Just found this report from the BBC here in the UK, covering an act of wanton vandalism resulting in the destruction of two 2nd century Roman statues at an Israeli museum.
The article notes that this isn’t the first such incident, viz:
Once again, mythology fanboy entitlement and ignorant spite are on display.
The thought that those statues were presented as artefacts informing us about past history and culture, and displayed for educational purposes, never crosses the minds of the sort of fuckwits who engage in this cretinous brand of petulance.
Though of course, this sort of infantile conduct is not without precedent. Mythology fanboys have a long history of subjecting books and statues to wilful and wanton extirpation (not to mention other people of course) on the feculent basis that the targets of said actions don’t conform to some shitty little doctrine.
Once again, a belief in a cartoon magic man inspires some of the adherents thereof to indulge in petty toddlerism.
It must be the consequences of the social incompetence of my autism, as I really don’t understand people.
And–as a Jew–this need to destroy antiquities in a museum is not a part of Jewish culture, religion, or thought.
In fact, Nazi memorabilia (swastika flags, lampshades made from human skin, etc.) are meticulously preserved and displayed in any number of museums that are run by Jewish organizations . . . and these collections couldn’t be any more antisemetic if they tried.
There is a difference here. I think one aspect of it can be that nazi “memorabilia” are objects that illustrate actual history and the systematic hatred of people based on ethnicity (i.e. human-on-human hatred), and the objects are preserved as hands-on illustration of actual documented history. On the other hand, the destruction of statues and religious symbols of a competing religion are more the result of religious people being offended on behalf of their god.
Ok, I see your point and I accept the distinction.
Even so, it has (for the most part) rarely been an aspect of Jewish culture to go into rival churches and destroy religious icons . . . although it was quite different in the Bronze Age.
I understand you are now talking about relatively contemporary practices? I freely admit that I do not have extensive knowledge about jewish culture, so I’ll just have to accept your claim here. However, the so-called holy scriptures of all three of the abrahamitic religions are full of antagonism against other faiths and people of other faiths, and prescriptions on what to do with non-believers, so there is some historical precedence here when it comes to hatred of other religions and “non-believers” that is carried on to this day. Especially when it comes to the two youngest major branches of the abrahamitic tree of religions.
However #2: There was just recently a storming of the Al-Aqsa mosque by ultra-orthodox jews (source #1, source #2; arab sources, but the point still stands). Although they did not destroy religious icons (to the degree that there are icons in a mosque), one can argue that they performed a symbolic defiling of the mosque in the eyes of the muslims.
You’re referring to methods that are relatively new, right? Since I am not Jewish and do not claim to be an expert on Jewish culture, i will have to take your word for it. However, there is some historical precedent here when it comes to hatred of other religions and “non-believers,” as all three abrahamitic religions’ so-called holy scriptures are full of antagonism against other faiths and people of other faiths, and prescriptions on what to do with non-believers. Especially the two most recent offshoots of the Abrahamic religious family tree, Judaism and Christianity.
Sorry …but much later than the Bronze Age… 2 Kings 23 :6-9
"6 Josiah removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple. He took the Asherah pole outside the city to the Kidron Valley and burned it there. Then he beat the burned pieces into dust and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.
7 Then King Josiah broke down the houses of the male prostitutes who were in the Lord’s Temple. Women also used these houses and made little tent covers to honor the false goddess Asherah.
8-9 At that time the priests did not bring the sacrifices to Jerusalem and offer them on the Lord’s altar in the Temple. The priests lived in cities all over Judah. They burned incense and offered sacrifices at the high places in those cities. The high places were everywhere, from Geba to Beersheba. And the priests ate their unleavened bread in those towns with the ordinary people—not at the special place for priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. But King Josiah ruined the high places and brought the priests to Jerusalem. Josiah also destroyed the high places that were on the left side of the city gate, by the Gate of Joshua."
Josiah 640-609 BC.
It may well have been a “rare aspect” of Judaism… but when they tried it they really went for it…