Rosen: "Jews have a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness"

In answering a caller's question on the August 1 edition of his show about "why Jews have been so historically despised in so many different contexts," KOA radio host and Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Rosen asserted, "From a personality standpoint, it's probably fair to say that Jews have a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness." Rosen said, "I grew up in New York City, where there are an inordinate number of Jews," and added: "politically, I have differences with most Jews. I'm a conservative Republican, and most Jews tend to be liberal Democrats." He also said that "there's a certain abrasiveness to the stereotypical Jewish personality."

From the August 1 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

CALLER: Question. This doesn't really pertain to Mel Gibson, but I'm curious. I don't understand it. Is there an easy explanation as to why Jews have been so historically despised in so many different contexts? Is there a brief explanation for that, or is it --

ROSEN: Well, there's no easy one and probably no brief one either. Let me take a quick, off-the-cuff shot at it.

CALLER: OK.

ROSEN: Jews have, for most of history, been an oppressed minority. You can go back to the days of the Pharaoh.

CALLER: OK.

ROSEN: You've seen the movie The Ten Commandments, right?

CALLER: A long time ago.

ROSEN: Moses led the Jews out of Israel looking for the Promised Land. The split that took place after the early years, as you go from the Old Testament to the New Testament -- and the God of the Old Testament was a more vengeful God. The God of the New Testament was a kinder and gentler and more forgiving -- which was a wonderful marketing device for Christianity in order to attract people who may have done some terrible things but still had the promise of salvation. In any event, the Jews throughout most of modern history have been people without a state of their own prior to the creation of the state of Israel. And within whatever countries they lived, they tended to be oppressed for a variety of reasons. Jews, even though a small fraction of most national populations, tend to be more successful financially, they tend to be better educated. From a personality standpoint, it's probably fair to say that Jews have a tendency toward pushiness and ostentatiousness.

During the Middle Ages and beyond, there was a prohibition in Christianity against Christians being money lenders, being financial intermediaries.

CALLER: OK.

This was regarded as ungodly, sinful behavior. But in any society with specie, with a currency -- and all societies must ultimately have a currency, even in barter societies -- there have to be financial intermediaries. This is a necessity. Someone will always serve this function. And if you have acquired wealth and capital, and you want to lend some of that to somebody else, you're not gonna do it out of charity, you're gonna expect some return on your investment. So Jews, since they weren't Christians, obviously, were able to serve as money lenders. You remember the Shylock character in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. And money lenders tend to be resented, for obvious reasons. People who borrow money want to use it to do something, and then they resent having to pay it back and resent even more having to pay it back with interest. And since Jews were identified with money lending, of course, that was a source of hostility and resentment.

The scapegoating of Jews by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, of course, was a shrewd political tactic on his part. He was able to redirect misplaced aggression from Germans who were bitter after the reparations that they were forced to pay and the hardships they endured after the First World War. He redirected that aggression against Jews. Do you remember Kristallnacht, when the rampaging crowds broke the windows of Jewish establishments?

CALLER: Right.

ROSEN: Ironically, Hitler shot himself in the foot by removing from productive efforts during the new Reich a significant part of his talent base in Germany. Societies all over the world have always looked for people to scapegoat -- and not just Jews have been scapegoated, but other people have been scapegoated. But traditionally, Jews have been probably at the top of the list of religious minorities that have been scapegoated. So, you know --

CALLER: It sounds like it.

ROSEN: People have written books on this kind of thing, and you're asking me for, you know, three minutes off the cuff in summary fashion. I guess I can give you some of that.

CALLER: Yeah, I'll have to do some more reading on that. I just -- I just truly didn't understand it. I appreciate your shedding some light on that for me.

ROSEN: Yeah, as a personality type -- and I grew up in New York City, where there are an inordinate number of Jews -- politically, I have differences with most Jews. I'm a conservative Republican, and most Jews tend to be liberal Democrats.

CALLER: Right.

ROSEN: But there's a certain abrasiveness to the stereotypical Jewish personality.

CALLER: Right.

ROSEN: And, you know, stereotypes don't apply to everybody in a group, but they're stereotypes frequently because the generalizations are valid. There's some wonderful Jewish people and some not-so-wonderful Jewish people, and you can say that about anybody.

—E.B.