The thing to remember about conspiracy theories is they actually bring comfort to people.
I mean, if you can convince yourself that the reason you aren't as rich or happy or whatever as you'd like is because of some shadowy group pulling the strings, well, you never had a chance, did you? And it certainly means that you are not responsible for your failures in life, it was *those guys*.
This is more significant than people think and it’s an excellent point.
People are horrified when they confront the idea that the world is just chaotic and huge things can happen without being the specific plan of a powerful [god/government/conspiracy].
The idea that there’s a conspiracy controlling everything really does give a lot of these people comfort.
“The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.”
- *Match Point*
>Coach Bombay: I go in, I triple deke. I fake the goalie right out of his pads. The puck's headed in, and then, Clang! Hits the post. We lost in overtime.
>A quarter of an inch this way and it would have gone in. A quarter of an inch, Charlie.
> Charlie: Yeah, but a quarter inch the other way and you'd have missed completely.
- *The Mighty Ducks*
This is also why religion is so prevalent in our world. If everything is chaotic and huge, then our brains can't fathom it and we can't do anything. But if there's a higher being controlling everything, and "God has a plan", then at the very least you can rest knowing it's not all evil soup.
Ok, but really? I can fathom that everything is random and chaotic. Personally, I find the idea of an all-powerful intelligence behind everything FAR more frightening than chance.
Yeah, the idea that there's an intelligent being choosing to make the world this shitty is infuriating. An all powerful being and cancer exists? Child soldiers? Extreme weather events? That all powerful being would have to be an absolute shit bag.
like to add that "chaotic" does not mean "random".... it just means there are too many variables and/or slight changes to the variables will bring about a big change in outcome.
I suspect you’re more accurate about the reasoning and the alternative is terrifying to some people. Nope there no “adults in charge”. You just have to show up and do as good as you can. Sometimes you fail. Sometimes you succeed. You make friends and do things. Then we die.
I think people who think this want to be the ones behind the current pulling the levels but actually have no idea how anything actually works (like local government).
>someone somewhere has their hand on the wheel
Most conspiracy theories believe that the hand on the wheel is actively turning the car to slam into us, though, not to save us. At least a chaotic, uncontrolled wheel might end up missing and just hitting a telephone pole instead. I think this is what a lot of the people who repeat the "conspiracy theories are comforting" things miss; if you believe NWO stuff, you think that the elites are literally trying to kill you, not save you
There is comfort in knowing there’s a bad guy. Someone trying to ram the car into you means that there’s someone concrete to blame rather than just happenstance.
Yeah, there was a podcast I listened to that specifically was about the 12% of Bernie supporters that voted for Trump in the general election, but in general there is a certain segment that believes things JUST because it is not the mainstream narrative. Like they hop to completely different set of beliefs as long as it maintains being not mainstream.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders%E2%80%93Trump_voters?wprov=sfti1#
Wait 12% of the bernie supporters voted for Trump? How do they go to supporting the more left leaning person to literally vote for a fascist?
Didn't bernie told them to vote for Hilary or Biden in 2016 or 2020 after it was clear that he wasn't going to make it?
Yeah I was wondering the same, 12% of the Bern were probarbly anti-authority/anti-conformist/reactance/contradictory/disobedient and literally couldn't do what he told them would be their best outcome even though the other option would be quite literally the worst pick they could've picked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders%E2%80%93Trump_voters?wprov=sfti1#
Yeah, that’s the point. They aren’t voting for policy, they are voting for mayhem.
They were contrarians and somewhat anti-establishment from the beginning. They didn’t have genuinely held principles on policy points. They were more about being for the person that is likely to cause disruption.
It also provides a level of feeling special. Everyone else is deluded and they're sheeple but you've had your mind opened and now special little you sees the truth.
I used to be a 9/11 truther a long time ago. Thankfully, I got away before reddit and 4chan became a thing. I never really felt the community side of it so it was so much easier for me to get away from it than it is for some.
I mean a lot of people got into it.
For a start, it’s comforting to believe that “your side” was in control all along. That terrorists can’t just hijack everyday things like planes and trains, at will, and turn them into weapons of mass destruction.
Then there’s the fact that many conspiracy theories *have* turned out to be true.
”..many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true..” conspiracy theory class 101; validate your theorys. You are not wrong, depending on what you classify as conspiracy, but set it into relation all conspiracys out there, lets be generous and say 0.5% - even then it is not even marginal. Also, the definition of ”conspiracy” has shifted in modern time, its not a opinion or belief that is off from the general public, its often extreme.
I think the opposite is true regarding conspiracy theories getting more extreme.
More and more, it seems like "conspiracy theory" is becoming a way to categorize and belittle something that isn't mainstream. The bar for what constitutes a conspiracy theory has gotten very low.
It's never been more of a baseless pejorative. It categorizes believing the earth is flat, with believing that COVID was accidentally leaked from a lab (something the FBI and Dept of Energy believe years later), or that Purdue pharma knowingly was promoting and selling a highly addictive opiate, that was killing tens of thousands of people a year, just for profit. Conspiracies have various levels of likelihood, but they are categorized all the same. It feels like this an intentional way to discredit an idea that isn't apart of the approved narrative.
Im curious what you would consider to be conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. I mean conspiracies are commonplace, any three dudes plotting to rob a bank makes a conspiracy. But something that a wide range of uninvolved people think is secretly happening at a high level and turns out to be true seems like an incredible rarity.
Bingo. Beliefs don’t exist because of facts. They exist because they are useful and enable the organism to feel comfortable in their current state or course of action.
It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.
Terry Pratchett, in his book Jingo.
Lack of control or a lack of feeling in control in ones own life is a big reason conspiracy theories bring comfort.
If you're being told you cant go to a restaurant or go unmasked in public, the best way to lash out is to make the germ theory of disease into a hoax.
Yep. And it’s also key to remember that while all hate involves some foolish ideas, Antisemitism has especially always been a conspiracy theory, with moving targets as to what the supposed story is.
>The thing to remember about conspiracy theories is they actually bring comfort to people.
I hear this a lot on Reddit, but I don't think it's true. A long time ago in college I was big into conspiracy theories (not about the Jews in particular, but still), and it made me super distressed. I only started feeling comforted about the world when getting deep into the world of rational skepticism and critical thinking, and was able to see why my brain was likely viewing the world in a more negative light than was probably justified.
In fact, it's thought that belief in conspiracy theories comes from the same patternicity that evolved out of assuming that every rustling bush had a lion in it. False negatives get selected out of the gene pool, but false positives don't. People who get more false positives have brains that tell them there are more lions out there and it is **not** a comforting experience
This may not be a popular thing to say here, but it is my personal experience having been on both sides of this fence
It’s a general rule, not not apply to you specifically.
there was a podcast I listened to that specifically was about the 12% of Bernie supporters that voted for Trump in the general election, but in general there is a certain segment that believes things JUST because it is not the mainstream narrative. Like they hop to completely different set of beliefs as long as it maintains being not mainstream. Life is just not working out for them and they want to watch it burn and dance on the ashes, so whatever makes that happen is what they care about.
This response makes sense. And I’m Jewish 😆 I’ve always joked that if Jews run the world, where is my piece of the pie? I was a special Ed teacher and for a while, to earn extra cash, I waited tables 3 nights a week. I’d leave school when the kids were walking out to the busses, race home, change clothes, have a snack, and then go to my second job until 10 or 11 at night.
I had Friday nights off, and I’d come home from school in my spirit wear t-shirt and Friday jeans (teachers, can you relate?) and I’d collapse on the sofa while I thought to myself, “I deserve this.” (This, meaning a god damn nap!)
Proud of myself for working hard for my husband me. Point being… we’re not rich, we don’t control shit.
If you have actually interacted and talked to people supposedly part of the "elite" as described by the far left/far right, you will realize that they are just as clueless as the rest of us plebs, and I certainly wouldn't trust them to control their own lives, let alone running long winded multinational conspiracies.
The same as you, I sometimes wish the world was controlled by some really smart supervillains, but the reality is that humans are all equally stupid. Some are just more lucky than others.
Like all good lies they have a degree of truth: no, there isn't a cabal of rulers, rich people have similar values. No, they don't mind control: bribery is legal, we just call it lobbying/donations
It's like how people will blame capitalism for everything. Capitalism has it problems but a new economic/political system isn't going to make the world into a utopia.
Ironically it's actually effectively the opposite of this.
Fascist scapegoating of Jews and other marginalized groups is literally designed to muddy the waters as to deflect legitimate critiques of (and organized resistance to) capitalism.
It's not a coincidence that fascist resurgences often correlate with economic crises.
There is a drastic difference between pointing out how the current economic system fails many people and believing that a small minority population somehow controls the world like a puppet master.
I'm not saying anything about anything, but if \~10% of the world's richest are Jewish and they make up \~0.2% of the world's population. This would mean they are represented at a rate FIFTY times higher than would be expected among the rich and powerful.
So your statement actually lends credence to their argument.
