All the flavors of Jew

You know, it's nothing short of extraordinary. Once upon a time I only thought of the Jews as a single ethnic and religious grouping. It was a simple matter to blithly refer to the Self-Chosen as just "the Jews" and that alone would be identification enough.

But curiously, times have changed. It seems this appellation is no longer supportable. Some regard the word "Jew" alone as antisemitic! Instead, we are told, we should discriminate. We cannot tar all Jews with the same brush. They're not ALL conniving shysters hell-bent on destroying ordered society and stealing all our money. No. No - or so we are told. We are told it's dangerous to generalize about the Jews. The real problem is not the entirety of the Jewish people which form the Jewish diaspora, but rather a very few, distinct branches both within and (remarkably!) outside of it.

Most people plant the blame for the collective, rancid reputation of the Chosen Ones at the door of the Zionists. Then there is another strain we're told are more likely the cause of all life's problems: the Ashkanazis. Still others warn us that the real danger is the ultra-orthodox Jew. Becoming a bit confusing, isn't it? There are several other sub-species of these ubiquitous vultures, too: the Maranites, the Yemenites, the Reform, the Messianic, the secular, the Hisadic and so on to name but a few of an astonishing array of flavors. "Most Jews are just decent folk trying to get by, like you and me," we are repeatedly assured. "It's the Zionists! They're the real problem!" claim others. Or, "It's not the Jews at all, but a sinister tribe of eastern european devil-worshipers that arose around the foothills of the Carpathian mountains and adopted Judaism as a flag of convenience."

There are several variations on these themes, dear reader. The common denominator of them all, however, is that we are urged not to lump all "Jews" in the same basket, but to exercise some discrimination and recognize that it is a small and unrepresentative minority of irregular elements within the diaspora that constitute the real problem. "The vast majority of Jews are fundamentally decent, peace-loving people," their apologists at great pains to assure us. Yeah, right.

It's a confusing picture as I'm sure you will agree. You may well wonder with all these different varieties of the Children of Israel - who have clearly not merely survived but thrived into the 21st century - quite who it was Hitler actually wiped out between 1933-45! We can but marvel at the Jews' remarkable ability to re-establish themselves so successfully after having been virtually exterminated (as they would have us believe) less than 3 generations ago.

So yes, it's confusing; something of a smokescreen in fact, the skeptics might say.

No doubt it might be in the Jews' best interests to highlight all these various subtle ethnic and cultural distinctions that come within the burgeoning umbrella of Judaism, but Phaedrus at least finds the whole thing very unconvincing. Aside from which, it seems breathtakingly hypocritical for the Jews to urge us to discriminate between them when they have relentlessly brow-beaten, hectored and berated the rest of us for decades, if not centuries, on the need to eschew all forms of discrimination and embrace instead their discredited dogma that we are all in fact equal and essentially the same!

Come on, you duplicitous shysters. Who do you think you are fooling? you can't have it both ways.