originally posted on July 17, 2013
As a History student, I wondered, how did the Nazis get away with the Holocaust's atrocities?
The Holocaust did not start with the ascent of the Nazis to power. What did begin, at that time, was Joseph Goebells YSvZ, his evil propaganda machine and Die Stuehrmer, etc. Over time, the Nazi portrayal of the Jews as the Misfortune of Germany took hold. This took the planted spark of anti-Semitism and fanned it to become the flames of the Holocaust.
«The propaganda of the National Socialist German Workers' Party regime that governed Germany from 1933 to 1945 promoted Nazi ideology by demonizing the enemies of the Nazi Party, notably Jews and communists, but also capitalists and intellectuals»
Themes in Nazi propaganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The lesson is clear to me. Beware of the tendency to "demonize," especially when committed by powerful people. I suspect demonization played a role in the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. It certainly did in the case of Anwar Sadat.
Best Regards,
RRW
5 comments:
It's all cultural.
Modern Germans didn't inherently hate Jews but were great students so when the Nazis, y"sh, taught them to be Jew-haters they learned efficiently.
The Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, etc. inherently hated Jews but were afraid of the consequences of mass murdering them. But the Germans showed them there were no consequences.
The underside of Human Rights, Social Justice and all forms of “equalitism” morality is that the spectrum of thought starts with concern for “the oppressed” and ends with demonization of “the oppressors”. Virtually everything is seen from that lense and not unlike all other ‘isms’, stereotypes are created, so you have you don’t just have oppressive behavior, you have labeled “oppressors”, like…. wait for it… a country labelled as "apartheid".
As are all too familiar examples, Israel can do no right (as oppressor), suicide bombs are tragic but suicide bombers are understandable (as oppressed), any discussion about “root causes” (though we’d _never_ blame the victim... but the oppressor had it coming), anyone who says “sure the Holocaust was bad, but Jews don’t have the corner on suffering” and “don’t confuse anti-Israel with anti-semitism” (because oppressors can’t be sympathized).
Israel is taking the brunt of the antisemitism in the world, but the dual news releases of finalizing the ban of ritual slaughter in Poland and the EU essentially economically boycotting Jews should give us pause. If there was no Israel right now, we would have much _more_ of putting restrictions on circumcision (Germany), or ritual slaughter (Poland) since they _oppress_ the poor baby/cow. If there was no Israel right now, there would be more curtailing religious expression in public, most noticeably under the guise of separation of church and state, the idea of which has been reduced to "all religion is oppressive and needs to be kept out of the public relm" (Quebec).
As proof of this, consider "organized religion" vs "organized labour". Why does the former connote a negative, and the latter positive?
It should also not be a surprise that our brethren are the first to try to distance themselves from the unenlightened “Old World”. If we change this or that ("shelo asani isha", "equality" at the Wall), we’ll be accepted by the world. We’ve seen this cycle before, pretty recently. “Never Again”? Hardly, and coming to a democratic, "progressive" nation near you.
I'm recommending that we be vigilant regarding 2 kinds of demonizations
Genre #1. When there is public demonization in general, and sometimes covertly attacking Jews
One I've heard lately is the revival of "it's all the fault of rich bankers - such as the Rothschilds". We need not say more. This is a kind of back door "Protocols of Zion" stuff
2. Midarchei Mussar, we should ourselves eschew demonization as an inherently repulsive tactic. When necessary - attack evil when committed, but do out best not to "demonize" people. Hate the Sin and not the Sinner, because Demonization can lead to "Witch Hunting".
Best Regards,
RRW
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“Why is Israel singled out for super-scrutiny
and double-standard criticism, expected to
maintain a level of moral behavior not
demanded of anyone else?”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(introduction chapter, page 4) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 * ISBN: 0316181374
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“We need a new term to describe this phenomenon,
this double-standard, this super-scrutiny of
things Jewish, this singling out of Israel.”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 4, page 121) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 * ISBN: 0316181374
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“But more always seems to be demanded of
the Jewish nation and of the Jewish people
than of others. Jews, unlike other groups,
are expected to be in the forefront of
defending the rights of their sworn enemies.”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 5, page 170) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 ISBN: 0316181374
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“I refuse to bend over backward to single out
Israel – or other things Jewish – for super-scrutiny.
I refuse to gloat, as so many in academia and
the media seem to, over Israel’s shortcomings.”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 7, page 211) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 ISBN: 0316181374
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“Critics of Israel who generally take no
interest in human rights or civil liberties…
have some explaining to do as to why they
single out Israel for special condemnation.
The same, of course, is true of nations
with abominable records on human rights,
who lecture and hector Israel on its
lack of perfection in those areas.”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 7, page 212) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 ISBN: 0316181374
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“It is virtually impossible to get
the United Nations to condemn any
Arab terrorist group or state for
any attack on Israel or Jewish institutions.
Yet there is an eagerness to condemn Israel,
whether Israel is right or wrong.”
SOURCE: Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 7, page 225) published in year 1991
by Little Brown & Co ISBN: 9780316181372 ISBN: 0316181374
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“There is yet a third strain of the current
virus of anti-Semitism, this one even more
difficult to diagnose.
Its danger lies in its subtlety, its pervasiveness,
and its acceptability at all levels of our society.
This is a phenomenon familiar to all of us,
yet difficult to articulate and expose:
the singling out of Jewish institutions
and especially Israel for special scrutiny,
and the application of a double-standard
to Jewish things and persons.
This phenomenon, which currently has no
accepted name, assumes a variety of forms,
but its most obvious manifestation is
the special and often gloating attention
paid by the media, [and] by intellectuals,
and by the government to any deviation
by Israel, no matter how trivial,
from the highest norms of humans rights,
civility, and sacrifice.
Though Israel may be deserving of criticism,
what is missing is the comparable criticism
of equal or greater violations by other
countries and other groups.
This constant, often legitimate criticism
of Israel for every one of it deviations,
when coupled with the absence of legitimate
criticism of others, creates the impression
currently prevalent on university campuses
and in the press that Israel is among
the worst rights violators in the world."
SOURCE:
Chutzpah by Alan M. Dershowitz
(chapter 4, page 119)
published in year 1991 by Little Brown & Co
ISBN: 9780316181372 ISBN: 0316181374
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