Posted on 11/07/2023 5:43:53 AM PST by SJackson
Something sinister is happening before our eyes. An alarming number of Americans blame Israel for the murder of civilians by Hamas terrorists October 7, and violence against Jews is rising precipitously. It began before the dead were buried, when a group of Harvard students issued a statement proclaiming they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Days later, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres cribbed a line from that statement, saying the killing of Israeli civilians “did not occur in a vacuum.” In cities across the nation, Americans chant for Palestine to seize the land “from the river to the sea,” promoting the annihilation of Israel and the Jews living there.
Today, American Jews are forced to hide behind locked doors in fear of attack by pro-Hamas activists. Jewish middle school students are threatened with taunts of “kill the Jews.” In Brooklyn, Jews are being warned to stay in their homes this weekend because militants supporting the Gaza charter calling for “the destruction of Israel” massed in their neighborhood.
The Anti-Defamation League reports that anti-semitic threats and violence have risen nearly 400% in just two weeks, and a recent Harvard Caps Harris poll revealed that more than half of 18-24 year old Americans think the murder of 1,200 Israeli civilians by Hamas was justified. They blame the victims; the Jews had it coming.
Some people are simply bigots who hate Jews. But others who are not dogmatically opposed to Israel or Jewish people are persuadable toward this pro-Hamas position. They can be misled into victim blaming, believing Israel could have avoided the massacre if only Jews were better people.
There’s a body of research on why people blame victims, much of it reflecting secular beliefs about the nature of man and society. One reason was postulated by psychologist Melvin Lerner, who pioneered the “just world” theory. It’s described as “a psychological concept proposing that individuals possess a strong belief in the inherent fairness of the world, where people get what they deserve, and deserve what they get.”
An essay by the Young Leaders for Legal Literacy Foundation explores Lerner’s theory observing: “One’s need to maintain a belief in a just world may be at fault for our tendency to blame victims. When bad things happen to someone who seems a lot like us, this threatens our belief that the world is a just place.”
The theory is intriguing but in order to have a fair and just world, the world must be filled with fair and just people. The belief in the natural goodness of man – widely promoted through the works of Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacque Rousseau and others – is often accompanied by the theory that man’s goodness is corrupted by society. Taken as a whole, it’s a false utopian philosophy that invites anarchy by rationalizing bad behavior.
This view of man’s nature is diametrically opposed to the biblical view. Ask any Bible-believing Christian about the nature of man and they’ll say it is sinful and corrupt. The notion of man as naturally sinful isn’t universal but it’s foundational to Judeo-Christian thought. It might explain why so few Christians blame Israel for the Hamas attacks. Christians can debate Israel’s response to Hamas, but I don’t know any claiming that Jewish civilians deserved to be killed. If there are any, they’re in a minuscule fringe seeking 15 minutes of fame.
These differing perspectives matter when talking about Israel and Hamas. Those subscribing to Rousseauean and similar philosophies see Hamas as an organization of fundamentally good people who were corrupted by society and the state of Israel. It gives terrorists a pass, as do many pro-Hamas agitators marching in the streets today. But for those adhering to biblical precepts, Hamas is an organization of sinful people who demonstrated their sinfulness in an orgy of murder and rape, and who are solely responsible for their actions.
The larger issue, however, is what kinds of societies these conflicting worldviews foster. While the biblical view promotes order, the secular view foments chaos, gratifying American Leftists and other authoritarians. It is another reason the Left is so keen on denigrating Judeo-Christian ideals, paving the way for new violence.
America is slouching toward Kristallnacht, the seminal pogrom against innocent Jews across Germany on the evening of November 9-10, 1938. Thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were looted and burned. Men were arrested by the tens of thousands for the crime of being Jewish. Others were simply murdered.
We need to wake up before a tipping point arrives. A staggering 51% of college age Americans think the barbaric Hamas murders of Israeli civilians were justifiable, an attitude likely to metastasize. This is why defending the biblical view of man’s nature is so critical. We cannot confront evil without first understanding the inherent sinfulness of man.
