I Don't Understand Why Jews Are Disliked
I don't understand why so many people don't like Jews. Maybe it comes from having minimal interaction with them but the times I have known Jewish people, they were basically no different from me.
I can probably count on one hand the number of Jews I've known in real life, or otherwise I just didn't know because American Jews are so like the rest of us white people that it doesn't register as someone different unless they tell you.
I imagine there are Orthodox communities or otherwise places where there is a larger group of Jewish people and they start to stand out because of that. I've never been around that.
In high school there was a kid I would smoke weed with sometimes back when I still did that. His mom was a substitute teacher. I had no idea they were Jewish until I was at their house one day and it came up. I remember saying, "You're Jewish?" And he said, "Yeah."
They didn't really match the stereotype even. They were working class people. This individual eventually got addicted to meth and gambling and was in and out of prison, which I only know because of people gossiping. I haven't seen the guy since high school. But the point is, he didn't even match the stereotype people have about them. He was just a white dude.
Okay, so before that, when I was around 13 or so my mom worked for lawyers. They were Jewish and I guess they did match the stereotype. But they were nice people. They paid my mom well. According to my mom, it was one of the best jobs she ever had in her life.
Then in college there was a girl who lived in my dorm. I had lunch with her once. I used to go to her shows (she is a musician). I didn't know she was Jewish the whole time until I had her on social media and found out.
So here's the other part of it. A quick aside:
I've been an atheist1 since I was 15. I started out being aggressively atheist. We often do because many of us live in places where if you don't believe in the religion, you sit down and STFU or you will be shunned by all of society. Your family will abandon you. Your community will abandon you. So that's something you have to keep in mind about the atheist experience. Many of us live our entire lives being suppressed and that's why when we are finally able to express ourselves, we start out being aggressive about it.
I've now lived long enough to realize that religion is a life hack a lot of people use to improve their lives and I wouldn't knock it as much as I might have in the past. Especially as I now see how people will find a new religion, even one that has nothing to do with gods, and they'll have the same problems of hating each other over that, even if everyone became atheists it wouldn't end the philosophical holy wars.
Back to the subject.
Atheists and American Jews have a lot in common in the sense that we're both outside of the mainstream religion where we live. Unlike Christians, when I tell them I'm atheist, they don't flinch. And maybe this is a weird anecdote based on my limited experience with Jewish people but... from seeing them as entertainers from Hollywood (lol), it doesn't seem inaccurate. They don't necessarily conduct themselves in the uptight, strict way that religious people I'm used to are.
But here's the most important part: They don't expect me to believe in their religion and they have no need to try to convince me of it. I have a huge amount of respect for this (and other religions that are like this as well). I am the same way.
A lot of times Jewish people are presented as foreign interlopers to Europe and the West, but if anything, they are the least aggressive of the Abrahamic religions in that regard. Who literally replaced our old gods2 with their foreign gods? Christians did this. So I don't understand blaming Jews for it.
In recent years as it's become more popular for people in the west to have an opinion about Israel and Palestine, I've somewhat begun to see why some people in other parts of the world have a different view. I can't speak for any of them. I don't have any opinion about those things other than I want nothing to do with it.
I'm talking about domestically, the Jews who are living in America: I don't understand why they are disliked.
Submitted to Agora Road Travelogue October 2025