<story><title>Jewish problems (2011)</title><url>http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1556</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PRJIUS2</author><text>Posted last two times[1][2] one of these stories came around, comment applicable here:&lt;p&gt;As a preamble there most definitely existed anti-semitism in Soviet Union. I am a Russian living in the US with Jewish family in Russia. This is a throw away account.&lt;p&gt;With that said, stories of anti-semitism told by Russian Jews in US should not be taken at face value. These folks are subject to a very strong selection bias. Most of them came to the US as refugees who were recognized by the US State Department as being discriminated against for being Jewish in USSR&amp;#x2F;Russia. Secondly they have interest in maintaining the story anti-seminitism because it validates their narrative and could potentially help their relatives immigrate to the US.&lt;p&gt;Additionally many stories of anti-semitism that I heard were something a non-jew would experience as well but attributed to anti-semitism. As a personal example, I was at first denied admission to a specialized school in very late Soviet period. They eventually let me in because my mother found out that I had the highest score on the entrance exam of any one. Their excuse was that they had to let the kids who were in the paid summer program at the school first and now the class was full. A Jewish kid&amp;#x27;s parents would have been told they already have too many Jews in the advanced program. Both cases are just the admissions persons asking for a bribe.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=4752047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=4752047&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=5340553&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=5340553&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mudil</author><text>In 1987 I and my friend from school went to Moscow to apply to MATI (Moscovskii Aviatsionno Technologicheskii Institut). I am Jewish, my friend Jewish as well. While in line to submit some additional paperwork, we were approached by an administrator, who walked us to the side, and frankly told us to take our documents somewhere else. As Jews, we would never be admitted to the Institut. no matter what.&lt;p&gt;We went to one of the more Jewish institutes: MIIT (Moskovskii Institut Zheleznodoroshnogo Transporta). The other Jewish place was Moskovskii Institute Stali i Splavov.</text></comment>
<story><title>Jewish problems (2011)</title><url>http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1556</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>PRJIUS2</author><text>Posted last two times[1][2] one of these stories came around, comment applicable here:&lt;p&gt;As a preamble there most definitely existed anti-semitism in Soviet Union. I am a Russian living in the US with Jewish family in Russia. This is a throw away account.&lt;p&gt;With that said, stories of anti-semitism told by Russian Jews in US should not be taken at face value. These folks are subject to a very strong selection bias. Most of them came to the US as refugees who were recognized by the US State Department as being discriminated against for being Jewish in USSR&amp;#x2F;Russia. Secondly they have interest in maintaining the story anti-seminitism because it validates their narrative and could potentially help their relatives immigrate to the US.&lt;p&gt;Additionally many stories of anti-semitism that I heard were something a non-jew would experience as well but attributed to anti-semitism. As a personal example, I was at first denied admission to a specialized school in very late Soviet period. They eventually let me in because my mother found out that I had the highest score on the entrance exam of any one. Their excuse was that they had to let the kids who were in the paid summer program at the school first and now the class was full. A Jewish kid&amp;#x27;s parents would have been told they already have too many Jews in the advanced program. Both cases are just the admissions persons asking for a bribe.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=4752047&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=4752047&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=5340553&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=5340553&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hackuser</author><text>I know nothing of the parent or their experiences. Unfortunately, it fits a pattern. That could be coincidence in the case of this comment, but I think the overall pattern is worth pointing out:&lt;p&gt;A common response to reports of any kind of discrimination is to downplay them -- it&amp;#x27;s not as bad as people report, they are a little paranoid, exaggerating, spreading stories, etc. If you watch for the pattern you can see it happenning a lot.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s good, old fashioned FUD[1]: It minimizes the current issue, and more importantly it creates a situation where there are doubts about the credibility any future reporters of discrimination and problems. Finally, it&amp;#x27;s easy, when it doesn&amp;#x27;t affect you, to say someone else&amp;#x27;s problems are no big deal, they&amp;#x27;re just exaggerating, etc. &amp;#x27;Comedy is you fall down a manhole; tragedy is I stub my toe&amp;#x27;.&lt;p&gt;In my experience, the truth is the opposite of what the FUD says: Discrimination is vastly underplayed, not exaggerated. Think how often the story you read is about a practice that&amp;#x27;s gone on for years or decades, and you had no idea. The group facing discrimination has much less of a voice, they don&amp;#x27;t control the media and movies aren&amp;#x27;t made about their experiences, and they are intimidated into not speaking out (partly due to comments like the ones I&amp;#x27;m criticizing: The majority will simply discredit and smear them anyway).&lt;p&gt;-----&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ll also add that the parent comment fits another pattern: It&amp;#x27;s all anecdote. It&amp;#x27;s all based on hypothesis, and subjective analysis and impressions with no real basis.&lt;p&gt;-----&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>