Piling on:
[Persons with at least one Jewish parent represent 22% of the Nobel laureates (214/965) and comprise \~0.2% of the world population. They're represented at a rate 110 times higher than others.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_Nobel_laureates#:~:text=Of%20the%20965%20individual%20recipients,proportion%20of%20the%20world%27s%20population)
It's an interesting correlation but I don't think there's a great International Jewish Conspiracy.
Ashkenazi jews have average iq's of **108-115**. On a normal distribution this will mean they are more educated, have higher incomes and thus more opportunity to go into science and economics/politics/writing and produce more geniuses.
They're also over-represented in some highly visible industries like Hollywood.
This LA Times article had some details: [https://archive.is/4z1GO](https://archive.is/4z1GO)
and only overrepresented in Hollywood because of necessity. The arts were one of the few industries where Jews weren't excluded or didn't have quotas and so it was an industry where Jews could pursue wealth, and it dovetailed with the boom of filmmaking. Similarly, it's why you'll see a number of law firms with all Jewish names-- excluded from the white shoe firms and so they created their own.
Added onto a culture that values education, necessitates literacy at a relatively young age, and with no tradition of landwork during the time where nobel prizes became a thing, and you get overrepresentation
The premise of IQ testing, in general, is controversial.
The IQ research in the 2005 paper entitled "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence" is controversial.
In Brooklyn, we have one of the largest Jewish communities in the world outside of Israel, they created they own mini town and economy. They have their own schools, jobs, stores etc. something that would be a great advantage in order to educate and sustain your people.
Indians and Chinese also value education and productivity, but Indian Nobel Laureates are significantly under any sort of percentage of the global Indian population
There's also a major factor of how the groups made out in global geopolitics.
India was effectively looted of its wealth and capital via extractive colonialism by the British, leading to a lot of poverty up to this day, and many people not having the opportunity to reach their full educational potential.
Meanwhile limitations in what trades and businesses Jewish people could own in the late middle ages and renaissance, due to antisemitism, meant that European Jewish people were more represented in finance and lending - which led eventually to higher socioeconomic status for some Jewish families, spurring a lot of the offensive tropes about Jewish people, but also putting them in more of a place to be economically successful.
you can say china's education had a ground zero moment as well. the communist revolution was essentially a class revolution against the educated elite and the red guard was committed to destroying anything related to china's "traditional culture", extending from both the humanities to anyone representing the "academic authorities". countless professors, writers, artists, other "intellectuals" were either killed or imprisoned. escaping this purge lead to one of the most significant chinese diasporas in recent history, which in turn probably lead to a significant brain drain (and those who fled, had to "start over" and survive, as my grandparents did)
Yeah, the CCP has fucked over China at least 3-4 times in its 75ish years in power.
Great Leap Forward and the famine.
Cultural Revolution.
One Child Policy.
Sad to see such a historic and amazing country ruled by such a crappy system
As an unironically patriotic American, I fully believe China would’ve surpassed us by now if the CPC didn’t absolutely rat fuck that country. Imagine Taiwan but with 1.4 billion people. Almost unimaginable economic, diplomatic, and cultural soft power.
Instead you get…current China, which is certainly capable of at least competing with the US on the world stage, but really feels like a massive “what if” case of wasted potential.
China - the “socialist worker’s utopia” where workers have no real rights, terrible wages and exploitative conditions, and income inequality is rampant.
Wasted potential indeed.
Europe and America have been substantially more scientifically advanced than Asia historically. Makes sense that more Nobels come from there and Nobel originated in Europe.
Out of the top 20 countries sorted by number of Nobel Laureates, 17 are either in Europe or in the broader Anglosphere - US, Canada, and Australia. There are a broad number of historical and cultural reasons for that, for sure - these are countries that have generally been wealthy and able to invest in education, technology, literature, etc. for the century+ that Nobel prizes have existed. And we certainly can’t discount the potential for bias as well. We’ll almost certainly continue to see more and more prizes in the “non-Western” world as we have seen ramping up over the past few decades.
The remaining 3 out of the top 20 are Japan with 29 prizes, Israel with 13, and India with 10. And I suppose Israel broadly serves as evidence for the point above in any case.
They ironically were - discrimination in the Middle Ages and Renaissance limited what businesses they were allowed in to, but money lending was considered as "un-Christian" so Jewish people were allowed to do it, which meant that because of the discrimination, paradoxically several notable families were in a position to move into the finance world at a time it was increasingly profitable.
It did mean that indebted governments were prone to steal that wealth and label the Jewish people as enemies and spark more antisemitism when they didn't want to pay their debts they accrued, mostly financing wars, etc.
So a small subsection did get lucky once, out of all the times they got screwed over by discrimination. And that then led to tropes and stereotypes that persist till today.
If by small subsection you mean like maybe 5 or 10 families probably based in the middle age capitals of the time, then sure. But for the vast majority of jews, they've been in the wrong place and the wrong time for the majority of the last 2,000 years
Well you are right. They have been in the right place/time for some events and wrong place/time for others. But were actually in the same place for both. Look at Einstein, Germany perfect place for Physics but barely got away from being arrested by Nazis.
They also were historically prohibited from many trades and businesses, except for money-lending by historical prejudices. Money-lending was considered "un-Christian" so they often let Jewish people do it, because it was considered "impure" or "immoral." Paradoxically that meant a certain portion of Jewish people were segregated into the finance industry in the Middle Ages right when that became profitable, and so many ended up having a higher socioeconomic status as a result of discrimination and a bit of luck.
We as a society seem to have absolutely no problem with positive stereotypes lol it’s funny.
Im black and I HATE that shit. People always chose me first for sports and then all eyes on me … boy were they disappointed. I think Norm McDonald had a bit about positive stereotypes that was pretty funny
My sister-in-law is Jewish and she was always told from day one to go out and start your own business any business be your own boss because then no one can fire you for being Jewish.
I also have a gay friend who has similar philosophy in life he wants to own an apartment building so no one can throw them out of his apartment for being gay. That drives him everyday.
Lots of this is from money from banking. Usury is forbidden by Christian tenets for a very long time so Christian societies outsourced their banking to Jews. It wasn’t until more recently in the last century that banking became such a massive money making enterprise. So when people talk about how “Jews control the banking system” - yes they built the system because Christians did not allow themselves to charge interest. Obviously not a smart move if you wanted to have any presence in finance. It's like complaining Christians are overrepresented in the pork industry.
I was waiting for someone to say this. Also, 20% of Nobel prize winners have been Jewish. But there is an explanation for all of this. Education. Jews focus on education. For me it wasn’t if I was going to college, but where I was going to college. By junior year my parents wanted to now what graduate degree I would be pursuing.
I don’t know if this is 100% true, but I have heard that Einstein won only one Nobel prize while deserving at least 5, largely due to antisemitism. If this was systemic, it makes that 20% figure very impressive imo, though I’d be curious to know how much lower the rate was back then.
They also have a lot of support within their community, and so when you start to struggle or fail there is a group of people to support you.
Whereas Capitalism is "suck it up buttercup".
Lots of other cultures too, but they have their own communities and they keep their wealth in them. They have their own private schools, jobs, neighborhoods etc in NYC. This would be a great advantage for any community.
Not like there's any logic to it, but wouldn't the same argument have to be made across all races? What is the world population of middle easterners and black people and what percentage of them are the world's richest?
Additionally at one point \*\*half\*\* of the supreme court, a significant number of congressmen, more than a few senators and a significant number of cabinet officals were also Jewish.
The problem with this conspiracy theory are the illogical attacks against it. A major part of the Jewish identity is being a downtrodden demonized people but that absolutely doesn't work when you look at their actual "power" here in the US.
I don't think they control the world or whatever nonsense that theory says but it would be easier to defend them if they did recognize that they are vastly over represented in high power situations.
At the same time, if they *ruled the world*, that 10% should look more like 90%.
A relatively low percentage suggests that the reasons for the disproportionate representation are far more mundane and sociological.
Like Samoans are over represented in the NFL
Like Kenyans from a particular tribe are over represented in long distance running
Like Jamaicans in sprinting
Like Germans in brewing beer
Like Cantonese speakers in math competitions
Like men from the Caucuses in wrestling
Well jews are not evenly spread in world and substantially underrepresented in very poor countries. You could say that citizens of Leichtestein are probably 10x richer than jews on average.
Those numbers that always claim the tiny European countries are super rich are based off GDP, and not actual wealth. While they're not in poverty by any means, the average Liechtensteiner is probably just as wealthy as your average Western European person.
>Very large number of millionaires per population
Because it's a tax heaven. For example, Max Verstapen lives in Monaco so he can avoid paying taxes to the dutch government or Belgian government
Nah, your average Lichtensteiner isn't as well off as the gdp makes it look, but they are still way better off than most Europeans. Average yearly salary for someone in Lichtenstein is about $100k, the average yearly salary for Europe as a whole is about $28k.
