SHEILA writes:

An excellent piece by Joe Sobran, and some thoughtful comments.  Like Mark Jaws, I grew up in a Jewish Ashkenazi environment, but was far less marinated in it than he.  I, too, was raised with the “mythological caricature” of history, but always questioned it.  Even as a child, it made no sense to me to be persecuted without some cause or provocation.  That blindness angers me terribly to this day – Jews will harp endlessly on persecution, real or imagined, yet argue vociferously against any possible provocation, even when historically documented.  The sense of grievance combined with the innate sense of superiority seems uniquely suited, to me, to elicit dislike and anger in others.

I disagree with Mark regarding “goyophobia.”  As long as Jews identify themselves as Jews and a people apart, their carefully nursed sense of exceptionalism and grievance will remain strong.  I know of a handful of intermarriages, but have read of far more, where the children – even if only 1/4 Jewish, are raised to consider themselves as Jews and seem to ignore the majority of their heritage.  As a public example, consider the children of Michael Douglas (himself only half Jewish) and Catherine Zeta Jones.  They’re 3/4 Christian and half Welsh, for heaven’s sake, but his son made a point of wearing a Jewish star in France and was reportedly harassed on the streets for it.  Per Jewish tradition of female descent, neither Michael Douglas nor his children are Jewish, but his son had a Bar Mitzvah and has obviously been raised with a strong sense of Jewish cultural identity.  The whole religion/race/culture issue regarding Judaism is a complex issue for another time, although I do note Jews routinely use whatever argument best suits them and switch freely among them while attacking Christians who note the same.  Think of any and all web posts criticizing historical figures and noting their Jewish ancestry – up pop the routine apologists noting said individual was an atheist, so he wasn’t Jewish (i.e. Judaism as religion) yet those same people raised a hue and cry when the Vatican made a saint of a French nun who was born to Jews (Judaism as a race).

As I’ve often noted before, even those few Jews who publicly identify as conservative, in any way, still go out of their way to proclaim their Jewishness.  Via internet handle, or comments, they proclaim their difference while insisting they’re fully American, and are usually more than aggressive in any comments even slightly critical of their sense of dual identity.

As a baptised Christian who rejects any [Jewish] Ashkenazi identity, I only mention my background when I don’t want anyone to be misled – my internet comments are openly ethnonationalist, and I identify as such.  I cannot change my DNA, and recognize how strongly that DNA influences one’s personality and culture, but I am not a pure determinist and I have thoroughly rejected that background.  I feel no affinity for Israel or American Jews as a whole (but neither wish any harm to any one individual) yet my affinity for and identity as a white, Christian American would routinely be referred to by Jews as “self hatred.”  I don’t hate myself any more than any Christian should/would hate those sins that all fallen humans are prey to, and I don’t hate Jews, but I do hate what they’ve done to America – regardless of whether it was done unintentionally or innocently or through similar actions without official collusion – and that’s a whole different ball of wax for another time and place.

— Comments —

Mark Jaws writes:

I enjoy reading Sheila’s viewpoints. But I did want to offer some explanation as to why Michael Douglas’ quarter-Jewish [children] identify as Jewish. Hollywood is a Jewish town. And while actors and writers and behind the scenes folks all need some degree of talent, it certainly does not hurt if semi-Semites and quarter-Jews show up to an audition with some latkes and gefilte fish. In places such as Hollywood, being Jewish helps.

Being Jewish can also help outside of Hollywood. For example, back in 1974 I applied for a position as counselor at a Jewish summer camp. The interviewer, the camp director named Dr. Bill Friedman, was pretty cold at first. Perhaps my very Polish last name had something to do with it. Nonetheless, I could see that if I wanted the gig I would have to whip out my Jewish Express Card. Somehow, some way, I worked it into the conversation that my mother was Jewish, and all of a sudden a big smile appeared on his face, and by magic the tone of his voice became much friendlier, “Oh, so you’re a Jewish boy!”

With intermarriage rates having skyrocketed over the past 50 years, I come across more and more young half-Jews, and most of them identify with both sides of their heritage. In fact, I have never met one who was a fully immersed Jew. I If anything, I would say they are more Gentile. The first two girls I ever kissed were sisters who were half-Jewish and half-Italian, and they called themselves “The Dago Twins.” And even though I was “marinated” in a mostly Ashkenazi environment and look and feel Jewish, I identify much more with the people of Poland than I do with the Jews in Israel. Poland is in the heart of Europe and has played – and I suspect given Germany’s emasculation, it will continue to play – a key role in preserving Europe’s white Christian/western civilization heritage. And that to me, is far, far more important than anything related to Jews.

Sheila writes:

I can understand a Jewish Day Camp preferring a Jewish counselor for the children – that’s basic common sense.  However, there is no reason for Hollywood to remain such a heavily Jewish enclave other than hyper ethnocentrism as practiced by Jews.  They aggressively recruit and hire other Jews almost exclusively, and yet vigorously protest when White Christians don’t go out of their way to hire non Whites and non Christians.  Further, Catherine Zeta Jones did just fine as an actress without being Jewish.  Her children would be well known, regardless of religion, via their parentage.  Hollywood would know of their Jewish genetic heritage via their father, Michael Douglas.  Their being raised to identify as religious and cultural Jews therefore, seems to me, has nothing to do with being hired or noted in their insular environment and everything to do with aggressive ethnocentrism reinforcing a sense of Jewish identity regardless of how diluted the genetic background for such.

Laura writes:

Yes, of course, a Jewish day camp would prefer Jewish counselors.

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