"Dilbert" comic strip features the exotic country of the Elbonians. Elbonia, it turns out, is not a made-up country. Idi Amin is Elbonia's fashion dictator and they actually wear those hats.
18 comments:
Anonymous
said...
As noted before, the lower the IQ, the funnier the hats.
In that case there must be some pretty dumb Brits, what with the Beefeater hats and bearskin hats, etc.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe insisted that his hasidim wear plain Fedora hats so that they would not appear exotic to the ordinary Jews he wished to recruit (at the time he did this, in the '50s, non-Orthodox men still wore Fedoras regularly). He was told that he could recruit Hasidim from other sects if he wore a more exotic hat more befitting the image of a Hasidic rebbe (each sect has its own identifiable headgear) but he insisted on the Fedora. The Rebbe was a genius at public relations and was able to grow a tiny band of followers into a worldwide cult. He was the Steve Jobs of Hasidism.
Sorry to disappoint you but Lubawitchers are the same as other East European Jews. I did ask my uncle in Mea Sharim why they dress so ridiculously, and he said that Jews dress like that, he is a Jews, so it follows he should dress like them.
"Un loco hace mil" - one crazy makes a thousand crazies, goes the barrio wisdom.
Before WWII, the dress of the Hasidim was not that different from that of any other Jew. A lot of the mishegos that we are seeing is post-war - as the world became more secular, they became more frum in reaction. The rebbes believe that the Holocaust was caused by too much worldliness so to please G-d and prevent a repeat they must strictly keep the commandments and remain separate from secular society. Any step away from absolutism is a slippery slope that will lead to a life of sin.
"The rebbes believe that the Holocaust was caused by too much worldliness"
Which is why the religious Jews in Poland were liquidated as often as less religious Jews. The Alexander hasidim, once the third most numerous group, were pushed nearly to extinction. The logic of the black hats truly astounds. It's nice that you think so highly of the haredim and hasidim, J, but I think we require data to settle the question of IQ.
One more point, half-Jews and quarter-Jews were more likely to survive than full Jews. This was especially true outside Poland, where the murder factory tended to pull in everyone. So the "most secular" or even least Jewish Jews were the most likely to survive.
The sorting between haredi and secular is too new for any IQ stratification to have taken place. The haredi are many times literally the brothers (uncles, cousins, etc.) of secular Ashkenazim. I have them in my family tree and so does J and so does every other Jew if you scratch hard enough. Maybe people are "stupid" in your book for believing in a space ghost but they are not stupid per se.
The hasidic movement is rougly 300 years old. Over that time, if its appeal were consistently greater to the less intelligent members of Jewish families, there could be some effect. Granted, in the days of the Baal Shem Tov and his successors, it had more mass appeal among the East European Jews, so sorting for low intelligence back then does not seem likely. However, I would hypothesize that those born to hasidism who stick with it and current day converts to hasidism may very well be less intelligent. Admittedly, I can't prove this, but no one else has offered actual data to prove the hypothesis wrong.
It's my hypothesis that people who believe that there is a genetic difference between Hasidim and other Ashkenazi Jews are less intelligent. Admittedly, I can't prove this, but no one else has offered actual data to prove the hypothesis wrong. :-)
This is an issue for data; however, I do hypothesize that not only intelligence differences might be operative here, but even more important, personality. I would say that personality differences are what really underlies the susceptibility to a hyper-religious lifestyle.
High intelligence might not be such a barrier as we think; the smarter you are, the better you can convince yourself of anything, if it suits your emotional needs.
As an added data point, keep in mind that scholarship (in the form of religious study) is highly valued among Haredim. Although in modern terms they spend their time arguing about totally insignificant questions (e.g. is an egg laid on the Sabbath kosher) the arguments are on a very sophisticated and high level. I think they would laugh at you for calling them unintelligent - they are anything but, despite the silly hats.
Actually, I don't think, on the hat scale, their hats are that silly, nor do I think they are stupid. Not at all.
But I do think the personality that would be drawn to that sort of a lifestyle (and there are goyim equivalents) is more of a determinant than IQ (high or not so high).
That having been said, I suspect their average IQ is not as high as that of their secular counterparts,who are generally successful in the harsh, real world: but as I was careful to point out, we need data and my mind is open.
Incidentally the hat scale here is accurate, since their hats, as I noted, are rather nice and not particularly "funny".
18 comments:
As noted before, the lower the IQ, the funnier the hats.
Anon's Second Law.
Anon.