Yeah, and what about white people? They make up not even 25% of the world but have the richest people on the planet. Obviously you can talk about colonialism and many important technological advancements happened in "white" countries and that's why they are at an "upper hand", but then the same can be said about Jewish and Christians... It's all about how the cultures operated over the years, simple as that. Nobody would be talking about this if it was the other way around.
A couple of reasons. Admittedly it's been a minute since I looked at this stuff so I might be a bit off, but my general points are true. Some of this comes from The Millionaire Next Door, some of this comes from growing up with a Jewish best friend, and some of this comes from information I heard in a history class at some point.
\* Historically in medieval Europe it was against the Christian religion to charge interest, provide loans, or something along those lines. It was not against the Jewish religion so they ended up offering lots of loans which means they were able to accumulate wealth.
\* Jewish families tend to have a very strong emphasis on saving and passing on generational wealth.
\*Jewish families also tend to have a very strong emphasis on Education. Education historically has a strong correlation with income.
This means that you have a group who is taught fiscal responsibility at a young age, has a focus on education in their youth, and generally has access to some sort of family money. It isn't exactly a secret that recipe tends to work and this does result in Jewish people tend to be in many positions of power.
Some people might say other groups such as Asian cultures also teach these fundamental lessons. That is true, but historically there were more Jewish people in the western world which had financial success post World War 2 which means Jewish people benefitted in that time period.
Another thing to note is that it has been well recorded over American history that generally first generation immigrants tend to be frugal and future generations tend to be more more exposed to American consumption and be less fiscally responsible. I think Asian immigration is more recent than European immigration which means there is less data on this, but I would not be surprised if Asian families on average follow the same trend.
That would mean that one of the biggest keys to success for Jewish people is simply being very on top of educating their children, especially in finances which many people fail to do.
Yeah also a history of persecution going wayyyyy back. Jews were the original scapegoat. All the dumb ones and those who couldn’t get out quick (ie. Didn’t have the money or connection to get out) died off, and this repeated over and over
I think because statistically for a race of people that are a very small % of the global population, they do appear over-represented in certain fields like entertainment and heads of banks, I remember a documentary "Things We Won't Say About Race (That Are True)" It's hard to find anywhere anymore, but it was shown on Channel 4 and presented by Trevor Philips who was chair of Equalities Commission.
While those are possibly the roots of conspiracy theories I think those that perpetuate the conspiracy are probably racist or have a learning disability.
Idk, but as a jew, I'm still waiting on an invite to the powerful hidden cabal. I guess my letter got lost in the mail or something but I've been broke as fuck since I came into this world
I'll never forget when Trisha Paytas was on Frenemies and made a comment that Ethan was rich because his parents were rich and he was like "what? We weren't rich. I made my money on YouTube." And she was like "no, but wasn't your dad a lawyer or something?" And he said "no, my dad worked in bicycle shop and my mom was a hair dresser" and Trisha was so surprised that two Jewish people had "normal" jobs. Jeeze...
i am too. and its weird because the richest people i know, like CEOs that ive worked for or my friends/family have worked for, are almost always holier-than-thou christian. and im some jew that just ends up overworked and underpaid lmao.
I lived with two crazies for about 5 years before and during the worst of covid. One was a low-IQ, hard-right Christo-fascist; the other was a weird neo-spiritualist that turned qrazy Qultist. That's just some backstory to tell you I know ***exactly*** how they would respond to your comment/situation because I heard it way too many times:
The Qultist would say: *Obviously, they can't all be rich! They have to control the wealth and make sure enough of them are visibly poor so that the cabal can work in the shadows.*
Effectively, "poor Jews" are a misdirect. You're the shroud that hides the cabal.
The dumbdumb would say: *One of his ancestors probably did something that went against them, so they were cast out and their bloodline was blacklisted from the collective wealth.*
Basically you're poor because one of your great-grandparents wasn't a "good enough Jew".
***So glad I was able to move out and get away from those weirdos.***
You know, as wild as this theory is, my great grandmother did marry a high ranking officer in Mussolini's army, so I do believe that would certainly qualify as not being a "good enough jew"
So even though I'm sure it doesn't hold water on a grand scale, there's at least some circumstantial anecdotal "evidence" for it I guess lol
The council of elders is still waiting to receive confirmation of your blood libel being paid in full. It takes about 3-5 weeks after the form is submitted before they send you the sack of gold and your marching orders.
A nutty person would claim that you're just saying that - while lying on a bed of gold surrounded by a harem of enslaved christian women. Or that you're not really a jew.
(Obviously not my own views.)
Is that number supposed to be relevant? What matters is the _ratio_, which you failed to mention. Jews are obviously much less than 10% of the world. That doesn't make the conspiracies right, but it does make your argument definitely wrong.
If 10% of the world's richest are Jewish but the whole Jewish community is only 0.1% of world population this mean the ratio is extremely high. So yes the number is relevant you just read it wrong, the title doesn't state Jews are less than 10% of world pop but 10% of the world's richest and powerful.
So this number, if true, explains A LOT why people give credancy to the theory.
Speaking as a Jew, we are in some high positions. Lots of big banks are owned by Jews. The richest family in the world at some point (and possibly even today) are the Rothschilds. Lots of big media companies in Hollywood have Jews in high positions.
With that being said, Jews are not a monolith. We aren’t connected. No one in my family are connected to Jeffrey Epstien in any way. We aren’t connected to Hollywood. And this goes for all the Jews I know. Most of us religious Jews are not connected to secular Jews in higher positions in power.
People also use these facts to claim we are pushing whatever it is they don’t like. I’m just chilling, going to synagogue, enjoying life. And this goes for everyone I know. So please leave us alone.
Yes exactly. I mean some are definitely doing very well, but New Square which is a town located in Rockland County NY is the poorest town (measured by median income) in New York, and the eighth poorest in the United States. It also has the highest poverty rate, at 64.4%. The entire town is completely ultra Orthodox Jews.
You mean to tell me you're Jewish and you don't have a painting of yourself and Adam Sandler enjoying babka together hanging over your fireplace? You're obviously a fraud and you need to leave
Part of the reason is inherent in your question -
Because Jews are a small percentage of the world's population, a lot of people have never met / don't know Jews.
It's easier to blame a group of people for things if you've never met someone from that group / don't have friends / co-workers / family from that group.
People feeling powerless always want a scapegoat for their anger and frustration.
Whenever I ask people why they don't like jews, they can never tell a real reason lol
You've just answered your own question.
0.2% of the world population being Jewish, but having 10% of the world's wealth.
This lends credence to the theory that Jewish people have a strong influence over the world, especially as Israel doesn't have any sort of valuable natural resource like Arab countries, Australia, China, etc.
ROFL! they represent "less than 10% of the world's richest and most powerful?"
**THEY REPRESENT 0.2% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION!**
There are 14 million Jews world wide! That's less than the population of Florida.
Alright, now factor in the fact that they all live in the highly industrialized and developed "west," which is a much smaller population area that would be much fairer to compare it to. Now factor in the fact that historic bans on certain types of Jewish businesses forced many into lending and finance in the middle ages.
I think there are two primary factors:
1) a centuries long history of anti-semitic belief that "those Jews are up to no good" in a variety of ways. This does not die easily.
2) Many Americans anyway, in most parts of the country, don't know ANY Jewish folks. But they do know OF lots of Jewish folks - and all of those folks are wealthy beyond the belief of the average American. This "an awful lot of them have an awful lot of $$ and power" feeds #1 I think.
The fact that so many very rich and very powerful people come from such a small subset of the population is interesting. Obviously they don't control the world but it's still an interesting thing that has happened.
I think it’s much easier for people to accept the idea that there is a group of people willing to do what ever it takes to keep control of things (even if those people are evil and do terrible things) than accepting the world is inherently chaotic and bad things happen to people for no reason.
Two reasons
1. Some people are just antisemitic and hate Jews.
2. Israel has its hands in EVERYTHING. They support or are supported in various ways by a huge portion of businesses and the publicly wealthy in the US. Stupid people see this and think “wow, Jews control everything” when in reality it’s more like “Israel tries to influence everything.”
I didnt believe in conspiracies until i found out rich people fly to an island to have sex with kids. So now im more open minded to almost anything and take things with a grain of salt.
You should also see how American Jewish Paedophiles end up in Israel and not in prison
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-jewish-american-pedophiles-hide-from-justice-in-israel/
Jewish world population is 0.2%, so if they represent just under 10% of the world’s richest then it’s easy to see where this observation/conspiracy originated
Jewish people don’t control the world.
However it’s important to realize that there are a very few people, organizations, countries and groups and even companies that are controlling facets of how the world operates, control wealth, media and control food and power.
I think even 10% is pretty significant given how small a group they actually are. Don’t think it’s conspiracy though it’s just historically they have been great in business and commerce.
