Is There Much To Learn From People Who’ve Left Orthodox Judaism?

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

Most Orthodox Jews were born into this way of life. Converts and pentitents (baalei teshuva) get media attention but are not terribly significant in Orthodox Jewish numbers.

As a convert to Orthodox Judaism, I have no problem understanding the main reason why people leave — it is a very difficult way of life. I suspect that religiosity and the ability to conform to a stifling community are in part genetic and some Orthodox Jews are not going to have that genetic ability and so they leave.

I don’t know if there’s much to be learned by dialoguing with those who’ve left the path, but others disagree.

Much of life can be understood by simply asking — what’s easiest? Most people most of the time will do what is easiest for them. The reasons people give for their behavior usually have nothing to do with their real reasons, which they may not even be conscious of.

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The Death Of Michael Fumento’s Career

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

Michael Fumento writes on FB: Don’t get me wrong, Chris. I can WRITE whatever I wish; I’m just not allowed to publish anywhere. Even for free. It’s like when the Nazis took over in Germany or the Communists took over in eastern Europe. If you were an intellectual, or a corporate head, or perhaps just university professor you either joined the party or your career ended. You didn’t necessarily get sent to a camp like Dachau or to the Gulag, you just didn’t have a career anymore. Brilliant people with doctorates ended up as janitors and cooks, where it no longer matter what opinions they held or or well they researched and backed them up.

In the US, actually a good deal of my writing was or should have been apolitical. Like saying embryonic stem cells were little more than a nostrum and the future was in adult stem cells. I was completely right and indeed it’s recently been announced that mere blood transfusions can make mice “younger” because of the exposure to adult stem cells. But OTHER people converted stem cells to a political issue, often because they had invested massive amounts of money in embryonic research.

Indeed, my career was based on DEpoliticizing science, from AIDS and ethanol on. As such I was seen as dangerous to those who insisted on politicizing them. As American become less and less tolerant of dissenting views, one publication after another stopped running me because of a single article THEY had chosen to publish. Two gave me the boot for writing about the anti-vaccine hysteria; yet a third for making such a good case against the Atkins diet.

Meanwhile, virtually all think tanks went “pay for play.” Which, ironically, I was constantly accused of doing! But I COULDN’T do it. Just not wired that way. So the US polarized and you had to choose one team and be 100 percent loyal to it, people like me were put in position of those who refused to join the Nazi or Communist parties, not that I’m accusing either US major political party of being like either — it’s a metaphor. Indeed, REFUSING to do so was part of my problem.

So what does an honest intellectual and writer do in a time when society is more polarized than at any time since the Civil War? He can do what they’ve done since time immemorial and leave the country. I just haven’t been able to convert that into anything, in part because in the past the country that WELCOMED the dissenters was the US! Irony of ironies!

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People Prefer Their Own Kind

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

There’s no need to wring our hands that many non-Persians find certain schools and shuls “too Persian.” This is part of the human condition and we should have freedom of association so that if people don’t want to associate with Jews or Persians or blacks, they should not be forced to. We all prefer our own kind. We all choose to live, work, socialize and worship in a segregated way. Very few whites and asians live in neighborhoods with a 20% or higher mix of latinos and blacks. When we are forced to interact with people who are different from us, we find it tiring, annoying, and sometimes tragic. People are happier when they lead segregated lives and they are less happy with they are forced to mix with people who are different.

Non-Persians I’ve known who’ve married Persians have found it an extra strain. Most people find an inter-racial marriage an extra challenge.

Dr. Afshine Emrani writes in the Jewish Journal:

There is an open wound that is infecting all Jews in Los Angeles. While across the street UCLA students are battling rampant anti-Semitism, at many of our temples and schools, we are facing anti-Persian bigotry. “This school is way too Persian. I wouldn’t send my kids there.” Chances are, if you are not Persian you have whispered this.

With the growing and dominant Persian culture in Los Angeles, this week, Sinai Akiba Academy ran a bold ad in the back of The Jewish Journal entitled “”Too Persian.” Looks awful in print? It sounds worse in a whisper.” This ad is a product of some six months of deliberation and committee meetings made up of both Persian and Ashkenazi members to combat a growing prejudice. However, some Persians are upset over this ad. I wonder if those angry have not read past the title.

