The Usual Suspects: An Inquiry Into Two Millennia Of Selective Scapegoating – OpEd

The Bloodhound Gang posed the question in 1996: “Why’s everyone always pickin’ on me?”[1] After two thousand years of systematic persecution across continents and political systems, Jews are entitled to ask it without irony. Understanding the persistence of this phenomenon matters not merely for historical interest but for comprehending a pattern that defies conventional explanations of prejudice. The hatred survives transitions from monarchy to democracy, from religious to secular governance, from agrarian to industrial to information economies. What remains constant across these transformations?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks captured the essential dynamic: “Antisemitism is not a belief but a virus… it mutates.”[2] The accusations change to match whatever society currently fears most. Jews have been blamed for being too rich and too poor, too isolated and too integrated, for being stateless wanderers and for having their own state. Douglas Murray observed: “Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, and I’ll tell you what you believe you are guilty of.”[2] Medieval Europe accused Jews of deicide. Nazi Germany blamed them simultaneously for capitalism and communism. Contemporary progressives label them white colonizers. The content evolves while the target persists.

The Theological Foundation

The deicide charge established the conceptual architecture. For nearly two millennia, Christian Europe held Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion. That the execution was carried out by Roman authority, that the accused was himself Jewish, that collective transgenerational guilt violates elementary principles of justice, all proved irrelevant. The narrative served its function: it transformed Jews into permanent outsiders whose suffering could be rationalized as theologically warranted.

This theological resentment maintains institutional force. Much of Europe consists of historically Christian nations that exercise disproportionate influence in the deliberations of the United Nations. The institution that condemns Israel more frequently than all other nations combined draws heavily from populations whose formation narratives include Jewish collective guilt. This cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence in explaining contemporary institutional antisemitism.

The Resentment of Excellence

Ashkenazi Jews demonstrate the highest average performance on standardized intelligence assessments of any measurable demographic. Their contributions to theoretical physics, chemistry, medicine, philosophy, and economics, as documented through Nobel Prizes and patent registrations, stand statistically unparalleled relative to population size.[3] Their dominance in competitive intellectual pursuits from chess to mathematical olympiads proves consistent across generations and geographic contexts.

Yet this success emerged not from inherent characteristics but from specific historical circumstances.[4] The emphasis on intellectual capital developed as a strategic response to exclusion. When physical property proved unreliable due to periodic expulsion and expropriation, Jewish communities invested in portable knowledge. Professions previously undervalued became critical during industrialization. The high achievements in medicine, finance, and law emerged from cultivated skills and deliberate investment in education, not innate advantage.

Human psychology responds poorly to demonstrable intellectual superiority regardless of its origin. The high school valedictorian faces social ostracism, not celebration. The dynamic scales to civilizational level. Achievement becomes evidence of unfair advantage rather than adaptation, success transforms into proof of conspiracy rather than historical necessity.

Notably, this resentment operates independently of Jewish political or military power. When Jews constituted a stateless, militarily powerless diaspora before 1948, they faced expulsion and pogroms. After establishing a state with significant military capability, they face comparable levels of international condemnation. Weakness invited contempt and violence. Strength generates fear and resentment. The common variable is Jewish presence, not Jewish power.

Exclusion, Necessity, and Manufactured Grievance

Medieval and early modern Europe barred Jews from most professions and property ownership. Two occupations remained consistently available: financial intermediation and revenue collection. The restriction was deliberate. The resentment it generated proved predictable. Populations resented not the availability of credit but the obligation of repayment. Accusations of “usury” proliferated, though the charge amounted to nothing more than charging interest rates higher than those arbitrarily established by third parties with no capital at risk. Revenue collection generated comparable bitterness, as populations resented taxation itself and focused animosity on its administrators rather than the sovereigns who imposed it.

This created a self-reinforcing cycle: exclusion from most economic activities forced concentration in resented ones, which generated animosity, which justified further exclusion and periodic expropriation.

Moral Law and Its Rejections

The Torah introduced systematic moral constraints into legal and social frameworks. It established that theft from the vulnerable, sexual violence, and murder constitute categorical wrongs independent of perpetrator status or social utility. These constraints proved inconvenient for those whose power derived from their violation. Resentment followed naturally.[5]

Others interpreted the concept of chosenness as arrogance despite its theological meaning of obligation rather than superiority. The projection proved irresistible: “You claim special status through divine selection.” That the concept entails increased responsibility and stricter behavioral constraints rather than privilege mattered less than the narrative utility of perceived arrogance.

The Cumulative Effect of Religious Rejection

Mohammed adapted substantial elements of Jewish law and expected Jewish tribal support in Mecca and Medina. When support failed to materialize, sustained animosity followed. The pattern would repeat across Islamic expansion.[5]

Martin Luther initially criticized Catholic conversion methods as counterproductive brutality. He attempted persuasion as alternative strategy. When this also failed to produce conversions, he authored tracts advocating synagogue destruction.[6] The failure of Jews to validate either coercive or persuasive conversion attempts generated theological resentment that transcended denominational boundaries.