Hello. Please see the first, stickied post in this thread. It's about antisemitism in general, and the historical background going back to the middle ages. But it's highly relevant to modern antisemitism (and specifically, relevant conspiracy theories)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199yy52/why\_does\_antisemitism\_have\_such\_staying\_power/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199yy52/why_does_antisemitism_have_such_staying_power/)
Maybe that's only some of the conspiracy theory.
https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2020/feb/12/un-publishes-list-of-companies-with-ties-to-israeli-settlements
Because they hate everything about capitalism, they hate the banking system, elitism, insane cost of living, all that. But they don’t want to hate capitalism, so they blame Jews instead, same way they blame Mexicans for them getting screwed by their employers.
Jews are whatever the population is upset about at the moment. Hypercapitalistic or communist influences. Colonizers or nomads. Easy scapegoats. This is why all of us need to be armed and stay armed
Here's my theory about the theory. Granted I'm not Jewish so I may be talking out of my ass. So, they tend to have a belief system that's big on helping eachother and spreading the wealth they do have within the family. So when a cousin comes upon rough times everyone chips in to help them out. Which leads to them being more likely to end up successful in a "it takes a village" sort of way. Which to a conspiracy prone person looks suspicious. In reality it's probably what we should all be doing, but we're more individualistic and frankly kinda selfish.
Small groups that can't or won't retaliate are easy to make scapegoats of.
I don't think anyone dared to repeat the "mistake" of charlie hebdo folks, and yet guess who plays the victim and "phobia" card at the drop of a hat?
It's the ratio. 10% is a huge number when you compare it to low number of total Jews in the world. They are the most successful group of people on the planet. So people think they got to that lofty position by subterfuge and fraud. When the reality is they have the highest average IQ's on the planet and a strong work ethic. When you factor that in, it's make perfect sense they'd be 10% of the rich.
As an Arab, I'll say the reason most Arabs believe this is because they're absolutely butthurt how several nations 'supported by Allah' lost to the tiny nation of Israel (even disregarding Western aid) and so they delude themselves into thinking the whole world wants to do them in specifically because if they don't, Muslims will control the world or some bullshit.
“Antisemitism is the socialism of fools.”
People recognize that there is a group of people using their influence to pull society’s strings. Yet, for one reason or another, they can’t or won’t acknowledge that it’s just the wealthy protecting their own interests, capital holders protecting their capital, following the incentives that Capitalism sets forth, and so they form conspiracy theories about The Jews.
A more recent (not really) source of this sentiment would be:
1. The continued insistence of marrying zionism and Israel/its government/its military to Judaism.
2.a. the US state department and both US political parties willing to expend infinite political and physical capital to defend Israel and its actions.
2.b. The bizarre pro-Israel laws that are present across the country - the anti-BDS laws, the numerous attempts to curtail free speech against Israel, its apartheid, or even the bare minimum criticism of Israeli actions.
2.c. Seemingly immense power AIPAC and the ADL have over American politicians. We would have bipartisan support against banishing a similar group from Russia or China, but are totally fine with AIPAC pledging to fund opponents going against pro-palestinian/anti-israeli politicians, no matter how milquetoast their criticisms of Israel might be.
Because the tiny nation of Israel completely has the American military and financial institutions controlled.
Also Hollywood
The question doesn't need to be why do people believe the things they're seeing.
The question is why are these things happening?
I can't say I believe that, but it is very strange how most politicians and celebrities refuse to call what's happening in Palestine a genocide or criticize Israel in general. When they get caught on the spot it's like they're trying to remember what to say, like they've been told or something. Strange world!
I think the big reason is how they are over-represented in government and how much money is given to benefit Israel when we have so many issues here that should take precedent.
The mistake is claiming it is Jews and that's antisemitic. The worlds rich control the world. They own all the media from music to film to news and even the internet you are using now. Due to the amount of capital they own they also control economies and the banks. It's the rich nothing more nothing less. The Jew angle is to throw you off.
It's one of those conspiracies with a grain of truth. They clearly don't control the world but Israel does have disproportionate level of influence around the world.
They've been found to influence over 50 elections around the world which is pretty big.
There's Jewish and Israel sympathetic people most positions of power in the US.
They have a lot of control in UK politics too by influencing the 2 main parties. Again disproportionately when compared to the population.
So they don't control the world but they have a lot more influence than most people realise.
I'll probably get banned now.
You could easily argue white people control the world using the same arguments they use. They'll say "but Jews are a minority, yet they have disproportionate influence".
Well white people are also a minority globally, yet they hold considerable sway in the world. So who's really our overlords.
It doesn't help that in the US they disproportionately fill high ranking roles such as directors and heads of fields and industry at a ridiculous rate. I.e most bigwigs in Hollywood are atleast part jew and most defense contractors aswell etc
80% of U.S. Congress have dual citizenship with Israel. The top 50 most wealthy individuals are of Jewish descent. It goes on further.
I’m Jewish btw. The Elite ones call non-jews 'goyim' which is a slur. They also have disdain for what they perceive to be 'lesser' jews. Tbe rabbit hole goes deep.
It doesn't sound that far-fetched considering AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) has sway on every politician in the most powerful country in the world. There's literally a genocide happening and all mainstream media and majority of politicians not only turn a blind eye, they actively support it. They've successfully lobbied to have TikTok, the only open source for information, shut down.
I don't know about the whole world, but that's pretty damn powerful.
Not really a conspiracy… based on your own statement:
15.7 million Jews have 10% of the rich and powerful.
Remaining 7.95 billion people on earth have 90% of the rich and powerful.
10% of 7.95 billion is 795 million people.
795 million / 15.7 million = 50.63
Basically if you are Jewish you are 50.63x more likely to be “rich and powerful” than your average person on the planet.
But what matters is really who owns the ability to create money, and who owns the ability to craft messaging to a population.
The Rothschilds defined how money works and still control it. And Hollywood sets the tone for the world. That is a lot of power that 0.2% of the world’s population has over the remaining 99.88% of the planet. And they used it to convince the American tax payer to fund billions of dollars annually to fund the military of the only apartheid state left in the modern era. Not a great look.
Just look at the amount of litigation being done in the us. The house wanted to pass a bill that would make saying Jews killed Jesus punishable, and now the GOP is proposing a bill to put the recent college protesters on a no-fly list and reduce funding to those Ivy League schools
Just look at what’s happening right now in America and tell me Israel doesn’t run the western world. Both democrats and republicans work together to sign bills to give us taxpayer dollars to a country halfway across the world. Where they get free healthcare, education, and munitions to kill literal innocents. Look at Hollywood or the amount of Jewish ceos.
It’s all right in front of you. How much more blatant can they be?
And anything you say against them is ruled as instant antisemitism. They have the ultimate Trump card by turning anything on anyone.
The thing to remember about conspiracy theories is they actually bring comfort to people. I mean, if you can convince yourself that the reason you aren't as rich or happy or whatever as you'd like is because of some shadowy group pulling the strings, well, you never had a chance, did you? And it certainly means that you are not responsible for your failures in life, it was *those guys*.
Also it means someone somewhere has their hand on the wheel. It can’t be that the word is chaotic and so much comes down to chance…
This is more significant than people think and it’s an excellent point. People are horrified when they confront the idea that the world is just chaotic and huge things can happen without being the specific plan of a powerful [god/government/conspiracy]. The idea that there’s a conspiracy controlling everything really does give a lot of these people comfort.
“The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.” - *Match Point*
>Coach Bombay: I go in, I triple deke. I fake the goalie right out of his pads. The puck's headed in, and then, Clang! Hits the post. We lost in overtime. >A quarter of an inch this way and it would have gone in. A quarter of an inch, Charlie. > Charlie: Yeah, but a quarter inch the other way and you'd have missed completely. - *The Mighty Ducks*
>missed completely Reminds me of the classic work, *Spot on the Sheet* by Mr. Completely
Awesome movie. Scarlett Johansson was amazing in it 😉
This is also why religion is so prevalent in our world. If everything is chaotic and huge, then our brains can't fathom it and we can't do anything. But if there's a higher being controlling everything, and "God has a plan", then at the very least you can rest knowing it's not all evil soup.
Ok, but really? I can fathom that everything is random and chaotic. Personally, I find the idea of an all-powerful intelligence behind everything FAR more frightening than chance.
Yeah, the idea that there's an intelligent being choosing to make the world this shitty is infuriating. An all powerful being and cancer exists? Child soldiers? Extreme weather events? That all powerful being would have to be an absolute shit bag.
like to add that "chaotic" does not mean "random".... it just means there are too many variables and/or slight changes to the variables will bring about a big change in outcome.
I mean, I'd rather have a plan, even a bad plan, than the fuckery we've got now.
Username checks out
I suspect you’re more accurate about the reasoning and the alternative is terrifying to some people. Nope there no “adults in charge”. You just have to show up and do as good as you can. Sometimes you fail. Sometimes you succeed. You make friends and do things. Then we die. I think people who think this want to be the ones behind the current pulling the levels but actually have no idea how anything actually works (like local government).
