Cultural Conservatism is baloney.

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Minoan and Etruscan died out too. Somehow we will survive.

ruveyn

Its effective at keeping the Jewish identity alive, and that's all any nationality or religion is, an identity. Before they were Jewish, their ancestors identified as Canaanites, Phonecians, countless other nationalities that mixed with Jewish populations over time. Most the people alive today have ancestors that went by an untold number of different identities from what they currently go by. Once our ancestors were Scottish, Zulu, Dutch, Prussian, Spartan, Babylonian, Roman, Saxon, an untold number of city-states etc etc, and now were Americans, citizens of the UK. citizens of the Peoples Republic of China, citizens of the European Union etc etc. Probably 99% of all national or tribal identities that ever existed are dead, but humans are more alive than ever and in very great diversity. This is why I see myself, primarily, as a citizen of the world first and an American second. Culture has more value when ideas are shared and when we see ourselves primarily as one planet. We have way more commonality than difference, and if tradition gets in the way of this truth, its time for said tradition to go, or at least reformed, whether its Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Americanism, Europeanism, whatever.

Last edited by JNathanK on 08 Nov 2012, 10:51 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Really? I think you don't get out enough. Visit a symposium on mathematics or advanced theoretical physics sometime.

ruveyn

Thank goodness someone preserved Matzo Ball soup,YUM!!

If government is involved in the "conservation" of culture, then yes, it's a problem

I probably should, I have a fairly small reference pool (a minority community in a small town).

I will give you a hint. Only a small minority of Jews are ultra-Orthodox.

And many people will hate Jews no matter what they do.

ruveyn

I never quite understood that point of view, it strikes me as inefficient. From a pragmatic point of view, I can make arguments for hating cultures, ideologies and other social or philosophical constructs but not genetics.

We are an ad-hoc movement. We have a purpose, and unfortunately our mission to make the world better has lead many Jews to take their religiosity into secular movements such as marxism, humanism, and feminism amongst many others isms... (What "Ism" hasn't been founded or pioneered by a Jew? We seem to have a monopoly on them.)

That is why we haven't died out. Our religiosity to construct a better world is built into our DNA.

Could you explain your citizenship of the world? Do I have a choice whether I want to be one or not? Do you abhor nationalistic rituals like the hoisting of the American flag on the forth of july?

Let's hear it for the Tikun Olam!! ! I do wish Jews could be smarter about carrying out their Mission from G-D.

ruveyn

I wish Jews would understand it as that. The problem with many of them is thinking that our mission is to make the world perfect. Yes, we are to live as if this all there is, but we cannot make this world perfect, we can only make it better, in a progressive fashion. Instead you have secular movements who plan to make the hereafter the herenow and it is destructive. Only the messiah can bring perfection to an imperfect world, and until that messiah returns, we are not to play acting-messiah in his place until he gets here. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Making the eschaton the imminent is dangerous business and it is also doomed to fail.

The end-of-days will occur at the end of days, and not the day after tomorrow.

ruveyn