Jews most persecuted people in history?

[superslug]

Someone I know recently asserted that the Jews have been persecuted longer than any other culture and still survived intact. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this?

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

What about the Pygmies? Their neighbours still eat them in Cameroon and so forth.

 

[superslug]

Interesting point, I hadn't thought of them. The only example I'd come up with alone so far was possibly Indians/Hindus.

 

[privatehudson]

I'm sure there are longer or more terrible examples (untilt the 20th cent of course), the difference probably is they are the most well known example.

 

[joycem10]

i think sub-saharan africans are right up there.

enslaved, colonized, carved into unviable states, subject to ethinic cleansing at each others hand, rampant poverty, aparthied, AIDS epidemic, tinpot dictators...

 

[Ozz]

Not even close, the North America Indians (1492- 2004)
and Ukarninans of the 1930s beat them hands down.

The Jews though persecuted, aren't the worse case, just
the best promoted and levered for profit.

 

[CruddyLeper]

In terms of casualties, no the Jews are not the most persecuted.

Nor are they the longest persecuted. Of course, they might think they are.

But the descendants of Ishmael have been persecuted by the Jews since the day of Ishmael's adulthood, so the award goes to the Arabs.

 

[Kafka2]

Let's not forget the Aboriginal Tasmanians. They were wiped out.

There are other aboriginal peoples who have been subjected to long-term persecution- the Ainu in Japan spring to mind.

 

[HalfBadger]

Not even close, the North America Indians (1492- 2004)
and Ukarninans of the 1930s beat them hands down.

The Jews though persecuted, aren't the worse case, just
the best promoted and levered for profit.

I disagree with your statement on the 'North America Indians', firstly all of them weren't discovered in 1492, secondly all of them aren't being persecuted today. Also haven't Jews been persecuted since before Jesus's time like 2000 years ago?


I think a definition of what 'persecuted' means by the originator of this thread is needed for him/her to get a proper answer. Some may think length of matters, some say number of deaths, some may think treated as less than human, some may may think it's by how many different ppl matters, some may think other things are most significant when they mean persecuted.

This thread does seem somewhat related to the poll on, as what ppl in what time was it worst to be, I believe Subsahara African during the 1850s/colonization and Jew during WWII in Germany were the top picks. I think a Carthagan after Rome conquered Carthage was near the top.

 

[blindside]

I agree with ozz. The Native Americans are pretty much totally wiped of the face of the earth. Only a fraction of them remain.

 

[andrewgprv]

What about Gypsies?

 

[Adso de Fimnu]

i think sub-saharan africans are right up there.

enslaved, colonized, carved into unviable states, subject to ethinic cleansing at each others hand, rampant poverty, aparthied, AIDS epidemic, tinpot dictators...

You can't possibly consider AIDS to be persecution, can you? Or were you just running out of examples?

 

[allhailIndia]

I think we need to first define what "persecuted" means?

If it means slaughter and total destruction..then the Native Americans win hands down, followed closely by the San and Khoi peoples of South Africa and the Aboriginal tribes of Australia.

Even if we take uprooting from native land and subjugation in foreign lands goes..it is the blacks of the US who were sold into slavery and subjugated ruthlessly. They will probably be followed by the Jews I guess...

The Jews will "win the prize" for being subjugated by the most number of peoples. Starting with the Egyptians and ending with the Nazis, they have been the target of a lot of persecution of the Persians, Assyrians, Philistines, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Russians, French, Germans, among a whole lot of others.

 

[Volum]

Hard to say ,the jews are most known and profiled yes, but its hard to say who has lost the most and for how long....

 

[LouLong]

I think we need to first define what "persecuted" means?

If it means slaughter and total destruction..then the Native Americans win hands down, followed closely by the San and Khoi peoples of South Africa and the Aboriginal tribes of Australia.

Even if we take uprooting from native land and subjugation in foreign lands goes..it is the blacks of the US who were sold into slavery and subjugated ruthlessly. They will probably be followed by the Jews I guess...

The Jews will "win the prize" for being subjugated by the most number of peoples. Starting with the Egyptians and ending with the Nazis, they have been the target of a lot of persecution of the Persians, Assyrians, Philistines, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Russians, French, Germans, among a whole lot of others.

Babylonians, yes. Persians, definitely not. They were the ones who freed them from Babylonian captivity.

If you consider the people suffering the most, probably not. Some entire people have been completely wiped out. If you consider staying intact, probably yes as their culture has showed a resilience few other people could compare with.

 

[Stefan Haertel]

[moral apostle]I think it's tasteless and lacking respect giving a "most persecuted" award. Do you guys realize what you're arguing about? Any people being persecuted won't care about if anybody was more/less/equally persecuted than they are/were.[/moral apostle]

Sorry. Ignore this statement if you want.

 

[sabo]

I agree with ozz. The Native Americans are pretty much totally wiped of the face of the earth. Only a fraction of them remain.

How do you figure?? In 1492 when Columbus discovered America there were 1.15 million native americans north of the Rio Grande, in 2000 there are 2.5 million. It's not a fraction of what it was it's more than double.

 

[HalfBadger]

[moral apostle]I think it's tasteless and lacking respect giving a "most persecuted" award. Do you guys realize what you're arguing about? Any people being persecuted won't care about if anybody was more/less/equally persecuted than they are/were.[/moral apostle]

Sorry. Ignore this statement if you want.

It's not an award, just a historical question. Also the 'anbody being persecuted', well thats the problem whats being persecuted? Also in Maniotba here mainly, not all of Canada, many Aboriginals/Natives, claim to be the most persecuted and are always demanding more and more stuff from the government and 'white' people, because 'we owe them', for all the persecution we bore down on them, over 100 years ago.

Having to pay back for persecution against PPLs, may not be a problem in some places, but in Manitoba it is and some what determining how persecuted these people really were can have a very significant impact on our Provincial and Federal economy. Not blaming all Canada's/Manitoba's problem on aboriginals, but it is significant.

Not all persecuted ppl are as noble/perfect/saintly as you are claiming, some will abuse others sympathy and take advantage of being persecuted and milk it for all it's worth. Some persecuted ppl do care if others are/were more/equal/less persecuted than them.

Since the Native North Americans were wiped out, fairly quickly, I don't think they are as persecuted, as ppl who were persecuted over 100s of years. Death isn't the worst thing in the world.

 

[gael]

Isreal is not Jewish, its was born out of Jewish persecuted but should'd be viewed with the same sympathy.

Whats happening in Isreal is seperate from what happened to the jews in the past.
To view the isrealis fight as justified against islamic religous extremism is to support the same thing you hate.

 

[privatehudson]

How do you figure?? In 1492 when Columbus discovered America there were 1.15 million native americans north of the Rio Grande, in 2000 there are 2.5 million. It's not a fraction of what it was it's more than double.

An awful lot of books that I have read recently don't agree with that extremely low estimate of their population