Introduction to Maximum Advantage Collection by Travis B. Part 12

Jewish Attitudes As An Expression of Geographical Location and Identity Formationby Travis B. (2001) based on Jewish Perceptions of Anti-Semitism.
edited by Gary A. Tobin and J. Sassler. NY: Plenum Publishing, 1988.;
Heilman, Samuel C. Portrait of American Jews: The Last Half of the 20th Century.
Wash: University of Washington Press, 1995.

"Contact Vectors" as a platform for "Maximum Advantage"

A discussion of "contact vectors" is integral to the attempted rebirth of our social selves. SRL's theory proposes that these "contact vectors" represent the permeable areas of society's psychological membrane. As an available site for synaptic transmission, these contact vectors contain an electrical or moral charge relative to the information that permeates it. As a result, the information transmitted to each contact vector must contain similar moral qualities in order to permeate the psychological membrane.

Population density directly affects the effectiveness as well as efficiency of these contact vectors. The denser the population, the more easily the transmitted information is accessible to the target group. It requires a largely complex local and federal government to transmit the moral and judicial codes of its institutions, but regional beliefs are transmitted just as effectively within a less formalized context. The success of information transmittal is dependent on the permeability or receptiveness of the target population. Information that is important for the immediate safety of a given region is more easily digested by that community than another region 3000 miles away. The fact that the immediate region is possibly in danger facilitates its reception of new information regarding that threat.

Consider the transmission of information within an ethnic minority group. Each group member has a system of beliefs, convictions, and ideals that are similar to the other members of their group. These beliefs and convictions are what bind these groups together, and create the sense of a common experience. Consider the Jewish population, for example. Through six thousand years of persecution, these courageous people have united together and created the state of Israel. Banished throughout the world, the Jewish people have continued to see themselves as a family, defined through their similar history of persecution, ethnic identity, and religious convictions.