Persecution

In other words, persecution wasn’t holding the Jewish community back — it was pushing it forward.

The reason, according to Veblen, was that Jews were perpetual outsiders, which filled them with a “skeptical animus.” Because they had no vested interest in “the alien lines of gentile inquiry,” they were able to question everything, even the most cherished of assumptions.

And this is also one of the great privileges of being a gay man. And one of the things that youngsters want to dismiss.

in reference to: Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up | Magazine (view on Google Sidewiki)