Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Attitudes of Jews towards other ethnic and racial groups: In a recent post, I showed that of all the different American groups non-whites have the coolest feelings toward Jews. Now let's turn it around and see who Jews like the least.

Some might think the answer is obvious: Jews are white, so of course they like their own group the best. But others will say, the answer is obvious: Jews compete against whites and consider non-whites to be allies in the struggle. Or, much anti-Semitic persecution has come from whites--not blacks, Hispanics, or Asians--so it makes sense that Jews would dislike whites.

The GSS asked 46 American Jews how coolly they felt toward certain groups. Here are the means:


Mean coolness score

Whites 2.28
Blacks 2.89
Hispanics 3.16
Asians 3.07


The pattern mirrors what we saw in the earlier post. Of all the different ethnic groups, it is minorities that like Jews the least, and here we see that Jews like them less than they like whites. Race seems to trump any grievances Jews might have towards other whites.

I detect the implicit racial identification that I was writing about earlier. Whites, including Jews, feel affection for their own race. Non-whites don't like Jews as much as whites do. Why? Perhaps because they are a different race. As the black comedian Chris Rock said, "I don't hate Jews. I hate all white people."

4 comments:

  1. Another great Chris Rock racial quote (paraphrasing):

    "When it comes to affirmative action, here's what I think. I don't want to take a white person's job if I don't deserve it. But if it's tied, well fuck him."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:34 PM

    Incidentally, from my dealings and conversations during my travels abroad, Asians are one of the few groups in the world today that fundamentally understand the Jews at a sophisticated level a la Bowery and MacDonald, and are willing to express this understanding in conversations with Westerners.

    Most of them here though know the score about holding and expressing such understandings, or otherwise are assimilated into the PC orthodoxy through their time spent in universities.

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  3. Anonymous7:50 PM

    Asians within Asia generally have warm attitudes towards Jews and highly respect them, while generally slightly looking down on non-Jewish whites and Westerners.

    Asians value intelligence, wealth, and success, and see the Jews as their full equals, if not betters, in these respects, while having an attitude of slight disdain towards "regular" whites.

    It's interesting what you come across when you travel.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Personally I've found Asians to be warmest toward Jews.

    It's always been tough to get a true read on whites' feelings towards Jews just because they're so conscious of what you're supposed to think/say, the sensitivity of the topic, etc.

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