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Just more, “Boo-Hoo! We jews are victims!!!”
Everyone is a victim these days, blacks, jews, muslims, everyone but white people. Whites are 6% of the Earth’s population but are expected to carry the load for everyone else while being blamed for everyone’s problems.
if you support the so-called ‘palestinians’, you support mass murder.
the lack of moral values in our youth is a serious problem to be addressed. they don’t know where to draw the line while exercising ‘tolerance.’ they seem to be clueless as to human decency and basic humane treatment of fellow human beings. this is how we get ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ on a massive scale in society. parents and educational and religious institutions need to repair this.
At least there aren’t 100 Israeli/Jewish threads everyday.
Oh…
It would be nice if we fixed our border, deported every illegal regardless of origin, enforced laws, stayed out of foreign wars, and returned to a merit based society.
There’s been more threads about ripped posters than threads on immigration…
I can’t believe this is happening in America.
I just hope the American Jews finally awaken and see that the Democrat Party has done this to them...................
Sadly, American Jews will vote for the Communist DP from within the train boxcars using absentee ballots. Some forms of stupidity become ingrained.
“Just more, “Boo-Hoo! We jews are victims!!!””
...and for once the victims are FIGHTING BACK and, at least for now, could care less what their haters in ‘the world community’ thinks.
Well noted (in quotes) as "Palestinians" implies the existence of such a state or country which is, of course, false and has never, at any time, been true.
More correctly: "Arabs living in the geographical area historically known as "Palestine"; the only state ever to exist in the region, of course, being Israel.
(Am I correct about this?)
The gentiles have been trying to rid the world of we Jews for thousands of years. America has been the exception, so far.
That’s because of our media and big tech.
You today have corporate media conglomerates, just 6 or so that control nearly 90% of what people see and hear. You have a similar situation in big tech with Google, social media and the US government essentially in the business of mass censorship (they have 4 servers, 2 on each coast that filter everything coming in).
People get told what to think and you see that best with issues like Covid, the 2020 elections and their outcome, J6, Ukraine.
With Israel you still have both sides of the story at least, the media is reporting some about how Hamas hides under hospitals, how they attacked first with rockets... You still get a little bit from both perspectives.
We are all ignorant (no one is a SME on everything), we are all on mental cruise control most of the time. You do not have the time and energy to analyze everything you are told and do. We simply trust the source and go with it.
The problem today is that instead of getting information from all sides of the story and the average person being able to critically analyze, or even identify that there is conflict/discerning opinions or viewpoints, the public gets a one sided narrative entirely and what appears as absolutely unshakable truth, turn out stories about 20% mortality rate from Covid, lack of ventilators, 100% effective vaccine, wear masks because they work, close public schools/beaches/churches but leave abortion clinics and strip clubs open... You no longer even hear the other side!
This is the consequence of limited sources (media conglomerates), limited providers of this information (big tech and social media), and government censorship. If you have an issue where government and corporate interests coincide (example Ukraine), you can forget any sort of dissenting viewpoints.
I joined Gab in 2018 because Leftists were trying to shut it down. It grew and grew until it is pretty big today. The problem is the Jew Haters have swarmed in. It has become their home. I’ve noticed other dissent sites have a growing presence of Jew hate as well. I suspect it was false flags from the Left at first but these nuts are real and there is way to many of them.
White Christian Americans are BY FAR the most put down, put out, and victimized people. Let me know when you support those people “fighting back”.
“Just more, “Boo-Hoo! We jews are victims!!!”
Except in this case they actually are victims of a bunch of 7th century savages who’d just as soon kill you and your entire family if they can’t get to any Jews.
L
We Americans have been attacked and have had thousands of us killed by the same people attacking Israel. You don’t hear us crying about being victims and demanding everyone else give us money and fight our wars.
You can thank our education system on that.
People ask how during the 30’s, Europe became a very dangerous place for Jews.
This is how it happened.
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