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Many Jews Don’t Like Christianity

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

Dennis Prager writes:

I believe it is significant that three of the four dissenting justices are the three Jews on the Supreme Court — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. So, too, one of the two women (the “respondents” at the Supreme Court level) who filed the original lawsuit against the town of Greece is a Jew. And Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Union for Reform Judaism, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Anti-Defamation League, had filed amicus curiae briefs in support of the women.
This is all significant because the Jewish justices, the Jewish woman who brought the suit against the New York town and all the Jewish organizations that filed briefs in support of the two respondents represent a battle that many American Jews and Jewish organizations have been waging for decades against public expressions of God and religion. American Jews have become the most active ethnic or religious group in America attempting to remove God and religion from the public square.
Why is this the case? Why have American Jews been so active in fighting any expressions of God and religion in the country that has been the most hospitable to us in our long history?
Nearly every Jew who does so will give this answer: In order to fight for the separation of church and state in America.
But let’s be honest. If there were no such concept in America — and in fact, the phrase “separation of church and state” never appears in the Constitution — most American Jews would be just as opposed to public expressions of faith.
So, then, once again: Why are American Jews so opposed to public religious expressions? Moreover, this opposition exists not only to government-sponsored religious expression. For example, many Jews are avid supporters of substituting “Happy Holidays” for “Merry Christmas” or “holiday party” for “Christmas party.”
I think there are four reasons.
One is antipathy to Christianity. Most Jews just don’t like Christianity. They associate it with centuries of anti-Semitism, and therefore believe that a de-Christianized America will be a much more secure place for them.
Second, many American Jews feel “excluded” when Christianity is expressed in public.
A third reason is antipathy to religion generally. Most Jews are little more positively disposed to Orthodox Judaism than they are to traditional Christianity.
That leads to reason four: a fervent belief in secularism. Most American Jews believe in secularism as fervently as Orthodox Jews believe in the Torah or traditional Christians believe in Christ.

On Dec. 24, 2013, Dennis wrote a column titled “Most Jews Wish You a Merry Christmas”. So most Jews don’t like Christianity but do wish you a merry Christmas. One of those beliefs is sincere and one is insincere. I suspect that Jewish dislike of Christianity is sincere and Jews wishing you a Merry Christmas is usually the easy way out for them.

Jews dislike Christianity for the same reason that the State, once it has executed a man or watched him die in prison, will insist on his guilt.

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Who Is Our Most Important Journalist?

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

According to Weekend Pundit:

[Nicholas] Wade, an established science writer for thirty years with The New York Times, has recently published a book, A Troublesome Inheritance, that has merits according to some reviewers like Jared Taylor and John Derbyshire. It looks at genetics and race. And in an engaging interview with our most important journalist–Luke Ford, a convert to Orthodox Judaism who grew up in Australia as a Seventh-Day Adventist and is largely apartment-bound in Beverly Hills, Calif., with some mysterious ailment–it begins like this:

Luke: “What were the biggest challenges in writing this book?”

Nicholas: “I think the biggest challenge was that I had so few scientific sources to guide me in interpretation because this is an area where academics cannot tread for fear of being accused of racism and careers destroyed.”

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Orit Arfa Says She’s Cleaning Up Her Act

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

I identify with Orit because she’s always bopping from the risque to the respectable.

She emails her list: I have received a unique opportunity to relocate to the Tel Aviv area to work for a PR firm that represents causes that are dear to my heart.

Sadly, this means I will no longer be a “settler” (well, depends on whom you ask), but I will remain one spiritually. It has been a wonderful year of growth and inspiration living in the beautiful hills, and I will always reach for their heights.

Second, you may be glad to know I’m no longer running around half-naked promoting the land of Israel and God through Miley Cyrus parodies. I’ve cleaned up my act and have produced a Disney-worthy music video. Check it out below.

It ends with a powerful, moving message very relevant today. Most importantly, you can share it with the kids!

Orit has a new book out — Spinoza & Ayn Rand: Soulmates:

The famous Dutch philosopher and Jewish iconoclast, Spinoza, outlined a view of God that called forth a philosophy of reason and egoism, thereby revolutionizing organized religion and paving way for the Enlightenment. About 400 years later, in the twentieth century, philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand, a devout atheist of Jewish descent, also called forth a philosophy of reason and egoism through novels about men and women who act according to their rational self-interest, most famously The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

While Spinoza’s God-centric view of the universe outlined in his magnum opus, Ethics, may seem at odds with Rand’s atheistic base, their view of man, ethics, and the way we come to knowledge are actually so similar as to render these two thinkers…soulmates.

This e-book demonstrates the deep similarities in their thought, allowing their respective works to serve as literary companions for anyone seeking to understand their philosophies and a philosophy of humankind that allows us to realize our highest potential.

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Jewish Paranoia vs Christian Faith

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Luke Ford

I was walking into a party a while ago and ran into two goyim. One guy had tattooed writing up his arm.

“What does that writing mean?” I asked. “Kill the Jews?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It says that we can achieve all things through our faith in Jesus.”

“Same thing,” I replied.

The goyim were stunned.

As a convert to Judaism, I’ve developed a twinge that any strong racial, religious or national pride on the part of the goyim is dangerous to my well-being and could lead to a Holocaust. Hence a guy with tattoos praising Jesus instinctively puts me on alert.

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The Reason Why Hollywood Makes So Many Boring Superhero Movies

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Luke Ford

Derek Thompson misses the story here.