Survival as Suspicion

During the Black Death of 1348 to 1351, Jewish communities demonstrated lower mortality rates than surrounding populations. The explanation was prosaic: ritual law required hand washing before meals and after elimination, practices uncommon in medieval Europe.[5] Superior hygiene produced superior survival rates. This success was interpreted not as evidence of effective practice but as proof of malevolent causation. If Jews died less frequently, they must have caused the plague. Survival became evidence of guilt.

Education as Threat

Jewish communities maintained requirements for universal literacy and numeracy when these skills remained restricted to clerical and aristocratic classes elsewhere. The emphasis on textual study, logical argumentation, and mathematical reasoning produced predictable advantages in academic achievement and economic success.[4] These advantages generated resentment among populations that did not prioritize comparable educational investment.

Exclusion Producing Innovation Producing Hatred

Exclusion from established industries forced entrepreneurial adaptation. When employment proved unavailable, Jews created industries. The development of Hollywood, the expansion of international banking, the establishment of major retail chains, all emerged partially from necessity when conventional employment remained inaccessible.[4] Success in these ventures generated accusations of control and conspiracy rather than recognition of entrepreneurial response to exclusion.

Mayer Rothschild dispersed five sons to establish five banks across five European cities specifically to ensure institutional survival when political conditions would inevitably deteriorate in any single location. The resulting international banking network emerged from rational response to systemic insecurity. This adaptation produced accusations of international conspiracy that persist despite the transparent logic of the original strategy.

The Scapegoat Function

After two millennia of accumulated resentments, Jewish populations became the default explanation for societal failure. Russian Tsars, facing revolutionary pressure, redirected popular anger toward Jewish communities. The German National Socialist movement exploited economic collapse by identifying Jews as both capitalist exploiters and communist revolutionaries simultaneously, a logical impossibility that proved politically effective nonetheless.[5]

The mechanism operates independently of Jewish demographics. Jews constitute approximately 2 percent of the American population, less in most European nations, yet function as explanatory variable for perceived social and economic problems vastly disproportionate to demographic presence. This suggests the scapegoating function operates through projection rather than actual Jewish influence.

Contemporary Implications

Do Jews regret the systematic contempt with which much of the world regards them? Certainly. Shylock’s question retains its force: “If you prick us, do we not bleed?”[7] The genocidal events of 1939 to 1945 answered with horrific precision.

Should Jews fear the rest of the world? Rational assessment would suggest yes. Yet they are sustained by the fact that Israel maintains one of the world’s most capable military forces, with technological advantages that may prove decisive regardless of conventional force comparisons.[8] Samson destroyed the temple when cornered. The precedent has not been forgotten.

The Israeli Defense Force represents the institutionalization of “Never Again” as operational doctrine rather than memorial sentiment. The implications for those who might test this resolve should be clear. Jews have concluded that universal affection remains unattainable. Deterrent capability provides more reliable security than international goodwill, which history suggests will evaporate precisely when most needed.

Sources

[1] “Why’s Everybody Always Pickin’ on Me?” by the Bloodhound Gang, from their 1996 album One Fierce Beer Coaster. Available at: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6LYmpP6EkxGpy36niKSbu3; Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/whys-everybody-always-pickin-on-me-single/1445279113; Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/track/1158946; Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Whys-Everybody-Always-Pickin-Me/dp/B000005RL4

[2] Savage, Jacob. “Why and How Antisemitism Keeps Reinventing Itself.” Jacob’s Ledger, May 26, 2025. Available at: https://www.jacob4savage.com/p/why-and-how-antisemitism-keeps-reinventing

[3] Murray, Charles. 2003. Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. New York: HarperCollins.

Murray, Charles. 2007. “Jewish Genius.” Commentary Magazine, April 1. Available at: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/jewish-genius/ and https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/

[4] Savage, Jacob. “Are Jews Inherently Successful?” Jacob’s Ledger, January 27, 2025. Available at: https://www.jacob4savage.com/p/are-jews-inherently-successful

[5] Fischer, Dov and Walter E. Block. 2021. “Launching Missiles.” Arutz Sheva, October 21. Available at: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315456

[6] Luther, Martin. 1543. On the Jews and Their Lies. Original German: Von den Juden und ihren Lügen. For scholarly analysis, see: Oberman, Heiko A. 1984. The Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Age of Renaissance and Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

[7] Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 1. “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” Analysis available at: Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Learning Zone: https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone/the-merchant-of-venice/language/if-you-prick-us-do-we-not-bleed

[8] Staff, TOI. 2023. “Israel ranks among 10 most powerful countries in annual list; 4th strongest military.” The Times of Israel, January. Available at: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-among-10-most-powerful-countries-in-the-world-in-annual-list/