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Vanishing American Jews and the Death of Meritocracy

Vanishing American Jews and the Death of Meritocracy

Are Jews vanishing in American society? An interesting article published in Tablet Magazine titled “The Vanishing” argues as much. Its author, Jacob Savage, writes, “Suddenly, everywhere you look, the Jews are disappearing.”

Of course, Jewish people haven’t actually gone anywhere. What Savage is referring to is a decline in Jewish representation in key public domains, such as media, universities, and politics. By all appearances, he is correct. And it’s another instance in the death of meritocracy.

Savage provides ample evidence for his claim. With regard to Jewish involvement in academia, he gives the following data points:

  • Four percent of elite American academics who are under 30 are Jewish—in contrast with 21 percent of boomers.
  • The prestigious Harvard Law Review has seen a roughly 50 percent decline in Jewish editors in less than 10 years.
  • The 2014 Whitney Biennial featured 16–20 Jewish artists, but in 2022, it featured only one to two Jews.
  • The 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship featured 30–40 Jewish names. Ten years later, in 2022, there were only 14–16 Jewish names among the fellows.
  • From 2010–2019, each MacArthur Fellowship class featured at least three Jews. Since 2020, no more than one Jew each year has been awarded the grant.
  • Only 7 percent of Ivy League students today are Jewish. This is noteworthy because Jewish organizations once campaigned against the unofficial 10 percent cap placed on Jewish Ivy League enrollment that existed until the late ’50s.
  • The University of Pennsylvania’s student body was 26 percent Jewish in 2015. In 2021, that had declined to 17 percent. In that same time period, NYU’s student body declined from 24 percent Jews to 13 percent.

The data are shocking. But it doesn’t stop there.

Of Jewish involvement in politics, Savage writes:

“In New York—the seat of American Jewish political power—there are almost no Jews left in power. A decade ago the city had five Jewish congressmen, a Jewish mayor, two Jewish borough presidents, and 14 Jewish City Council members. Today just two congressmen and a single borough president remain. Only six Jews now sit on the 51-person City Council. Shelly Silver, the corrupt Orthodox former State Assembly leader, was replaced by Yuh-Line Niou, a pro-BDS ‘progressive’ whose oligarch father was featured in the Panama Papers. Not even the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is recognizably Jewish anymore.”

That’s New York. What of Washington D.C.? Savage argues that while Biden’s cabinet does contain many Jews, they’re on the decline in the nation’s capital as well. “Of the 114 federal judges appointed by Joe Biden,” writes Savage, “just 8-9 appear to be Jewish—in a field that’s historically been at least 20% Jewish.”

The article also notes that in 2014, 15 of Senator Chuck Schumer’s 64 staffers were Jewish. However, Schumer came under fire for a lack of diversity in his office. His staff, which has expanded to 89 people, now boasts fewer than 10 Jews.

Savage notices Jewish decline in the media as well:

“Speaking of LA, a decade ago there were 22 Jews on The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the Top 50 Showrunners. In 2022, that’s down to 13. Other than the half-Jewish (and already famous) Maggie Gyllenhaal, you’d have to go back six years to find a single Jew on Variety’s annual list of 10 Directors to Watch.

Thanks to the odious new Hollywood house style that requires a detailed ethnic and racial classification at the top of all capsule biographies, we can see just how many self-identified Jews are in the Sundance writers and directors labs, or the NBCParamount, and Disney writers and apprenticeship programs—it is zero.”

Upon being presented with such data, the obvious question is why—why have Jews declined in realms in which they previously were disproportionately represented?

There are probably a number of factors at play. But the most obvious is the left’s diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, which seeks to maximize diversity at all costs. Jews were once considered an oppressed minority group. Now, the left increasingly lumps Jewish people into the maligned “white” category. Jews aren’t diverse enough for the left. As such, when public or private sector entities consider applicants, Jews are often passed over.

But that hasn’t led the Anti-Defamation League—an influential Jewish group that once pushed back against the quotas limiting the number of Jews in Ivy League schools—to rethink its commitment to the diversity agenda. As Savage notes, the ADL has sided with Harvard against the Asian students who are suing the school for racial discrimination admission policies that adversely affect Jews as well. It seems that the liberal coalition has no room for opposition to race-based preferences.

