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Re: Amerindian resistance mode (was: amerindian an offensive
Stephen Barnard (steve@megafauna.com)
Fri, 09 Aug 1996 19:05:29 -0800
Matt Silberstein wrote:
>
> Stephen Barnard <steve@megafauna.com> wrote:
>
> >Matt Silberstein wrote:
> >>
> >> Unfortunately acceptance is, in the long run, more dangerous to the
> >> Indigenous Peoples culture than fighting. Acceptance and assimilation
> >> of Jews and Jewish culture in the U.S. has had a dramatically
> >> devastating affect.
>
> >You have a lot of nerve to write this. There are more Jews in the US
> >than in any other country, including Israel. Antisemitic sentiment is
> >rampant throughout the world, including the US, but the Jews have found
> >a refuge in the US like nowhere else, outside Israel (which the US
> >supports wholeheartedly, much to its peril, and rightly so). Jews have
> >access to the highest economic and social positions in the US. True, a
> >Jew isn't likely to be elected President, but neither is an atheist like
> >me. Would you prefer that there were no "acceptance and assimilation of
> >Jews and Jewish culture in the U.S."?
>
> Could you explain what you mean that I "have a lot of nerve" to write
> that. You seemed to think that I am saying this is an anti-semitic
> country. I am not. I am saying that acceptance can be distructive to
> culture. Yes, the U.S. has a large Jewish population. There is also a
> very high % of mixed marriages. I would prefer acceptance but not
> assimilation. I value cultural diversity, but it is difficult to
> maintain cultural identity against a dominant culture. One of the
> things that kept Jewish culture alive for the last 2000 years was the
> lack of acceptance by the general population.
> --------------------
>
> What is the scariest line you know? How about:
>
> "My name is Number 6, what's yours?"
I didn't think that you were saying that the US is an anti-Semitic
country (although it is at times), and I'm sorry if you took it that
way.
What peeved me, and what you may not have intended, was the implication
that someone's choice to assimilate is somehow shameful or intrinsically
a bad thing. It's just an individual's choice, and no one has a right
to judge them for it.
If Jews want to preserve their culture intact in the US they will have
to live in isolated communities, like the Amish. This is happening, and
more power to them. If they don't then their children will be enticed
by the temptations of the larger culture, for better or for worse.
Jews, and other ethnic groups, have contributed immensely to the culture
of the US. I think that history will look back on the melting pot of
the US as a pivotal development in human culture. Since I come from an
extremely "mongrelized" family this may be self-serving, but I believe
it none-the-less.
Steve Barnard
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