February 16, 2009 | 11:22 pm

‘Do the Jews Really Control America?’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Follow JewishJournal.com on

Richard Dawkins and Fatima Hajaig might think Jews control America, but do they?

Of course not. But that doesn’t stem endless speculating. I mentioned last week the popularity of Jewish conspiracy theories in Asia. Check out this headline that a blogger for The New Yorker found in a Chinese newspaper: “Do the Jews Really Control America?”

The headline belongs to this article by Qi Yunhong. I have no idea what Qi is saying either, so I’ll let Evan Osnos explain:

The piece goes on to explore Kissinger’s role in the Nixon and Ford Administrations and cites a purported Fortune magazine story which found that, among the forty richest Americans in 1982, four of every ten were Jews. But that’s where the piece takes a distinctly Chinese turn: the author answers his titular question with a hopeful yes, noting that the Jewish people—known to be “permeated with wisdom, full of wit and talent”—the people who gave us Einstein, Freud, Marx, Spielberg—occupy a healthy position of influence in America. Indeed, it is one of rather surprising things that Jewish expats discover upon arrival in China: China is especially good for the Jews. As Chinese friends often say, Jews and Chinese have a lot in common, including a shared emphasis on education, family ties, and migration. China’s bear hug, however, can still catch you by surprise. In an airport lounge not long ago, I sat across from a guy reading a business self-help book entitled, in Chinese, “Why Are the Jews Capable of Making Money: Unlocking the World’s Foremost Merchants’ Money-Making Secrets.”

Sounds like a combination of “Jewish Wisdom for Business Success,” “Jews and Money” and “The Jewish Century.”