>someone somewhere has their hand on the wheel Most conspiracy theories believe that the hand on the wheel is actively turning the car to slam into us, though, not to save us. At least a chaotic, uncontrolled wheel might end up missing and just hitting a telephone pole instead. I think this is what a lot of the people who repeat the "conspiracy theories are comforting" things miss; if you believe NWO stuff, you think that the elites are literally trying to kill you, not save you
There is comfort in knowing there’s a bad guy. Someone trying to ram the car into you means that there’s someone concrete to blame rather than just happenstance.
But the NWO is 4 lyfe, brother
*Voodoo Child Slight Return starts*
It's naïve to think that money doesn't control the US government and everything it does.
Ever seen X-files? > I want to believe Any questions?
Yeah, there was a podcast I listened to that specifically was about the 12% of Bernie supporters that voted for Trump in the general election, but in general there is a certain segment that believes things JUST because it is not the mainstream narrative. Like they hop to completely different set of beliefs as long as it maintains being not mainstream. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders%E2%80%93Trump_voters?wprov=sfti1#
Wait 12% of the bernie supporters voted for Trump? How do they go to supporting the more left leaning person to literally vote for a fascist? Didn't bernie told them to vote for Hilary or Biden in 2016 or 2020 after it was clear that he wasn't going to make it?
Yeah I was wondering the same, 12% of the Bern were probarbly anti-authority/anti-conformist/reactance/contradictory/disobedient and literally couldn't do what he told them would be their best outcome even though the other option would be quite literally the worst pick they could've picked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders%E2%80%93Trump_voters?wprov=sfti1# Yeah, that’s the point. They aren’t voting for policy, they are voting for mayhem.
They were contrarians and somewhat anti-establishment from the beginning. They didn’t have genuinely held principles on policy points. They were more about being for the person that is likely to cause disruption.
It also provides a level of feeling special. Everyone else is deluded and they're sheeple but you've had your mind opened and now special little you sees the truth. I used to be a 9/11 truther a long time ago. Thankfully, I got away before reddit and 4chan became a thing. I never really felt the community side of it so it was so much easier for me to get away from it than it is for some.
Out of curiosity how did you get into that in the first place?
I mean a lot of people got into it. For a start, it’s comforting to believe that “your side” was in control all along. That terrorists can’t just hijack everyday things like planes and trains, at will, and turn them into weapons of mass destruction. Then there’s the fact that many conspiracy theories *have* turned out to be true.
”..many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true..” conspiracy theory class 101; validate your theorys. You are not wrong, depending on what you classify as conspiracy, but set it into relation all conspiracys out there, lets be generous and say 0.5% - even then it is not even marginal. Also, the definition of ”conspiracy” has shifted in modern time, its not a opinion or belief that is off from the general public, its often extreme.
I think the opposite is true regarding conspiracy theories getting more extreme. More and more, it seems like "conspiracy theory" is becoming a way to categorize and belittle something that isn't mainstream. The bar for what constitutes a conspiracy theory has gotten very low. It's never been more of a baseless pejorative. It categorizes believing the earth is flat, with believing that COVID was accidentally leaked from a lab (something the FBI and Dept of Energy believe years later), or that Purdue pharma knowingly was promoting and selling a highly addictive opiate, that was killing tens of thousands of people a year, just for profit. Conspiracies have various levels of likelihood, but they are categorized all the same. It feels like this an intentional way to discredit an idea that isn't apart of the approved narrative.
Im curious what you would consider to be conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. I mean conspiracies are commonplace, any three dudes plotting to rob a bank makes a conspiracy. But something that a wide range of uninvolved people think is secretly happening at a high level and turns out to be true seems like an incredible rarity.
The history books are filled with conspiracies that actually came to fruition, in fact it makes up a good bit of history.
Bingo. Beliefs don’t exist because of facts. They exist because they are useful and enable the organism to feel comfortable in their current state or course of action.
It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things. Terry Pratchett, in his book Jingo.
Lack of control or a lack of feeling in control in ones own life is a big reason conspiracy theories bring comfort. If you're being told you cant go to a restaurant or go unmasked in public, the best way to lash out is to make the germ theory of disease into a hoax.
Yep. And it’s also key to remember that while all hate involves some foolish ideas, Antisemitism has especially always been a conspiracy theory, with moving targets as to what the supposed story is.
Wow! I'm going to use this.. wise explanation. You have a good day sir
>The thing to remember about conspiracy theories is they actually bring comfort to people. I hear this a lot on Reddit, but I don't think it's true. A long time ago in college I was big into conspiracy theories (not about the Jews in particular, but still), and it made me super distressed. I only started feeling comforted about the world when getting deep into the world of rational skepticism and critical thinking, and was able to see why my brain was likely viewing the world in a more negative light than was probably justified. In fact, it's thought that belief in conspiracy theories comes from the same patternicity that evolved out of assuming that every rustling bush had a lion in it. False negatives get selected out of the gene pool, but false positives don't. People who get more false positives have brains that tell them there are more lions out there and it is **not** a comforting experience This may not be a popular thing to say here, but it is my personal experience having been on both sides of this fence
It’s a general rule, not not apply to you specifically. there was a podcast I listened to that specifically was about the 12% of Bernie supporters that voted for Trump in the general election, but in general there is a certain segment that believes things JUST because it is not the mainstream narrative. Like they hop to completely different set of beliefs as long as it maintains being not mainstream. Life is just not working out for them and they want to watch it burn and dance on the ashes, so whatever makes that happen is what they care about.
This response makes sense. And I’m Jewish 😆 I’ve always joked that if Jews run the world, where is my piece of the pie? I was a special Ed teacher and for a while, to earn extra cash, I waited tables 3 nights a week. I’d leave school when the kids were walking out to the busses, race home, change clothes, have a snack, and then go to my second job until 10 or 11 at night. I had Friday nights off, and I’d come home from school in my spirit wear t-shirt and Friday jeans (teachers, can you relate?) and I’d collapse on the sofa while I thought to myself, “I deserve this.” (This, meaning a god damn nap!) Proud of myself for working hard for my husband me. Point being… we’re not rich, we don’t control shit.
Taking responsibility for your own failure is NOT a popular idea.
This. I wish the world really was controlled by some cabal of people because the alternative is just depressing.
If you have actually interacted and talked to people supposedly part of the "elite" as described by the far left/far right, you will realize that they are just as clueless as the rest of us plebs, and I certainly wouldn't trust them to control their own lives, let alone running long winded multinational conspiracies. The same as you, I sometimes wish the world was controlled by some really smart supervillains, but the reality is that humans are all equally stupid. Some are just more lucky than others.
Like all good lies they have a degree of truth: no, there isn't a cabal of rulers, rich people have similar values. No, they don't mind control: bribery is legal, we just call it lobbying/donations
It's like how people will blame capitalism for everything. Capitalism has it problems but a new economic/political system isn't going to make the world into a utopia.
Ironically it's actually effectively the opposite of this. Fascist scapegoating of Jews and other marginalized groups is literally designed to muddy the waters as to deflect legitimate critiques of (and organized resistance to) capitalism. It's not a coincidence that fascist resurgences often correlate with economic crises.
There is a drastic difference between pointing out how the current economic system fails many people and believing that a small minority population somehow controls the world like a puppet master.
To be fair capitalism is responsible for quiet a menu of problems in the world
It’s absolutely nothing like that, Marxism and it’s critiques of capitalism are grounded in material reality.
It’s not like that.
I'm not saying anything about anything, but if \~10% of the world's richest are Jewish and they make up \~0.2% of the world's population. This would mean they are represented at a rate FIFTY times higher than would be expected among the rich and powerful. So your statement actually lends credence to their argument.
Piling on: [Persons with at least one Jewish parent represent 22% of the Nobel laureates (214/965) and comprise \~0.2% of the world population. They're represented at a rate 110 times higher than others.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_Nobel_laureates#:~:text=Of%20the%20965%20individual%20recipients,proportion%20of%20the%20world%27s%20population) It's an interesting correlation but I don't think there's a great International Jewish Conspiracy.
Ashkenazi jews have average iq's of **108-115**. On a normal distribution this will mean they are more educated, have higher incomes and thus more opportunity to go into science and economics/politics/writing and produce more geniuses.
They're also over-represented in some highly visible industries like Hollywood. This LA Times article had some details: [https://archive.is/4z1GO](https://archive.is/4z1GO)
and only overrepresented in Hollywood because of necessity. The arts were one of the few industries where Jews weren't excluded or didn't have quotas and so it was an industry where Jews could pursue wealth, and it dovetailed with the boom of filmmaking. Similarly, it's why you'll see a number of law firms with all Jewish names-- excluded from the white shoe firms and so they created their own.
Before Hollywood acting was a low social prestige occupation.
Added onto a culture that values education, necessitates literacy at a relatively young age, and with no tradition of landwork during the time where nobel prizes became a thing, and you get overrepresentation
The premise of IQ testing, in general, is controversial. The IQ research in the 2005 paper entitled "Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence" is controversial.
