A Name Youll Soon Enough Know: Tom Perkins, a former Silicon Valley venture capitalist and News Corp. (fox news) Board Member recently made some insane and out of touch statements. Heres some thoughtful words on why Perkins was so very wrong (FYI: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) was the organized and systematic destruction of Jewish businesses, synagogues, homes and the attacks and murders of German Jews, initiating what later became known as the Holocaust): The headline of Mr. Perkins letter to the WSJ? Progressive Kristallnacht Coming? “I would call attention to the parallels of Nazi Germany to its war on its “one percent,” namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the “rich.” Um. Seriously? People of middle or lower income families protesting the concentration of wealth in America is the same as a political party in Germany instituting a policy of systematically killing 6 million Jews and countless more who didn’t fill the model Aryan citizen? And then there are the Jews of which I am one. Mr. Perkins. Jewish people weren’t persecuted merely for their financial successes and it’s total mythology to believe all Jewish people are wealthy despite our population over-indexing in education, arts and wealth. Jews were persecuted for being different. The sort of mindless intolerance that I see lobbed today against Muslim people, African Americans, gay couples and others. Jews followed their own rituals that made them seem “strange” to gentiles. Jews were excluded from trade guilds across Europe for hundreds of years which made it impossible for Jewish people to have a normal, stable income from the most important jobs of those era. Because they couldn’t have “normal” professions they become traders, peddlers, market makers and financiers. One only need watch Downtown Abbey to see what the wealthy classes of Europe thought of “businessmen.” We were hardly people of society. Study the origins of the retail sector and you’ll see Jews who emerged from market stalls like Marks & Spencer or Neiman Marcus. Read about the Schmatta business to learn one instance where Jews became great entrepreneurs out of need. As they say, “Necessity of the Mother of All Invention.” Jews weren’t persecuted for being rich. Jews were scapegoated whenever countries had economic problems simply because they were different and were an easy target for political leaders. It’s a societal consequence when times turn bad and people affected look for somebody to blame.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 06:15:17 +0000
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