dancinbutterfly:

:

I never really thought about this before but “suffer in silence” is a Christian thing? It’s supposed to be a virtue and you’re generally criticized for complaining. Even the Pope called complainers “whiners,” and said we should suffer in silent endurance (in a homily on May 7th, 2013).

I grew up soaking in that attitude, and I know I’ve internalized it a great deal. I’m working on recognizing it, but I still catch myself thinking that way all too often.

I’m reading Why Be Jewish? by Edgar Bronfman, and he takes a different view. Complaint is a Jewish pastime, he says, with biblical roots, and he points out that it’s both natural and necessary: “…complaint arises from a sense of deep dissatisfaction. Without complaint, there is no criticism, there is no vision of the way things can be. Complaint is the beginning of the vision of a better world. It rejects complacency and it rejects the status quo.”

It occurs to me that the social enforcement of “suffering in silence” serves the ends of capitalism quite effectively. I’m going to make a point to complain a little more and a little louder in the service of change.

I literally read the first sentence and my first thought “I’m Jewish, culturally, spiritually and spiritually all we fucking do is complain. Suffering is only expected a few days a year and even then, it’s a group activity we do VERY LOUDLY AND IN PUBLIC.”

And then the rest of this post goes “Jewishness is different - fuck capitalism, Jewishly” and I’m like LOL YUP.