first, the fact that right now America seems infinitely unlikely to kick us out doesn't do much to address the fear that underlies the zionist movement. we trusted in liberal democracy once, and (to be literal but tasteless) we got burned. it had looked to many educated Jews like developed Europe was on the brink of becoming some kind of paradise of moderate-socialist cosmopolitanism, and then things went to hell very quickly in a way that seemed at the time to come almost out of nowhere. it's hard to rule out the same thing happening in America, and, the theory goes, Israel is insurance against that. (i don't buy that it's very good insurance - i think it just creates an easier target, especially since there are a growing number of world powers that, if fanatically dedicated, could destroy all multicellular life in Israel pretty fucking quickly. i'd have preferred the plan where we stayed dispersed, and formed an international conspiracy complete with secret handshakes and Jewish militias. but then, i don't have a strong interest in participating in the Jewish community or way of life, and am mainly interested in this to the extent that, if history is any indication, when they come they'll come for me too.)
i think that the Jewish hostility against affirmative action is motivated in part by certain particular bad experiences. the major barriers to Jews getting access to higher education were quotas that turned them away at the door, not social and economic factors that kept them from getting to the door. i won't comment on which is worse, but it doesn't seem surprising that people who remember this experience should be hostile to anything that looks even remotely like quotas.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-31 04:10 pm (UTC)first, the fact that right now America seems infinitely unlikely to kick us out doesn't do much to address the fear that underlies the zionist movement. we trusted in liberal democracy once, and (to be literal but tasteless) we got burned. it had looked to many educated Jews like developed Europe was on the brink of becoming some kind of paradise of moderate-socialist cosmopolitanism, and then things went to hell very quickly in a way that seemed at the time to come almost out of nowhere. it's hard to rule out the same thing happening in America, and, the theory goes, Israel is insurance against that. (i don't buy that it's very good insurance - i think it just creates an easier target, especially since there are a growing number of world powers that, if fanatically dedicated, could destroy all multicellular life in Israel pretty fucking quickly. i'd have preferred the plan where we stayed dispersed, and formed an international conspiracy complete with secret handshakes and Jewish militias. but then, i don't have a strong interest in participating in the Jewish community or way of life, and am mainly interested in this to the extent that, if history is any indication, when they come they'll come for me too.)
i think that the Jewish hostility against affirmative action is motivated in part by certain particular bad experiences. the major barriers to Jews getting access to higher education were quotas that turned them away at the door, not social and economic factors that kept them from getting to the door. i won't comment on which is worse, but it doesn't seem surprising that people who remember this experience should be hostile to anything that looks even remotely like quotas.