Yesterdays post posits that if the Vanity Fair 100's preponderance of Jews is representative, then why are Jews so disproportionately represented in our society and does this imply anything for the relationship between Jews and "the Nations"?
So today we need to evaluate item #1 - is the Vanity Fair list skewed or are Jews represented disproportionately throughout the top echelons of society?
One of my favorite party tricks is to ask people what percentage of the worlds population is Jewish. I give people a fighting chance by reminding them what the total population of the earth is supposed to be and then asking them to give me a ballpark percentage. Once we dispense with defining Jewish ( the basic understanding being those who answer yes to a census question) I get some very interesting answers.
My nephew, who is highly educated and went to one of the top New England boarding schools, answered 25%. I was sure to put this into perspective by reminding him that he was saying that there were 1.5 billion Jews in the world. He stood by his answer.
When I told him that the right answer was a little more than two tenths of one percent he all but called me a liar. Fortunately, before the conversation turned violent, I opened up a handy World Almanac and showed him that the current world population of Jewish people is approximately 13 million.
Amazingly, his response was not unique. A lot of very intelligent people vastly overestimate the worlds Jewish population. When asked why, they usually respond with an answer similar to my nephews. He said that when attending prestigious institutions of learning, a large proportion of his friends where Jewish.
He was absolutely correct in his assessment - by some counts approximately 25% of Ivy League schools enrollment is Jewish. The number would probably be higher, but most of these schools tend to restrict Jewish enrollment.
Likewise, the number of Jewish people receiving Nobel Prizes is disproportionately high - almost 20%. This is almost 100 times the percent of Jews in the world.
While more statistics would be interesting I think you get the point. Jews are definitely overachieving relative to their numbers in many arenas of world influence. So tomorrow, on to question #2.
Why?
4 comments:
Interesting points made. I liked what I read, and am excited about reading more!!
Interesting points made! I liked what I read, and am excited about reading more!
Your going to have to explain it to me more becuse why does it matter how many jews there are a person is a person is a person....?
Because Jewish mothers push their sons to succeed and push their daughters to marry successful Jewish men!
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