SirGarth posted:
never mind the fact that Jews and others were forced into the profession because money handling was considered unclean by the early Christian churches...
illmyrin posted:
Usury pisses people off.
Usury pisses people off.
never mind the fact that Jews and others were forced into the profession because money handling was considered unclean by the early Christian churches...
lol
This is ridiculous... oh yes, they were forced into being merchants who ripped people off! Kind of like how the gypsies were forced to rob people alongside the road. 
It's way in the past, but there's no excuse for those practices - they did rather well for themselves despite being forced to be merchants.
Every civilization or group of people has a dark side in its history... lets not make excuses for them. People do bad things, Jews included.I think where a lot of the animosity comes from is that despite being a relatively small portion of the population, Jews hold a lot of power, money, and influence. They're usually not more than 2% of the population in any country (usually less than half a percent), yet they're prominent. Even here in Buenos Aires, there's a neighborhood where all the Jewish shops are and they own most of the gold and jewelry stores as well. It's common to hate the rich and bankers.


