re: Someone please explain the historical hatred of Jews...

quote:

---

Moreso than any other sect.

---

There are lots of groups that have been persecuted for various reasons, but Jews have survived that persecution, for whatever reason. That persecution gave Jewish peoples a shared identity, history and a set of experiences which have made them distrustful of non-Jewish peoples.

Historical hatred of Jews has moved in a couple of phases. First there was anti-Jewish feeling, which is distinct from antisemitic feeling, as it was based on religion alone rather than ethnic grouping. That religious feeling changed to a more general ethnic one once Europeans themselves saw themselves as ethnic groups, which was based on a shared language, culture, and religious feeling. The latter, racial antisemitism, has been the most destructive, in my view, because it allowed Europeans to wash their hands of the general antisemitic feeling that characterized European-Jewish interaction for much of history. Not only did it lead to the greatest loss of life, but it also somehow erased the degree to which there was a general antisemitic feeling in all of Europe, a feeling which helped create a situation where the massive loss of life could occur.