One needn’t be Jewish to recognize the injustice inherent to DEI policies. That discrimination against certain groups is allowed isn’t just unfair—it can have serious consequences. Doing away with meritocracy is a great way to funnel unqualified individuals into demanding positions. I don’t know about you, but I’d take a qualified pilot, doctor, or policeman over an unqualified one any day of the week. If meritocracy is completely eliminated, how much of our society will have survived?

Image credit: RawPixel-Scott Webb, CC0 1.0

ITO

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  • Avatar
    JW
    March 14, 2023, 11:17 pm

    This article misses the boat completely.

    Jews are “disappearing” because people are recognizing that Jews are over represented in all the areas in which lies are being told, and new impositions into our lives are being initiated and enforced.

    If your intent is to address an issue you should probably look beyond reasoning that seeks to avoid what is the most glaring aspect of our current situation.

    My step-father is Jewish and he was completely in nagware that the ones killing Jews around the country were the Black Hebrew Israelites. He actually thought it was white supremacists and got mad at me when I found articles that listed the actual perps.

    There is a lot of false information out there, and some of it is couched in “reasons” that aren’t really reasons. If you’re concerned about anything it’s important to consider things from all angles.

    Beyond that, I find it interesting that you suggest the lesser amount of Jews is somehow indicative of the erosion of meritocracy.

    REPLY
    • Avatar
      JR@JW
      March 15, 2023, 1:31 am

      JW seems like you've got a stick up your ass about jews because of your prick stepdad. Remember: individuals do not define groups.

      REPLY
      • Avatar
        JW@JR
        March 15, 2023, 7:40 am

        He’s a really nice guy.

        The point I was trying to make was that some average TV watching Jew is trapped in a narrative about Jews, and who it is that’s perpetrating violence against them; so much so that he’d get upset and argumentative when shown the facts.

        I judge people as individuals. I can also see that there are a lot of Jews in powerful places doing things that I find to be an affront to humanity.

        If the author is concerned about negative repercussions impacting Jews he may want to address those particular Jews and their actions because, in case you haven’t noticed, there is an ire building towards Jews as a direct result of some of them.

        (Food for thought…)

        REPLY
        • Avatar
          Eddie Coyle@JW
          March 15, 2023, 1:03 pm

          You can see the same thing with the attacks almost daily on Asian Americans. It is 98% Blacks doing it yet the media just glosses over that because it does not fit the narrative. When it's a White guy, they focus on it being a racist attack. When Black, it is "Anti Asian violence", fomented of course, by Trump. Even Asians are guilty of this narrative, but being good liberals (most of them) they can not speak the truth.

          REPLY
  • Avatar
    Eddie Coyle
    March 15, 2023, 12:57 pm

    Pretty much a self inflicted wound. Jews were predominant in the American Communist & Socialist parties up until their membership folded into the Democrat party. They were at the forefront of the radical Left in the 60s that began the change of this country into something now unrecognizable. It is well establish the plan was to take over entertainment, then higher education, the media & print, government, primary education & so on. We see that largely accomplished or ongoing, even creeping into the military & private sector. What was unforeseen is that this disease has turned on the host largely responsible for it's onset. Welcome to being White, subject to everything you have beset on us.

    REPLY
  • Avatar
    Greg
    March 15, 2023, 5:23 pm

    So then why do American Jews reflexively and habitually vote for Democrats, the champions for wokeness, diversity, equity and inclusion? Jews need to wake up. Conservatives don't judge people by their skin color or religion. Well, maybe radical Muslims don't fall under the protections of "religious freedom" because they simply want to kill and enslave all non-Muslims.

    REPLY
  • Avatar
    Richard Rider
    March 15, 2023, 6:31 pm

    I'm a non-practicing Jew (heritage, not religion). The folks screwing the Jews are JEWS.

    As a people, we Jews have always supported collectivism in its many forms. While Jews champion excellence within their families, they fully support "social justice."

    Jews give short shrift to any thoughts about how bad behavior and violent, anti-education culture yields adverse results for the "oppressed." Overwhelmingly Jews have bankrolled Democrat candidates.

    Like liberal Asians, Jews don't grasp why they are now discriminated against in the name of the "equity" that they so strongly support. For a supposedly smart people, Jews can be incredibly dumb.

    I abhor these woke policies, but I take grim solace in noting that Karma is in play here.

    I'm a strong supporter of equal opportunity and individual rights, but a strong opponent of equity policies. Let the Jews suffer the consequences for their support for woke mandates. They have only themselves to blame.

    REPLY

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