Have Your Say

I was very moved by this book. I am Jewish, Israeli-born, now living in California, and Burr has a lot of courage to put his views out there the way he did in “You Or Someone Like You.”

Intellectually, humanist universalism and groupist traditionalism are not compatible. Human nature being what it is, most of us try to have our toes in both puddles, but this is a compromise that yields an inconsistent way of facing the world.

This inconsistent compromise Chandler Burr labels “hypocrisy.” Fair enough. I wish our species were different in so many ways. I wish we did not derive so much comfort from belonging to groups. But that’s sentimental and idealistic. The fact is that our innate tendency to separate and group ourselves has already lead to the slaughter of many in the name of creating utopias here on earth, of “cleansing” nations, of “purifying” races. The history of the 20th century is the story of slaughter that comes from the innate and dangerous instinct to separate and group ourselves..

Which leads us back to the truth about us: As long as we group ourselves in these various ways, the “tribes” as Burr calls them try to divide themselves from others and to perpetuate themselves.

Jews are but one of these many tribes, but because of his familial background it’s the one whose separatism Burr encountered. I’m sorry nobody told him before he went to Israel that observant Jews define themselves by their birth mother, not by how they feel themselves to be. I’m sorry he had this painful experience. But in the end it made him create an interesting story, and I’m happy he chose to put his story out there. And I’m delighted that he opened and maintains this forum.

Mirka Breen
Oakland, CA