Article 2: Are Jews Generic?
Misconception: The hostility that Jewish people have faced has been specific to their culture and/or ancestry.
Arguments:
-The hostility that Jews face is generic to all middlemen.
- Public resentment toward middlemen minorities, in general, is rooted in the observation that middlemen acquire wealth without adding any additional value to the market. (Chinese in Southeast Asia, Armenians of the Ottoman Empire, Ibos in Nigeria, etc).
- The middleman's role as intermediary between the producers and the customers makes them vulnerable to hostility during economic hardships.
" However unique any of these groups may be, historically the kind of hostility and hatred has been generic" (110).
Arguments:
-The hostility that Jews face is generic to all middlemen.
- Public resentment toward middlemen minorities, in general, is rooted in the observation that middlemen acquire wealth without adding any additional value to the market. (Chinese in Southeast Asia, Armenians of the Ottoman Empire, Ibos in Nigeria, etc).
- The middleman's role as intermediary between the producers and the customers makes them vulnerable to hostility during economic hardships.
" However unique any of these groups may be, historically the kind of hostility and hatred has been generic" (110).
- This cartoon illustrates the public's perception of Jewish bankers and businessmen as greedy, pitiless men of wealth.
- This makes them especially easy targets during economic crises, such as the one in Germany that brought about the rise of Hitler.
- In actuality, Jews had to work excessively hard to obtain their wealth, and their role as middlemen adds immense value to the market.