What I mean is that historians and moral philosophers often touch but rarely explore the complicity of victimhood, assuming defeat imposes compliance. Humor may be the gateway to understanding but it is no less painful.
You make a good point. Most historians don’t want to touch victims’ responsibility with a 10 foot pole for fear of being perceived as “blaming the victim.” But that is a mistake because there are useful lessons to be extracted from examining how and why a group came to be victimized. Without in the slightest way excusing the perpetrators of antisemitism, is there anything reasonable that the Jewish people could have done to more effectively prevent their victimization? It seems as though the modern Israeli state has said “yes, here’s what we could have done and we’re doing it now. Since much of the world, particularly the Middle Eastern world, is divided into the victims and the victors, through military power, we will keep ourselves in the latter category.” But that appears to be having disastrous results as well. Perhaps this is such a strong part of human nature that, given the circumstances, it was the inevitable result of the formation of a Jewish state in a region without a tradition of tolerance. But the phrase “beware the unloved” comes to mind, and the world has been short on love for the Jewish people.
There has always been Jewish resistance. When Einstein fled Germany in 1933 and renunciated absolute pacifism he readily assented to signing Szilard's letter to FDR encouraging a nuclear weapons program. Jewish resistance, while stealthy, has always existed. The tragedy for Israel and the Palestineans has been the malignant transformation of resistance into unbounded savagery.
What I mean is that historians and moral philosophers often touch but rarely explore the complicity of victimhood, assuming defeat imposes compliance. Humor may be the gateway to understanding but it is no less painful.
You make a good point. Most historians don’t want to touch victims’ responsibility with a 10 foot pole for fear of being perceived as “blaming the victim.” But that is a mistake because there are useful lessons to be extracted from examining how and why a group came to be victimized. Without in the slightest way excusing the perpetrators of antisemitism, is there anything reasonable that the Jewish people could have done to more effectively prevent their victimization? It seems as though the modern Israeli state has said “yes, here’s what we could have done and we’re doing it now. Since much of the world, particularly the Middle Eastern world, is divided into the victims and the victors, through military power, we will keep ourselves in the latter category.” But that appears to be having disastrous results as well. Perhaps this is such a strong part of human nature that, given the circumstances, it was the inevitable result of the formation of a Jewish state in a region without a tradition of tolerance. But the phrase “beware the unloved” comes to mind, and the world has been short on love for the Jewish people.
How do we turn that around! If only we could!!!
There has always been Jewish resistance. When Einstein fled Germany in 1933 and renunciated absolute pacifism he readily assented to signing Szilard's letter to FDR encouraging a nuclear weapons program. Jewish resistance, while stealthy, has always existed. The tragedy for Israel and the Palestineans has been the malignant transformation of resistance into unbounded savagery.
Ah, the banality about the humor of evil!