The Jewish Experiment

As I have stated before, and still do on occasion in my Youtube videos, I was raised in a Catholic family. This fact has never been disputed by anyone, nor has it been taken skeptically. People believe me when I tell them this, and go with it. However, I'd like to start a very unscientific experiment. This experiment is mostly to satisfy my own curiosity. I will start telling people that I was brought up Jewish, and that although have become an atheist, still follow jewish traditions. I'm pretty sure most of the people that watch me regularly, as well as my friends will either not buy it, or will become confused. I'm sure lots of them will even ask me outright to clarify the situation. In spite of this, I shall not answer. Maybe some of them will even read this entry and learn the truth. To them, I ask silence. The reason I'm posting this blog entry is simply to safeguard myself from future attacks from people that may suggest that I have been lying all along. With this blog entry, I can prove — thanks to the date published along, that it is only a scheme to satisfy my curiosity.

The Experiment

The structure of the experiment is quite simple. I will pretend to be the son of Jewish parents, and although having left the faith some time ago, I will imply that I wish to continue some Jewish traditions due to "cultural learning and support". In the first video I do (coming up soon), I will say that my parents have asked me to come back home to be with them in the Jewish new year. The Jewish New Year is right around the corner. This year it will fall on Tuesday, September 30^th and it is called Rosh Hashanah.

I will make the story even more interesting by asking people what they think I should do, since my parents also expect me to go to temple during Yom Kippur. I'm pretty sure I can make the videos with a straight face, and someone who doesn't know much about it will not know any different. I will embed the Youtube videos to this entry as soon as they are available, and you will be able to see them in the following section. As time goes by, I will keep on this Jewish spurious trend. I'm also planning on doing videos against Christianity, and most notably against Muslims. The reasons behind this are discussed in the following section.

What's the Point?

The point of this experiment is to see the reaction of people. I have been called a "Jew" before, and many people have suggested that I look "Jewish" (whatever that means), so I'm pretty sure I can pull it off. I want to see what kind of hate Jews can receive by simply stating the views of other religions. In my anti-christian videos, I'm expecting to get the Mel Gibson reaction: eg You are nothing but a Jewish cunt. You are going to hell for killing Jesus. You jews should accept Jesus! etc.In the anti-muslim videos I'm expecting the obvious death threats and people calling me a jewish pig. I'm not sure, but maybe I will also do anti-atheist videos, but that might be trickier since I am already stating that I have "lost my jewish faith and am only jewish by 'culture'". That will be decided as the experiment progresses.

The Videos

In this section I will post the videos I have made that have anything to do with the experiment.

RELIGIOUS FAMILY PROBLEM (1^st Video)

 

Update 09/25/2008

I’m impressed. I think I might be a better liar than I give myself credit. Just 10 minutes after I uploaded my video, my friend Ssanf responded with a very nice heart-warming message.

Your parents will not always be with you. Just go to temple and be nice. Remember that they love you and miss you. Dont pass up this opportunity to spend some time with them and make them happy. For all you know it may be your last one.

And then with this

Johnny, you are 25. Time has a funny way of getting away from us. Soon, you may find that holidays are going to be the only time that you ever do see your parents. It is best to start learning how to get through them gracefully, now. My 25 year old close friend lost both his parents last year and TJ lost his dad. I am sure both would go to a religious service a hundred times over to have just one more day with their parents. No angry god will get you, no principle be broken by going. Do go.

This made me feel a bit bad. People were taking my video quite seriously! I can’t help but to feel a bit like a cheater. To this point no one has noticed the confusion. Except for this guy who posted this:

Dejame ver... tienes raices judias y fuiste a escuela catolica? ... bueno, ya nada mas te falta pasar tiempo como monje budista :)



En mi opinion, no tiene nada de malo ir a pasar fiestas religiosas con tu familia. A mi me gusta pasar la navidad con mis familiares sin importar que no sigo la religion. Al fin de cuentas es una buena excusa para pasar un buen rato en familia. Lo importante, creo yo, es que ellos respeten el que tu no participes en misa y que los acompanias por el carino de familia.

I’ve known some Jewish parents who send their children to catholic schools. This is basically because of the academic level of the school and not because of their philosophy. I have to admit that it is a bit rare, but I’ve seen it happen. In the university where I earned my degree in Psychology (a very catholic university), about 30% of the population was Jewish. It wouldn’t be far fetched to think that I could be Jewish and attended a Catholic school. However, it does sound a bit fishy.

Something interesting that I’ve learned this far, is that most people expect you to continue religious traditions for the sake of your family. To  be honest, I never felt this was the case when people knew I came from a Catholic tradition. Could it be that people are easier on Jewish customs? That’s an interesting hypothesis worth exploring in the future. My first reaction would be to think that people take Jewish religion and culture with more open arms than other forms of religion. I think this has to do with the fact that Jews don’t knock on your door on Sundays. Nevertheless, antisemitism is still quite visible in the world, but I wonder if the negative reaction is to the customs themselves or to the people that follow it. (Another interesting question that needs to be researched).

The experiment is going even better than I expected. I expected people to be a little suspicious or to ask questions, but either they forgot that I was raised Catholic, or they solve the cognitive dissonance by explaining possible alternatives: eg Maybe his father is jewish and his mother is not. He follows some Jewish traditions while he only went to Catholic school.  Who knows? The important thing is that it worked. Now, in order to not feel bad, I have set myself to take home the lesson here so that my friends’ advise does not go to waste. I have been asked to go to church before. Although I am not going to go every Sunday, I might look at it differently whenever there is a wedding or a First Communion, or something like that. To all my friends who have sincerely given me their advise; Thank You. I can guarantee it will not fall into deaf ears.