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Home Front: Culture Wars
ADL Says Thirty-five Million Americans Harbor A Hatred For Jews
2011-11-04
A nationwide survey released Thursday by the Anti-Defamation League found that 15% of the country holds deeply anti-Semitic views — and as the economy worsens that number appears to be growing.

19% answered “probably true” to the statement “Jews have too much control/influence on Wall Street,” a five percentage point increase since 2009.

14% agreed with the statement that "Jews have too much power in the U.S. today," an increase from 13% in 2009.

15% agreed Jews are "more willing to use shady practices."

16% agreed that Jewish "business people are so shrewd, others don't have a chance."

Other anti-Jewish canards continue to be believed by millions of Americans.

Some 31% believe the Jews were responsible for crucifying Christ. And 30% — a percentage that has stayed steady since 1964 — insist Jews are “more loyal to Israel than to America.”

Nearly half of all respondents agreed with the statement that Jews "stick together more than other Americans.” And a quarter of the country says Jews “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.”

The survey found that the most-educated Americans were the least prejudiced and foreign-born Hispanics were more likely to hate Jews than U.S. born Hispanics.

Some 29% of the African-Americans surveyed expressed strong anti-Semitic views.

On the plus side, even the anti-Semites gave Jews credit for their strong faith in God (79%), being big on family (84%), and for contributing to American cultural (64%).

The telephone survey of 1,754 adults was done in October.
The trouble is that Abraham Foxman, director of the ADL, has utterly subverted the ADL to the Democrat party platform, far ahead of Jewish interests. This makes the purpose of this poll questionable, at best.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#25  A few small corrections, mom:

1. The Sadducees were Bibilical Law originalists, hewing to those laws laid out by God in the Five Books of Moses, the Torah, aka "the Written Law" but not accepting the modifications developed by the rabbis starting during the First Exile (6th century BCE). Many of the Temple priests (but not all) hewed to this interpretation, but so did a great many others, both in the Jewish provinces and community of exile which stretched from Spain to India, and south into Africa. The Sadducees cared only about God's Law, which delineated not only which animal sacrifices were to be made when, but also required that slaves and animals be given the Sabbath as a day of rest as well as their Jewish masters.

No question that the high priests were quite well off and by all accounts had become quite corrupt... and some were very lax indeed in their personal observance of the Law, even hanging out with the Romans in their gymnasia. But given that even the sweepers in the Temple were of the priestly tribe of Levi, and that quite a few commoners didn't hold with the rabbinic innovations, it seems quite likely that a sizeable contingent of Sadducees had a good deal more children than money to feed them with.

There are still groups of Jews who stick only to the Written Law. The Karaites come to mind, but there are others, some of which claim direct descent from the Sadducees of old.

2. I am a Pharisee. The Pharisees are the rabbinic Jews, who follow the Oral Law, written and argued over in the Talmud and the Mishnah...and in rabbinic arguments which continue to this day. The purpose of these arguments is to understand how ancient laws in the Torah can best be observed in light of the changed times -- the first discussions were about the substitution of charity and prayer for sacrifices in the Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE. In the past century there has been extensive discussion about whether turning on and off electricity constitutes work which should not be done on the Sabbath; I believe the conclusion was that since people must work to ensure that electricity is produced, turning it on or off is the same as having as servant light or douse a candle, although it is likely I'm wrong about the details of the argument, never having studied the Oral Law in detail. Nowadays there is a wide range of observance which falls within accepted Judaism, from Ultra-Orthodox so hairsplitting they will eat nothing but fresh-picked fruit at another's table to those who happily eat pork with lobster sauce for lunch on Yom Kippur, while the rest of us fast.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-11-04 23:54  

#24  Man do I hate these advocacy groups - especially the ethinic ones like the ADL, SPL, NAACP, GLAAD, Bill Donohue and hundreds of others. We've come so far in this country, but these organizations depend on funding and publicity so they have no incentives to recognize progress, and every reason to promote alarm and crisis.

They actually exacerbate the problem by making these accusations, bolstering suspicions and emnity (no likes being called a bigot) among non-members of their group, encouraging a sense of victimhood and persecution among members of their group and just raising resentments in general.

One more thing, stereotypes do exist, and in general, I feel they should be.....a source of great comedy.
Posted by: DJ Curtis C   2011-11-04 22:23  

#23  Meanwhile 43.56 percent of us think it would be cool if aliens walked amongst us.
Posted by: badanov   2011-11-04 22:01  

#22  The figure's actually 17.28 percent.
Posted by: Xenthmurp the Arcturan   2011-11-04 21:37  

#21  "and c) there are some things that transcend linear logic."

Acknowledged, lotp. ;-p


"15% of the U.S. think that aliens are among us."

I'm shocked, rammer. Only 15%?
Posted by: Barbara   2011-11-04 21:03  

#20  Shit, 15% of the U.S. think that aliens are among us. Hey I have and idea, let's do a survey in Pakistan on Jew hate. And Iran. And the Magic Kingdom. And Algeria. And France.

Fuck you survey man.

Do the hard work and tell me something.
Posted by: rammer   2011-11-04 20:34  

#19  go to your room
Posted by: Frank G   2011-11-04 20:30  

#18  Pilate is described as only reluctantly executing Jesus at the demand of the Jewish Sanhedrin.

And he did give us that exercise program.
Posted by: SteveS   2011-11-04 20:20  

#17  and c) there are some things that transcend linear logic.
Posted by: lotp   2011-11-04 18:37  

#16  @Barbara -

a) Because in 3 of the 4 Gospels, Pilate is described as only reluctantly executing Jesus at the demand of the Jewish Sanhedrin.

b) Felix Culpa - but still Culpa
Posted by: lotp   2011-11-04 18:32  

#15  Mom: and the Pharisees, who used legal hairsplitting to reduce the Mosaic Law to the reductio ad absurdem in their efforts to apply the Law to every single situation.


