Jokes and Serious Questions

Four guys are standing on a street corner. . .
an American, a Russian, a Chinese man, and an Israeli. . . .
A reporter comes up to the group and says to them:
“Excuse me. . . . What’s your opinion on the meat shortage?”
The American says: What’s a shortage?
The Russian says: What’s meat?
The Chinese man says: What’s an opinion?
The Israeli says: What’s “Excuse me”?

-Mike Lee, Two Thousand Years

One of the ways the four of us prepared for Israel is by extensive
reading. Start-up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer is a book about Israel’s
economic climate, one of the books I (Sophia) have been reading. The above joke is entree
into Senor’s and Singer’s first chapter. The chapter explains the punchline of the
joke (and proves its accuracy) by describing Israel’s culture through a series of
stories about Israeli entrepreneurs and focusing on a commonality that contributes
to their business success: persistence. One of the fastest growing economies in
the world, Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than any other non-
U.S. country. The book goes on to describe Israel’s anti-hierarchical culture, the
translation of military experience into good leadership, and the information flow
necessary for wide-spread ingenuity. It is education by doing, not only by reading.

Israeli unfamiliarity with “excuse me” shows a deviation from formality
and “politeness”. Ideas are exchanged frankly and directly in the military, in
schools and in business with the understanding that the niceties add little (or
anything) to the carrying-out of ideas and distribution of information, which can
be done faster or more efficiently if people aren’t worried about offending anyone
and if people aren’t taking offense. In the free and competitive society no one
has the right not to be offended. Their exchange of ideas is freed from the often
artificial limitations of offense and formalities.

I have been told that I will leave Israel with more questions than I arrive with. I
can only imagine what that might look like especially because Start-up Nation
has already led me to ask many questions. Does American Christianity foster
a debate and idea culture? Do Christian communities fear argument? Has
Christianity in the West foregone a debate culture, where ideas reign? To answer
these questions it might be helpful for me to know the history of debate and ideas
within Christendom. Perhaps I must look to Paul’s letter to the Galations and
the argument between them. How much does civility in argument and debate influence our acceptance, consideration or rejection of ideas? Was Jesus uncivil when he overturned the tables? Was Jesus uncivil when he used sarcasm with the Sadducees or when he indicted the Pharisees as sons of
the devil? Certainly the idea of civility has many degrees and contexts. Put simply,
should the substance of ideas be given greater weight than the style of their
presentation. I realize that substance and style are both important, but excessive
emphasis on style can sometimes conceal a lack of substance.