It\u2019s gratifying that our society has become more open and tolerant. Whether it comes to race, religion, sexual preference or gender identity, there is an expectation of acceptance and accommodation the likes of which has never before existed. What\u2019s frustrating, however, is the one glaring exception: Jews in general and Israel in particular. We get it from both the left and the right. When people are going to bat to defend everyone\u2019s rights, why is vilifying Israel acceptable? And if American Muslims are not to blame for ISIS, nor American Christians for the Westboro Baptist Church or the KKK, then why is it okay to castigate Jews as if they were personally responsible for perceived injustices against the Palestinians?<\/p>\n
This is an old story, recently exacerbated by the US throwing Israel under the bus at the UN. Even before that, standing up for Israel on campus was often considered \u201chate speech\u201d while calls to eradicate not only Israel but Jews (who, ostensibly, were at least tacitly part of the problem) were acceptable. Aren\u2019t we<\/em> an oppressed minority? Where are our<\/em> defenders?<\/p>\n I have a thought that may explain this phenomenon. It has to do with punching up and punching down.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not familiar with these expressions, \u201cpunching up\u201d means taking potshots at those in power, while \u201cpunching down\u201d means to take digs at those who are somehow disadvantaged or downtrodden. Punching up is acceptable but punching down is not. Here\u2019s an example that clearly illustrates the point: rape humor is almost universally reviled. It\u2019s considered to be in spectacularly poor taste because it belittles and re-victimizes those who have suffered such an assault. That\u2019s punching down. And yet, the late-night talk show hosts love to take swipes at Bill Cosby who allegedly-I-don\u2019t-know-if-it\u2019s-been-proven-but-it\u2019s-commonly-accepted drugged women and took advantage of them when they were incapacitated. That\u2019s not making fun of rape, it\u2019s making fun of a rapist: \u201cHere\u2019s a guy who presented himself as a paragon of virtue but he\u2019s very much not. Let\u2019s take the wind out of his sails.\u201d It\u2019s punching up and therefore acceptable.<\/p>\n The dichotomy between punching up and punching down explains a number of apparent contradictions. Why is \u201cblack power\u201d acceptable but \u201cwhite power\u201d racist? Because the whites already have the power. The former phrase punches up in an attempt to equalize, the latter punches down, in an attempt to maintain the imbalance of the status quo. (See also Black Entertainment Television, Ebony<\/em> magazine, and other things whose white analogues would be considered racist.) Similarly, women\u2019s gyms, women\u2019s achievement awards, etc. are seen as safe spaces while male equivalents are considered glass ceilings to be broken. Again, it\u2019s because men have historically held all the cards and women have had to claw their way in to achieve a semblance of equality.<\/p>\n So what does this have to do with Jews and Israel? Simple enough. From an insider\u2019s perspective, we see ourselves as a tiny minority of the world population, nearly universally reviled. Seriously, if anyone needs a safe space, it\u2019s us. But how do others see us?<\/p>\n If you read comments online (which you shouldn\u2019t – they\u2019re terrible!), you will notice that there are people who honestly believe that we control the banks, the media, the US government and\/or the world. (Of course, if any of this were true, we\u2019d get better press, there wouldn\u2019t be a tuition crisis, etc.) There are even people who still believe in The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion<\/em> – an anti-Semitic treatise that couldn\u2019t be more transparently-fraudulent if it had \u201cThis Book is a Hoax\u201d stamped on the cover in gold. People who believe such things punch up at us.<\/p>\n Even excluding the conspiracy fringe, there are plenty of reasons one might think that attacking Israel and Jews is punching up rather than down. Just look at our successes. In its decades-long history, the modern nation of Israel – a tiny country with no oil, whose existence has been challenged since day one – has become a global leader in electronics, communications technology, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, water conservation, solar and geothermal energy, and more. Is it any wonder people view Israel as Goliath rather than David?<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t true just of Israel. Historically, Jews have thrived wherever we have lived. (This was often necessary just to survive!) An example of this is that 22% of individual Nobel Prize recipients between 1901 and 2016 were Jewish (or at least half-Jewish); 36% of all US Nobel Prize recipients for that period were Jewish. This is despite making up a mere 2% of the US population and 0.2% of the world population. We\u2019re rightly proud of such accomplishments but, again, this does not make us appear to be an oppressed minority in the eyes of the world.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the expression \u201cChosen People,\u201d which I believe is greatly misunderstood by Jews and non-Jews alike. I think the prophet Isaiah explained it best when he delivered the message, \u201cI, Hashem, have called you in righteousness, and have taken hold of your hand, and kept you, and set you for a covenant of the people, for a light to the nations\u201d (Isaiah 42:6). So \u201cChosen People\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cbetter than everyone else\u201d (how good or bad one is being a factor of one\u2019s actions); rather, it means \u201cheld to a higher standard in order to serve as an example.\u201d Nevertheless, if you\u2019re known as the nation singled out by God, people are going to read a lot into that and, honestly, there\u2019s no greater punching up than that.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t believe in blaming the victim and I\u2019m not justifying the way people demonize Israel or Jews. I\u2019m just hypothesizing as to the source of the phenomenon. It doesn\u2019t make it right to attack Israel, a nation that only wants to live in peace with its neighbors, nor to make pariahs of Jews who have nothing to do with Israeli political policy, let alone the banks or the media. Just next time, when you wonder why a \u201csocial justice warrior\u201d doesn\u2019t include Israel or Jews, be aware that it may be because he perceives attacking Israel as punching up, and therefore okay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s gratifying that our society has become more open and tolerant. Whether it comes to race, religion, sexual preference or gender identity, there is an expectation of acceptance and accommodation the likes of which has never before existed. What\u2019s frustrating, however, is the one glaring exception: Jews in general and Israel in particular. We get<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":54779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\n