Oh, so they're Democrats...
Posted by: Steve White   2011-11-04 18:26  

#14  Oh, I know the story and the backstory, mom. I'm still waiting for a logical explanation as to (a) why Christians blame the Jews instead of the Romans/Italians, who did the actual killing, and (b) why they're not thankful for the death so they can be redeemed.

Without that logical explanation (for which I'm not holding my breath), looks like bigotry to me.
Posted by: Barbara   2011-11-04 18:16  

#13  Israel, Germany, France, UK, Italy, US, Egypt, Soddy Arabia, Mexico. You name it. It is not just a Jewish thing. There are always gonna be people like the Pharisees and Sadducees who cannot allow the truth to be told.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2011-11-04 18:10  

#12  I think if Jesus came back today in just about any country of the world and started talking the way he did the first time around, he would still get killed.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2011-11-04 18:01  

#11  Ask Foxman. Every last one of these haters is a Christian fundie. Muslims...pretty mellow and no trouble on that end.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2011-11-04 17:52  

#10  HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS, by Darrell Huff
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2011-11-04 17:20  

#9  Barbara: The Romans, as the Greeks before them, found that trying to stuff their religions down the Jews' throats created more trouble than it was worth (see Maccabees). Greek and Roman religion had a muddle of arbitrary, fallible gods who had to be placated and who could zap a person for no reason worse than the divine equivalent of a hangover. The Greeks and Romans couldn't understand a people who would face death rather than deny a God who spells out His expectations and tells His people "I have loved you with an everlasting love." So the Romans gave the Jews a sort of free pass to practice their faith without having to offer sacrifices to "The genius of Caesar".

The Jews tended to stick to their own communities and deal as little as possible with their Greek, Roman, and other neighbors. Often the neighbors were insulted by this. Other times, the Jews got along at least politely with their neighbors; and the neighbors became very interested in hearing about their God. A lot of Gentiles practiced the Jewish Law, at least in part.

Pontius Pilate was a political hack, who had gotten himself into deep trouble because he tried to set up a Roman Standard in the Temple. This act of blazing stupidity caused a riot. Tiberius and the Roman Senate didn't like governors who did stupid things that provoked riots.

The political hacks among the Jewish elders included the Saducees, who were very rich and powerful and paid lip service to the Law but didn't give a flying damn about actually following it; and the Pharisees, who used legal hairsplitting to reduce the Mosaic Law to the reductio ad absurdem in their efforts to apply the Law to every single situation. So when Jesus criticized them, the politicians were terrified. The Sadducees didn't want anybody rocking the boat and the Pharisees were furious that Jesus questioned their personal righteousness. They were also terrified that the popular movement that threatened their own authority would threaten the safety of Judea and Galilee.

So they knew just how to force Pilate into carrying out their wishes. Pilate's career and life would have been over if another riot broke out. (Pilate screwed up a later assignment, was cashiered and ordered to commit suicide by Caligula)

The tragic issues of hatred of Jews in Europe stems partly from the Roman-era's Jews' tendency to isolate themselves from their "unclean" neighbors and partly to people confusing the actions of the political powers with the action of the nation as a whole.
Posted by: mom   2011-11-04 17:12  

#8  "And still getting that bad rap for the crucifixion, I see."

I've never understood that. The Italians (Romans) crucified Jesus, even after the local Itanian "leader" stated he was innocent. So why don't the haters hate the Italians and instead make them Pope?

For that matter, IIUC Jesus had to die to save other people (Christians) from their sins, so why aren't they thanking the people who killed him? After all, without his death/resurrection they wouldn't have a religion.

Why, other than idiocy, I mean.
Posted by: Barbara   2011-11-04 15:40  

#7  > 16% agreed that Jewish "business people are so shrewd, others don't have a chance."

> Some 31% believe the Jews were responsible for crucifying Christ

I wouldn't call that hate myself...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2011-11-04 15:13  

#6  I really would like to see such data mapped out. Same with other 'hatreds'. The left loves to point fingers calling the red states hillbillies and racists. Lets find out. I suspect most on Rantburg wouldn't be surprised when the MSM's dog ate their results.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2011-11-04 15:05  

#5  That's what, like one-in-eight?

Even with the small sample size, that's a pretty good score, if ya ask me.

And still getting that bad rap for the crucifixion, I see. Hello - Roman punishment, guys. The Jews would have stoned him, more than likely.

Whether or not he said "Jehovah", presumably.
Posted by: mojo   2011-11-04 14:58  

#4  I could be really rude and suggest that most of the anti-Semitism comes from the progressive left, and that (to answer Dale's question) the list they used came from the Democratic Underground...
Posted by: Steve White   2011-11-04 13:39  

#3  35 million people? Oh noes! The horror...

Hey, wait. With a population of 300 million, 35 million is only about 12%. I'm willing to bet that for any given topic, you can find 12% of the population that hate it. We *are* a passionate people, after all.

Add in the sampling issues Dale mentions, and I call shenanigans on the whole thing. Makes a nice scary headline, though.
Posted by: SteveS   2011-11-04 13:17  

#2  Very small sample.I would like to see where they purchased their list. Who answers the home phone nowadays. I would also like to see where in this country it was done. I agree "as the economy worsens that number appears to be growing". Anyone who is even thought to have any wealth is a target with the signals sent by this administration. Just substitute Asian, or White I'd bet similar results. "most-educated Americans were the least prejudiced" I don't believe that for a second.
Posted by: Dale   2011-11-04 12:46  

#1  Like that's news?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2011-11-04 12:37  

00:00