Comments on: Boycotting Israeli universities: A self-imposed death sentence

By: david foster

david foster — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:54:19 +0000

True, there was plenty of anti-Semitism in the West, but it was generally on the decline.
The universities, especially the Ivy League, had indeed often discriminated against
Jews, but by the mid-1960s had moved more toward meritocracy in their admissions policies.

I think the hostility toward Israel that emanatesh from today’s “progressive” movement
is part & parcel of the generally counter-Enlightenment orientation of that movement.

By: Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:37:35 +0000

That’s not entirely true. There was plenty of anti-Semitism in the west before the university crowd made the Palestinian cause fashionable. And there was plenty of anti-Semitism on universities before the late sixties, too.

By: Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:36:11 +0000

I know someone who grew up in the heart of blonde-hair-blue-eyed-land—with the misfortune of having black hair. She was teased mercilessly by her fellow students for that, and other reasons.

Nice people.

By: david foster

david foster — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:28:31 +0000

Anti-Israel sentiment–and outright anti-Semitism–is, in the Western world, largely a
product of the universities. It’s not the Rotary Club or the Chamber of Commerce or
the Plumber’s Union that are passing resolutions against Israel.

By: Herschel

Herschel — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:42:07 +0000

I live in Minnesota, and know first hand how the Swedes/Norwegian deal with each other! Most of it is just harmless joking, but there is a thread of animosity between the two groups that surfaces periodically.

By: anon

anon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:02:07 +0000

Have you ever asked a Scandinavian why Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland aren’t a single country? After all they are
all the same ethnicity. And all nominally Christian.

Ask one sometime.

You will receive an interesting answer.

Something like “You just don’t understand the way those Swedes|Norwegians|Finns|Danes|Icelanders REALLY are. You Simply can’t
trust them. And they don’t take enough baths. And they breed like pigs. And they have no culture”

Yet they almost always the first people to lecture Israelis on how to behave.

By: Tatterdemalian

Tatterdemalian — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:09:39 +0000

I’m pretty sure it’s a case of environment, not genetics. In this case, the same cultural tradition of authoritarianism, so deeply ingrained that socialism actually works reasonably well there, also results in a deep superstitious mistrust of cultures that accept an individual right and responsibility to see to ones’ own defense (such as Israelis doing whatever it takes to defend themselves against Palestinian agression, with rapidly declining concern for what Norwegians think of their actions).

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:04:04 +0000

Hmmm, wonder if all that snow and cold has caused a genetic mutation in the common sense area of Norwegian gray matter?