Racism: The Arabs, the Jews and me

A note from Radarsite: Once again an article is born out of the comments thread. Sometimes, it seems that by attempting to respond to someone's statement we find that we have crystallized our own thoughts on the subject: in the process of explaining ourselves to someone else, we explain ourselves to ourself. Recently, a reader left the following comment to my Happy Anniversary Israel! article http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-anniversary-israel.html
By reposting this comment and my (updated) response to it here again it is not my intention to try to embarrass one of my readers -- who has made several previous thoughtful comments on Radarsite -- but rather to address the subject of this particular comment, which is, I feel, important and worthy of further discussion. Ironically, the commenter is apparently in agreement with the general thrust of my article; however, it is their reasons for agreeing that I find myself at odds with.

I will be very interested in my other reader's responses to this discussion. And, of course, if the original commenter wishes to respond to this new article I will gladly post their comments.

Here, then, is the original comment and my reply:

Jews are the market dominant minority of the middle east. That is why they are hated so much. Instead of admitting that Jews are probably genetically smarter than other races, Muslims come up with strange conspiracies to rationalize their inability to build successful, modern societies.

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Thank you for your comment. Although, I have to say, I can only agree with your last statement. As to the rest --

I think that Jews are hated by Arabs because they are Jews; it's an integral part of their "religion" and their culture. To look for any other explanations is, to me, beside the point, and perhaps in an odd way lends a certain credence to their murderous lunacies.

Also, I cannot buy into the racially "genetically smarter" concept any more than I can buy into the "genetically dumber" theory that was proposed here earlier about blacks. To me, I'm sorry, but this is what racism is. Pure and simple. It is the attempt to bring people into line with some pseudo-scientific formula; and such attempts have almost invariably proved disastrous.

I believe that I am a wholly original mysterious creation, capable of almost anything, worth much more than my IQ, or any other test devised by man to circumscribe the essence of my being. I believe that I am not living a proscribed life, predetermined by my genetic make-up. I believe that I am a product of my mother's genes and my father's genes; but that I am also an absolutely unique creation, who has never before existed on this planet. I refuse to believe that I am a slave to my genetics, that I have no control over my own destiny. Where I am at this particular moment is, I firmly believe, due almost entirely to my own actions -- or lack of actions. This belief gives my life meaning and hope.

In my view, the differences between Arabs and Jews is cultural, not genetic. One culture upholds the importance of educational achievement above all else, the other one upholds the importance of generational revenge. Guess whose going to succeed in this life?

I find this whole discredited social/political construct of genetics unsavory and weirdly reminiscent of those loony but inevitably deadly Nazi (and pre-Nazi Germanic) racial theories.

There is such a thing as the individual human spirit which, though undefinable and intangible, can be the determinate factor in one's existence. To attempt to describe people by race or nationality or genetics is to ignore this fundamental element of one's character.

Racism, again in my view, is just another form of simplistic thinking, driven by personal insecurities. We are dealing with competing cultures, one is born to succeed, the other is born to hate. This is not a genetic problem, it is a societal problem; and, in the final analysis, it is a parental problem.