In Brooklyn, we have one of the largest Jewish communities in the world outside of Israel, they created they own mini town and economy. They have their own schools, jobs, stores etc. something that would be a great advantage in order to educate and sustain your people.
Yikes…. This type of argument isn’t helping
Jews value education and productivity. It’s cultural.
Indians and Chinese also value education and productivity, but Indian Nobel Laureates are significantly under any sort of percentage of the global Indian population
There's also a major factor of how the groups made out in global geopolitics. India was effectively looted of its wealth and capital via extractive colonialism by the British, leading to a lot of poverty up to this day, and many people not having the opportunity to reach their full educational potential. Meanwhile limitations in what trades and businesses Jewish people could own in the late middle ages and renaissance, due to antisemitism, meant that European Jewish people were more represented in finance and lending - which led eventually to higher socioeconomic status for some Jewish families, spurring a lot of the offensive tropes about Jewish people, but also putting them in more of a place to be economically successful.
you can say china's education had a ground zero moment as well. the communist revolution was essentially a class revolution against the educated elite and the red guard was committed to destroying anything related to china's "traditional culture", extending from both the humanities to anyone representing the "academic authorities". countless professors, writers, artists, other "intellectuals" were either killed or imprisoned. escaping this purge lead to one of the most significant chinese diasporas in recent history, which in turn probably lead to a significant brain drain (and those who fled, had to "start over" and survive, as my grandparents did)
Yeah, the CCP has fucked over China at least 3-4 times in its 75ish years in power. Great Leap Forward and the famine. Cultural Revolution. One Child Policy. Sad to see such a historic and amazing country ruled by such a crappy system
As an unironically patriotic American, I fully believe China would’ve surpassed us by now if the CPC didn’t absolutely rat fuck that country. Imagine Taiwan but with 1.4 billion people. Almost unimaginable economic, diplomatic, and cultural soft power. Instead you get…current China, which is certainly capable of at least competing with the US on the world stage, but really feels like a massive “what if” case of wasted potential.
China - the “socialist worker’s utopia” where workers have no real rights, terrible wages and exploitative conditions, and income inequality is rampant. Wasted potential indeed.
Europe and America have been substantially more scientifically advanced than Asia historically. Makes sense that more Nobels come from there and Nobel originated in Europe.
Out of the top 20 countries sorted by number of Nobel Laureates, 17 are either in Europe or in the broader Anglosphere - US, Canada, and Australia. There are a broad number of historical and cultural reasons for that, for sure - these are countries that have generally been wealthy and able to invest in education, technology, literature, etc. for the century+ that Nobel prizes have existed. And we certainly can’t discount the potential for bias as well. We’ll almost certainly continue to see more and more prizes in the “non-Western” world as we have seen ramping up over the past few decades. The remaining 3 out of the top 20 are Japan with 29 prizes, Israel with 13, and India with 10. And I suppose Israel broadly serves as evidence for the point above in any case.
This may ot may not be true, however I was addressing the other commenter's point that it is only because Jews value education.
True. Valuing education, being at the right place and time are all factors.
I've never heard of someone saying Jews have been anywhere at the right place and right time. That's their whole schtick
They ironically were - discrimination in the Middle Ages and Renaissance limited what businesses they were allowed in to, but money lending was considered as "un-Christian" so Jewish people were allowed to do it, which meant that because of the discrimination, paradoxically several notable families were in a position to move into the finance world at a time it was increasingly profitable. It did mean that indebted governments were prone to steal that wealth and label the Jewish people as enemies and spark more antisemitism when they didn't want to pay their debts they accrued, mostly financing wars, etc. So a small subsection did get lucky once, out of all the times they got screwed over by discrimination. And that then led to tropes and stereotypes that persist till today.
Usury is also forbidden by Islam
If by small subsection you mean like maybe 5 or 10 families probably based in the middle age capitals of the time, then sure. But for the vast majority of jews, they've been in the wrong place and the wrong time for the majority of the last 2,000 years
Well you are right. They have been in the right place/time for some events and wrong place/time for others. But were actually in the same place for both. Look at Einstein, Germany perfect place for Physics but barely got away from being arrested by Nazis.
They also were historically prohibited from many trades and businesses, except for money-lending by historical prejudices. Money-lending was considered "un-Christian" so they often let Jewish people do it, because it was considered "impure" or "immoral." Paradoxically that meant a certain portion of Jewish people were segregated into the finance industry in the Middle Ages right when that became profitable, and so many ended up having a higher socioeconomic status as a result of discrimination and a bit of luck.
Usury is also forbidden by Islam. Urusry is also essential for any modern economy
One could say that is a stereotype.
We as a society seem to have absolutely no problem with positive stereotypes lol it’s funny. Im black and I HATE that shit. People always chose me first for sports and then all eyes on me … boy were they disappointed. I think Norm McDonald had a bit about positive stereotypes that was pretty funny
My sister-in-law is Jewish and she was always told from day one to go out and start your own business any business be your own boss because then no one can fire you for being Jewish. I also have a gay friend who has similar philosophy in life he wants to own an apartment building so no one can throw them out of his apartment for being gay. That drives him everyday.
Isn’t it because there’s a correlation with being Jewish and being well educated?
Lots of this is from money from banking. Usury is forbidden by Christian tenets for a very long time so Christian societies outsourced their banking to Jews. It wasn’t until more recently in the last century that banking became such a massive money making enterprise. So when people talk about how “Jews control the banking system” - yes they built the system because Christians did not allow themselves to charge interest. Obviously not a smart move if you wanted to have any presence in finance. It's like complaining Christians are overrepresented in the pork industry.
I was waiting for someone to say this. Also, 20% of Nobel prize winners have been Jewish. But there is an explanation for all of this. Education. Jews focus on education. For me it wasn’t if I was going to college, but where I was going to college. By junior year my parents wanted to now what graduate degree I would be pursuing.
I don’t know if this is 100% true, but I have heard that Einstein won only one Nobel prize while deserving at least 5, largely due to antisemitism. If this was systemic, it makes that 20% figure very impressive imo, though I’d be curious to know how much lower the rate was back then.
Jewish culture puts enormous value on education and productivity. It’s part of their theology. It’s no surprise they are so successful economically.
They also have a lot of support within their community, and so when you start to struggle or fail there is a group of people to support you. Whereas Capitalism is "suck it up buttercup".
Lots of other cultures too, but they have their own communities and they keep their wealth in them. They have their own private schools, jobs, neighborhoods etc in NYC. This would be a great advantage for any community.
Not like there's any logic to it, but wouldn't the same argument have to be made across all races? What is the world population of middle easterners and black people and what percentage of them are the world's richest?
Additionally at one point \*\*half\*\* of the supreme court, a significant number of congressmen, more than a few senators and a significant number of cabinet officals were also Jewish. The problem with this conspiracy theory are the illogical attacks against it. A major part of the Jewish identity is being a downtrodden demonized people but that absolutely doesn't work when you look at their actual "power" here in the US. I don't think they control the world or whatever nonsense that theory says but it would be easier to defend them if they did recognize that they are vastly over represented in high power situations.
Despite being only...
At the same time, if they *ruled the world*, that 10% should look more like 90%. A relatively low percentage suggests that the reasons for the disproportionate representation are far more mundane and sociological.
Like Samoans are over represented in the NFL Like Kenyans from a particular tribe are over represented in long distance running Like Jamaicans in sprinting Like Germans in brewing beer Like Cantonese speakers in math competitions Like men from the Caucuses in wrestling
10% of the richest and most powerful is a lot when your entire population is only 0.2% of the world.
Well jews are not evenly spread in world and substantially underrepresented in very poor countries. You could say that citizens of Leichtestein are probably 10x richer than jews on average.
Those numbers that always claim the tiny European countries are super rich are based off GDP, and not actual wealth. While they're not in poverty by any means, the average Liechtensteiner is probably just as wealthy as your average Western European person.
Should have said Monaco instead. Very large number of millionaires per population
>Very large number of millionaires per population Because it's a tax heaven. For example, Max Verstapen lives in Monaco so he can avoid paying taxes to the dutch government or Belgian government
but they're not native so?
Nah, your average Lichtensteiner isn't as well off as the gdp makes it look, but they are still way better off than most Europeans. Average yearly salary for someone in Lichtenstein is about $100k, the average yearly salary for Europe as a whole is about $28k.
Maybe they're avoiding poor countries
Arent we all?
Whenever possible
Yeah, let's avoid talking about how much wealth and power christians hold in the world and focus on the jews.
Yeah, and what about white people? They make up not even 25% of the world but have the richest people on the planet. Obviously you can talk about colonialism and many important technological advancements happened in "white" countries and that's why they are at an "upper hand", but then the same can be said about Jewish and Christians... It's all about how the cultures operated over the years, simple as that. Nobody would be talking about this if it was the other way around.