Steve Sailer nailed it years ago:

Everybody complains about how dumbed-down movies have gotten. Here, for example, are representative quotes from A.O. Scott of the New York Times in “Spoon-Fed Cinema” bemoaning the state of movies c. 2009: “infantile,” “male immaturity,” and “a program of mass infantilization.”

Yet, nobody ever seems to mention one obvious change in audience composition over the decades that has contributed to the present blockbusteritis. And only one renegade filmmaker has used this change in demographics to be able to afford to make innovative movies; but nobody wants to talk about him, either…

A study by the Motion Picture Association of America found that the Hispanic share of admissions grew from 16 percent in 2003 to 20 percent in 2007, versus about 15 percent of the population. According to a 2009 report by the Nielsen Company, Hispanic moviegoers average 11.5 new releases seen in theatres over the last 12 months, versus 7.0 for non-Hispanic whites.

Most importantly, Latinos make up 28 percent of “heavy moviegoers.” They comprise 30 percent of the fanatics who see ten or more summer movies in the theatres. And they want to see them now: “Half of all Hispanics prefer to see a movie within the first 10 days of a film’s opening.”
And, according to another Nielsen report, Hispanics are the least likely of any ethnicity to complain that movie tickets are too expensive. (Whites are the most likely to kvetch.) They are also most enthusiastic about 3-D versions of movies. Plus, they buy a disproportionate number of DVDs.

Latinos just really like big American movies.

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Donald Sterling – Unpopular Truth Teller

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Luke Ford

Here are some quotes from Donald Sterling’s interview:

* “What has he done? Can you tell me? Big Magic Johnson, what has he done? He’s got AIDS,” Sterling told CNN. “Did he do any business? Did he help anybody in South LA?”

“What kind of guy goes to every city, has sex with every girl, then he goes and catches HIV,” he said. “Is that someone we want to respect and tell our kids about? I think he should be ashamed of himself. I think he should go into the background. And what does he do for black people? He hasn’t done anything.

“Here’s a man I don’t know if I should say this, he acts so holy. He made love with every girl in every city in America, and he had AIDS, and when he had those AIDS, I went to my synagogue and I prayed for him. I hoped he could live and be well. I didn’t criticize him. I could have. Is he an example for children? You know, because he has money, he’s able to treat himself.” …

* As Sterling and Cooper’s discussion continued, the Clippers owner tried to draw a distinction between the Jewish community and the African-African community in how each community supports its own members.

* “The Jewish people have a company and it’s for people who want to borrow money for no interest,” he said.

Yes, Jews have free loan societies. Jews are more charitable with one another and more organized in their group interest than any other group and blacks, whites, browns and yellows can learn from them in this respect.

* “We want to give them a fishing pole. We want to help people. if they don’t have money, we’ll loan it to them.”

* “I never thought a private conversation would go anywhere out to the public. … I didn’t want her to bring anybody to my game because I was jealous. I mean, I’m being honest.”

That’s a normal reaction.

* “I don’t know why the girl had me say those things,” he said. “Yes, I was baited. That’s not the way I talk. … When I listen to that tape I don’t even know how I could say words like that. I’m not a racist. I love people. … An 80-year-old man is kind of foolish, and I’m kind of foolish. I thought she liked me and really cared for me. I guess being 50 years older than her, I was deluding myself.”

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I’m Going To Try To Care For Other People

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Luke Ford

I was watching a documentary the other day about the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Timothy McVeigh was the protagonist and I spent my mind time during the show pondering why he acted as he did and wondering what he hoped to accomplish. I saw all the suffering and the death he wreaked and I didn’t feel anything. I was in analysis mode. I can’t think analytically and empathically at the same time. I often watch documentaries about horrible suffering and I usually just think about stuff and I often feel very little. And then unexpectedly, empathy will wash over me and I get so flooded I can hardly go on with my life and write as I want.

So I talked about this in therapy. I fear I generally lack empathy for people because when I do experience that, it overwhelms me and constrains the things I write and say because I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t like holding back on what I want to write so I am comfortable having few feelings for others. I don’t particularly like 99% of the people I know, there’s just a small portion of humanity I particularly resonate with. Those people I love. I care about them. I do what I can to help them.

Now, as part of my therapy, I’m supposed to experiment with caring about more people.

I haven’t had good experiences feeling deeply for people and trying to help them out. I remember meeting this Holocaust survivor and taking him for a walk. I was so excited about meeting him and being able to help him. He asked me to visit him regularly, but whenever I did (I tried about three times), he was always more interested in something else such as the TV.

It seems to me that most people I’ve known who seem most in need of help are running some sort of scam to suck you in and when you help them, you only encourage their dysfunction.

I told a friend today I’m going to try caring. He said: “That’s like giving Hitler bar mitzvah lessons. What’s in it for you? You just don’t have that capability.”

I know people who make $30 an hour bartending but I fear I don’t have the personality for that. I took a test to see which job I’d be best suited for and it said “Executioner.”

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