In that case there must be some pretty dumb Brits, what with the Beefeater hats and bearskin hats, etc.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe insisted that his hasidim wear plain Fedora hats so that they would not appear exotic to the ordinary Jews he wished to recruit (at the time he did this, in the '50s, non-Orthodox men still wore Fedoras regularly). He was told that he could recruit Hasidim from other sects if he wore a more exotic hat more befitting the image of a Hasidic rebbe (each sect has its own identifiable headgear) but he insisted on the Fedora. The Rebbe was a genius at public relations and was able to grow a tiny band of followers into a worldwide cult. He was the Steve Jobs of Hasidism.
K
The pic is of the Thai royals.
They are Elbonians.
Actually, the Fedora looks quite attractive.
But what I want to know is, why would a group of relatively high-IQ people give their lives over to this sort of a regimen, Fedora or no?
Anon.
Anon.,
Perhaps the Lubavitcher and other hasidim do not, on average, possess as high IQ as non-hasidic Ashkenazim.
This had crossed my mind, but in the absence of data, I did not want to be the one to make this suggestion.
Anon.
Sorry to disappoint you but Lubawitchers are the same as other East European Jews. I did ask my uncle in Mea Sharim why they dress so ridiculously, and he said that Jews dress like that, he is a Jews, so it follows he should dress like them.
"Un loco hace mil" - one crazy makes a thousand crazies, goes the barrio wisdom.
Before WWII, the dress of the Hasidim was not that different from that of any other Jew. A lot of the mishegos that we are seeing is post-war - as the world became more secular, they became more frum in reaction. The rebbes believe that the Holocaust was caused by too much worldliness so to please G-d and prevent a repeat they must strictly keep the commandments and remain separate from secular society. Any step away from absolutism is a slippery slope that will lead to a life of sin.
K
"The rebbes believe that the Holocaust was caused by too much worldliness"
Which is why the religious Jews in Poland were liquidated as often as less religious Jews. The Alexander hasidim, once the third most numerous group, were pushed nearly to extinction. The logic of the black hats truly astounds. It's nice that you think so highly of the haredim and hasidim, J, but I think we require data to settle the question of IQ.
One more point, half-Jews and quarter-Jews were more likely to survive than full Jews. This was especially true outside Poland, where the murder factory tended to pull in everyone. So the "most secular" or even least Jewish Jews were the most likely to survive.
The sorting between haredi and secular is too new for any IQ stratification to have taken place. The haredi are many times literally the brothers (uncles, cousins, etc.) of secular Ashkenazim. I have them in my family tree and so does J and so does every other Jew if you scratch hard enough. Maybe people are "stupid" in your book for believing in a space ghost but they are not stupid per se.
K
The hasidic movement is rougly 300 years old. Over that time, if its appeal were consistently greater to the less intelligent members of Jewish families, there could be some effect. Granted, in the days of the Baal Shem Tov and his successors, it had more mass appeal among the East European Jews, so sorting for low intelligence back then does not seem likely. However, I would hypothesize that those born to hasidism who stick with it and current day converts to hasidism may very well be less intelligent. Admittedly, I can't prove this, but no one else has offered actual data to prove the hypothesis wrong.
It's my hypothesis that people who believe that there is a genetic difference between Hasidim and other Ashkenazi Jews are less intelligent. Admittedly, I can't prove this, but no one else has offered actual data to prove the hypothesis wrong. :-)
K
Touché. I do have a sense of humor, K :)
This is an issue for data; however, I do hypothesize that not only intelligence differences might be operative here, but even more important, personality. I would say that personality differences are what really underlies the susceptibility to a hyper-religious lifestyle.
High intelligence might not be such a barrier as we think; the smarter you are, the better you can convince yourself of anything, if it suits your emotional needs.
Anon.
As an added data point, keep in mind that scholarship (in the form of religious study) is highly valued among Haredim. Although in modern terms they spend their time arguing about totally insignificant questions (e.g. is an egg laid on the Sabbath kosher) the arguments are on a very sophisticated and high level. I think they would laugh at you for calling them unintelligent - they are anything but, despite the silly hats.
K
Actually, I don't think, on the hat scale, their hats are that silly, nor do I think they are stupid. Not at all.
But I do think the personality that would be drawn to that sort of a lifestyle (and there are goyim equivalents) is more of a determinant than IQ (high or not so high).
That having been said, I suspect their average IQ is not as high as that of their secular counterparts,who are generally successful in the harsh, real world: but as I was careful to point out, we need data and my mind is open.
Incidentally the hat scale here is accurate, since their hats, as I noted, are rather nice and not particularly "funny".
Anon.
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