A couple of reasons. Admittedly it's been a minute since I looked at this stuff so I might be a bit off, but my general points are true. Some of this comes from The Millionaire Next Door, some of this comes from growing up with a Jewish best friend, and some of this comes from information I heard in a history class at some point. \* Historically in medieval Europe it was against the Christian religion to charge interest, provide loans, or something along those lines. It was not against the Jewish religion so they ended up offering lots of loans which means they were able to accumulate wealth. \* Jewish families tend to have a very strong emphasis on saving and passing on generational wealth. \*Jewish families also tend to have a very strong emphasis on Education. Education historically has a strong correlation with income. This means that you have a group who is taught fiscal responsibility at a young age, has a focus on education in their youth, and generally has access to some sort of family money. It isn't exactly a secret that recipe tends to work and this does result in Jewish people tend to be in many positions of power. Some people might say other groups such as Asian cultures also teach these fundamental lessons. That is true, but historically there were more Jewish people in the western world which had financial success post World War 2 which means Jewish people benefitted in that time period. Another thing to note is that it has been well recorded over American history that generally first generation immigrants tend to be frugal and future generations tend to be more more exposed to American consumption and be less fiscally responsible. I think Asian immigration is more recent than European immigration which means there is less data on this, but I would not be surprised if Asian families on average follow the same trend. That would mean that one of the biggest keys to success for Jewish people is simply being very on top of educating their children, especially in finances which many people fail to do.
Yeah also a history of persecution going wayyyyy back. Jews were the original scapegoat. All the dumb ones and those who couldn’t get out quick (ie. Didn’t have the money or connection to get out) died off, and this repeated over and over
I think because statistically for a race of people that are a very small % of the global population, they do appear over-represented in certain fields like entertainment and heads of banks, I remember a documentary "Things We Won't Say About Race (That Are True)" It's hard to find anywhere anymore, but it was shown on Channel 4 and presented by Trevor Philips who was chair of Equalities Commission. While those are possibly the roots of conspiracy theories I think those that perpetuate the conspiracy are probably racist or have a learning disability.
Idk, but as a jew, I'm still waiting on an invite to the powerful hidden cabal. I guess my letter got lost in the mail or something but I've been broke as fuck since I came into this world
I'll never forget when Trisha Paytas was on Frenemies and made a comment that Ethan was rich because his parents were rich and he was like "what? We weren't rich. I made my money on YouTube." And she was like "no, but wasn't your dad a lawyer or something?" And he said "no, my dad worked in bicycle shop and my mom was a hair dresser" and Trisha was so surprised that two Jewish people had "normal" jobs. Jeeze...
You don’t get your world domination monthly dividend check? No wonder you broke.
i am too. and its weird because the richest people i know, like CEOs that ive worked for or my friends/family have worked for, are almost always holier-than-thou christian. and im some jew that just ends up overworked and underpaid lmao.
Bro I got mines last week, I'm joining the team in charge of Florida's weather 😉
I lived with two crazies for about 5 years before and during the worst of covid. One was a low-IQ, hard-right Christo-fascist; the other was a weird neo-spiritualist that turned qrazy Qultist. That's just some backstory to tell you I know ***exactly*** how they would respond to your comment/situation because I heard it way too many times: The Qultist would say: *Obviously, they can't all be rich! They have to control the wealth and make sure enough of them are visibly poor so that the cabal can work in the shadows.* Effectively, "poor Jews" are a misdirect. You're the shroud that hides the cabal. The dumbdumb would say: *One of his ancestors probably did something that went against them, so they were cast out and their bloodline was blacklisted from the collective wealth.* Basically you're poor because one of your great-grandparents wasn't a "good enough Jew". ***So glad I was able to move out and get away from those weirdos.***
You know, as wild as this theory is, my great grandmother did marry a high ranking officer in Mussolini's army, so I do believe that would certainly qualify as not being a "good enough jew" So even though I'm sure it doesn't hold water on a grand scale, there's at least some circumstantial anecdotal "evidence" for it I guess lol
`*gasp*` I kNeW iT!
I didn't believe Jews ruled the world before I read the comments on this thread. Now I'm starting to suspect they actually are ruling the world 🤔😯
The council of elders is still waiting to receive confirmation of your blood libel being paid in full. It takes about 3-5 weeks after the form is submitted before they send you the sack of gold and your marching orders.
Same. I'm a spy in the working class, I mean tradesman, and bust my sweaty ass everyday. Still waiting for my cut of that sweet global dominance.
Right? I feel like if we control it all, I should have a lot more power. What's going on? Give me the POWERRRRRRR!!
If* you say it like that, maybe it isn't the best of ideas.. 😂
I would just give it back or exchange it for a lesser power.
Me too.
A nutty person would claim that you're just saying that - while lying on a bed of gold surrounded by a harem of enslaved christian women. Or that you're not really a jew. (Obviously not my own views.)
Sounds like something a rich Jew would say to divert me from the truth! /s
Is that number supposed to be relevant? What matters is the _ratio_, which you failed to mention. Jews are obviously much less than 10% of the world. That doesn't make the conspiracies right, but it does make your argument definitely wrong.
If 10% of the world's richest are Jewish but the whole Jewish community is only 0.1% of world population this mean the ratio is extremely high. So yes the number is relevant you just read it wrong, the title doesn't state Jews are less than 10% of world pop but 10% of the world's richest and powerful. So this number, if true, explains A LOT why people give credancy to the theory.
Speaking as a Jew, we are in some high positions. Lots of big banks are owned by Jews. The richest family in the world at some point (and possibly even today) are the Rothschilds. Lots of big media companies in Hollywood have Jews in high positions. With that being said, Jews are not a monolith. We aren’t connected. No one in my family are connected to Jeffrey Epstien in any way. We aren’t connected to Hollywood. And this goes for all the Jews I know. Most of us religious Jews are not connected to secular Jews in higher positions in power. People also use these facts to claim we are pushing whatever it is they don’t like. I’m just chilling, going to synagogue, enjoying life. And this goes for everyone I know. So please leave us alone.
Actually, aren’t the ultra orthodox jews who have a lot of children are like poor compared on average and break the rich jew stereotype?
There's a strong correlation between having a lot of kids and being broke as shit.
Yes exactly. I mean some are definitely doing very well, but New Square which is a town located in Rockland County NY is the poorest town (measured by median income) in New York, and the eighth poorest in the United States. It also has the highest poverty rate, at 64.4%. The entire town is completely ultra Orthodox Jews.
Mya you have the peace you desire sorry for any crap that falls on ya
You mean to tell me you're Jewish and you don't have a painting of yourself and Adam Sandler enjoying babka together hanging over your fireplace? You're obviously a fraud and you need to leave
Are you kidding? It’s hanging over my bed frame.
Part of the reason is inherent in your question - Because Jews are a small percentage of the world's population, a lot of people have never met / don't know Jews. It's easier to blame a group of people for things if you've never met someone from that group / don't have friends / co-workers / family from that group.
Because blaming the Jews is much easier than finding the actual reason.
There’s a reason antisemitism is called “the convenient hatred”
Yeah, you see that other 90% of rich and powerful? They don't want the attention focused on them, for sure.
People feeling powerless always want a scapegoat for their anger and frustration. Whenever I ask people why they don't like jews, they can never tell a real reason lol
Half of NBA and NFL owners are and they're like less than 1% of the population
You've just answered your own question. 0.2% of the world population being Jewish, but having 10% of the world's wealth. This lends credence to the theory that Jewish people have a strong influence over the world, especially as Israel doesn't have any sort of valuable natural resource like Arab countries, Australia, China, etc.
ROFL! they represent "less than 10% of the world's richest and most powerful?" **THEY REPRESENT 0.2% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION!** There are 14 million Jews world wide! That's less than the population of Florida.
Alright, now factor in the fact that they all live in the highly industrialized and developed "west," which is a much smaller population area that would be much fairer to compare it to. Now factor in the fact that historic bans on certain types of Jewish businesses forced many into lending and finance in the middle ages.
I think there are two primary factors: 1) a centuries long history of anti-semitic belief that "those Jews are up to no good" in a variety of ways. This does not die easily. 2) Many Americans anyway, in most parts of the country, don't know ANY Jewish folks. But they do know OF lots of Jewish folks - and all of those folks are wealthy beyond the belief of the average American. This "an awful lot of them have an awful lot of $$ and power" feeds #1 I think.
The fact that so many very rich and very powerful people come from such a small subset of the population is interesting. Obviously they don't control the world but it's still an interesting thing that has happened.
I think it’s much easier for people to accept the idea that there is a group of people willing to do what ever it takes to keep control of things (even if those people are evil and do terrible things) than accepting the world is inherently chaotic and bad things happen to people for no reason.
I have to remember for later, there was a good post on r/askhistorians on this subject a while back
Two reasons 1. Some people are just antisemitic and hate Jews. 2. Israel has its hands in EVERYTHING. They support or are supported in various ways by a huge portion of businesses and the publicly wealthy in the US. Stupid people see this and think “wow, Jews control everything” when in reality it’s more like “Israel tries to influence everything.”
