interesting are the responses. Sometimes there are unintended results. Libs forget that. What is important is the issue is out there. Libs want to stop discussion for the most part.
This is why I like Trump, he keeps throwing the issues out there for us to chew on.
I am half Ashkenazi Jew. IQ is not everything. Look at all the smart well educated people who vote for the left. Common Sense is a big part of what makes up “true” intelligence. Many on the left are very deficient.
Maybe they are just people that, I dont know, work hard and really value success, religion, tradition (Fiddle on the Roof joke here), and status? That they cling to that tightly even in the face of incredible oppression over the centuries?
bmp
Another huge advantage that I did not see mentioned is the concept of taking a young child, putting him or her in religious school which culminates with learning to read the Torah in Hebrew (without vowels in the text) and leading a service at the age of 13. This is not done for most school kids, and Jews are invited to do this and their regular school work. This is a tremendous undertaking but it sets the kid up for academic success later on, and usually makes some life long friendships.
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