• Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
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    11 months ago

    It’s just a bit of a weird time to criticize the United States tolerance of Jewish people in a thread about “why didn’t they all move to America?” when in actuality millions of them did for exactly that reason. The improved tolerance in the United States in comparison to Europe throughout the 19th and 20th centuries is why they now have the largest Jewish population in the world second only to Israel. Not that the United States is perfect or shouldn’t keep working on improving tolerance of others by any means.

    • blunderworld@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      I don’t know enough about the subject to speculate about what an average American thought of Jewish immigrants - or any other immigrant population - during those centuries. I’m also neither American nor Jewish, so I can’t speak personally about what the day-to-day reality of that relationship is today.

      What the modern news and history have to say about America’s tolerance level though… that is up for debate, and they tell a more complex story. While we’re considering dates, a relevant example may be that the United States only abolished slavery in the 1860s. I’ll grant you that speaks to the persecution of a different population, but I doubt the bigots who fought to preserve that ‘right’ during the American Civil War were choosy.

      Please don’t misunderstand me; I don’t doubt that many Jewish people that emigrated to the United States have had better lives than they otherwise would have. I’m also not implying that the average American today is hateful or bigoted. I just don’t agree with the notion that the world would inherently be a better place if every Jewish person impacted by diaspora ended up in the United States specifically.

        • blunderworld@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          Fair enough, maybe just a miscommunication between us then. I appreciate the respectful discussion either way.