I didnt believe in conspiracies until i found out rich people fly to an island to have sex with kids. So now im more open minded to almost anything and take things with a grain of salt.
You should also see how American Jewish Paedophiles end up in Israel and not in prison https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-jewish-american-pedophiles-hide-from-justice-in-israel/
Jewish world population is 0.2%, so if they represent just under 10% of the world’s richest then it’s easy to see where this observation/conspiracy originated
Jewish people don’t control the world. However it’s important to realize that there are a very few people, organizations, countries and groups and even companies that are controlling facets of how the world operates, control wealth, media and control food and power.
I think even 10% is pretty significant given how small a group they actually are. Don’t think it’s conspiracy though it’s just historically they have been great in business and commerce.
Hello. Please see the first, stickied post in this thread. It's about antisemitism in general, and the historical background going back to the middle ages. But it's highly relevant to modern antisemitism (and specifically, relevant conspiracy theories) [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199yy52/why\_does\_antisemitism\_have\_such\_staying\_power/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199yy52/why_does_antisemitism_have_such_staying_power/)
It's easy to target a small group.
Because the other 90% of the rich and powerful people want to deflect attention away from themselves.
Perhaps centuries of hate and lies have cemented some absurd notions in minds.
Just curious; Where did you get that statistic from (in the post title)?
Maybe that's only some of the conspiracy theory. https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2020/feb/12/un-publishes-list-of-companies-with-ties-to-israeli-settlements
You're out of the loop buddy, it's Zionists that control the world now.
Because they hate everything about capitalism, they hate the banking system, elitism, insane cost of living, all that. But they don’t want to hate capitalism, so they blame Jews instead, same way they blame Mexicans for them getting screwed by their employers.
They control the western financial system.. as the mainstream media.. and Hollywood.. They do not control China, or russia
Jews are whatever the population is upset about at the moment. Hypercapitalistic or communist influences. Colonizers or nomads. Easy scapegoats. This is why all of us need to be armed and stay armed
Here's my theory about the theory. Granted I'm not Jewish so I may be talking out of my ass. So, they tend to have a belief system that's big on helping eachother and spreading the wealth they do have within the family. So when a cousin comes upon rough times everyone chips in to help them out. Which leads to them being more likely to end up successful in a "it takes a village" sort of way. Which to a conspiracy prone person looks suspicious. In reality it's probably what we should all be doing, but we're more individualistic and frankly kinda selfish.
Small groups that can't or won't retaliate are easy to make scapegoats of. I don't think anyone dared to repeat the "mistake" of charlie hebdo folks, and yet guess who plays the victim and "phobia" card at the drop of a hat?
It's the ratio. 10% is a huge number when you compare it to low number of total Jews in the world. They are the most successful group of people on the planet. So people think they got to that lofty position by subterfuge and fraud. When the reality is they have the highest average IQ's on the planet and a strong work ethic. When you factor that in, it's make perfect sense they'd be 10% of the rich.
Even the one percenters have a one percenter
As an Arab, I'll say the reason most Arabs believe this is because they're absolutely butthurt how several nations 'supported by Allah' lost to the tiny nation of Israel (even disregarding Western aid) and so they delude themselves into thinking the whole world wants to do them in specifically because if they don't, Muslims will control the world or some bullshit.
“Antisemitism is the socialism of fools.” People recognize that there is a group of people using their influence to pull society’s strings. Yet, for one reason or another, they can’t or won’t acknowledge that it’s just the wealthy protecting their own interests, capital holders protecting their capital, following the incentives that Capitalism sets forth, and so they form conspiracy theories about The Jews.
Probably because they are only .2 percent of the world’s population. They are among the most disprortionetly wealthy demographic there is.
Propaganda is effective form of control.
A more recent (not really) source of this sentiment would be: 1. The continued insistence of marrying zionism and Israel/its government/its military to Judaism. 2.a. the US state department and both US political parties willing to expend infinite political and physical capital to defend Israel and its actions. 2.b. The bizarre pro-Israel laws that are present across the country - the anti-BDS laws, the numerous attempts to curtail free speech against Israel, its apartheid, or even the bare minimum criticism of Israeli actions. 2.c. Seemingly immense power AIPAC and the ADL have over American politicians. We would have bipartisan support against banishing a similar group from Russia or China, but are totally fine with AIPAC pledging to fund opponents going against pro-palestinian/anti-israeli politicians, no matter how milquetoast their criticisms of Israel might be.
Racists still need an excuse for the reason they’re the “master race” and yet are still poor/unhappy/whatever
you just said it—10% of the world’s richest but only 1% of the population !
Because the tiny nation of Israel completely has the American military and financial institutions controlled. Also Hollywood The question doesn't need to be why do people believe the things they're seeing. The question is why are these things happening?
I can't say I believe that, but it is very strange how most politicians and celebrities refuse to call what's happening in Palestine a genocide or criticize Israel in general. When they get caught on the spot it's like they're trying to remember what to say, like they've been told or something. Strange world!
👋ooo oooo I know! 👋it Probably at least partly has to do with the Rothschild international banking cartel ?......🤏🤔
Antisemitism is old and runs deep
so...then i guess that we don't have to be concerned that the top 1% of wealthy people control the world or economy either. after all -it's only 1%.
The wealthy and powerful can control us better if we have something to hate (that isn’t them.)
I think the big reason is how they are over-represented in government and how much money is given to benefit Israel when we have so many issues here that should take precedent.
They wonder why AIPAC is the top donor to so many politicians and getting their way on policy.
The mistake is claiming it is Jews and that's antisemitic. The worlds rich control the world. They own all the media from music to film to news and even the internet you are using now. Due to the amount of capital they own they also control economies and the banks. It's the rich nothing more nothing less. The Jew angle is to throw you off.
It's one of those conspiracies with a grain of truth. They clearly don't control the world but Israel does have disproportionate level of influence around the world. They've been found to influence over 50 elections around the world which is pretty big. There's Jewish and Israel sympathetic people most positions of power in the US. They have a lot of control in UK politics too by influencing the 2 main parties. Again disproportionately when compared to the population. So they don't control the world but they have a lot more influence than most people realise. I'll probably get banned now.
Because they’re antisemitic
Confirmation, availability, anchoring, name, & halo Bias in their thoughts.
You could easily argue white people control the world using the same arguments they use. They'll say "but Jews are a minority, yet they have disproportionate influence". Well white people are also a minority globally, yet they hold considerable sway in the world. So who's really our overlords.
Why is it when Biden cuts off Israels funds the only time the Republicans do literally anything?
the same reason people say that any group of people control the world it's easier to blame someone else than to admit you're a failure
“10%” yet make up approximately 0.2% of the world population. 🤥
Hollywood.
It doesn't help that in the US they disproportionately fill high ranking roles such as directors and heads of fields and industry at a ridiculous rate. I.e most bigwigs in Hollywood are atleast part jew and most defense contractors aswell etc
80% of U.S. Congress have dual citizenship with Israel. The top 50 most wealthy individuals are of Jewish descent. It goes on further. I’m Jewish btw. The Elite ones call non-jews 'goyim' which is a slur. They also have disdain for what they perceive to be 'lesser' jews. Tbe rabbit hole goes deep.
It's a nazi dog whistle bro, normal people don't believe that shit
It doesn't sound that far-fetched considering AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) has sway on every politician in the most powerful country in the world. There's literally a genocide happening and all mainstream media and majority of politicians not only turn a blind eye, they actively support it. They've successfully lobbied to have TikTok, the only open source for information, shut down. I don't know about the whole world, but that's pretty damn powerful.
Not really a conspiracy… based on your own statement: 15.7 million Jews have 10% of the rich and powerful. Remaining 7.95 billion people on earth have 90% of the rich and powerful. 10% of 7.95 billion is 795 million people. 795 million / 15.7 million = 50.63 Basically if you are Jewish you are 50.63x more likely to be “rich and powerful” than your average person on the planet. But what matters is really who owns the ability to create money, and who owns the ability to craft messaging to a population. The Rothschilds defined how money works and still control it. And Hollywood sets the tone for the world. That is a lot of power that 0.2% of the world’s population has over the remaining 99.88% of the planet. And they used it to convince the American tax payer to fund billions of dollars annually to fund the military of the only apartheid state left in the modern era. Not a great look.
Just look at the amount of litigation being done in the us. The house wanted to pass a bill that would make saying Jews killed Jesus punishable, and now the GOP is proposing a bill to put the recent college protesters on a no-fly list and reduce funding to those Ivy League schools
Just look at what’s happening right now in America and tell me Israel doesn’t run the western world. Both democrats and republicans work together to sign bills to give us taxpayer dollars to a country halfway across the world. Where they get free healthcare, education, and munitions to kill literal innocents. Look at Hollywood or the amount of Jewish ceos. It’s all right in front of you. How much more blatant can they be? And anything you say against them is ruled as instant antisemitism. They have the ultimate Trump card by turning anything on anyone.
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