CaptainExplosion said:
I never understood where anti-Semitism came from before the Nazis. To me Islamophobia's source makes sense, since some of history's greatest scumbags happened to be Muslim. |
Jews traditionally isolated themselves from the surrounding communities. They maintained their own style of dress, food, etc., which made them easily identifiable as outsiders. They also were generally in conflict with the dominant religion of their regions. They typically had their own systems for things like education and justice. And, they were very often successful and influential, which makes them easier to hate by those in the dominant class that are struggling (of course if they were unsuccessful they'd be accused of leeching off the government so it's a lose lose).
I'm not justifying it, but given the way racism, xenophobia, etc etc have generally worked, it's not hard to see why anti-semitism would exist. They are an easy target.
