In part 1 of my series I discussed the morality of speaking out during critical points in history. I explained how we are a such a critical point in history. Now, in part 2 I want us to all take a short trip into history. Let’s re-visit World War 2, and why it is so important to remember certain points of history.
Mart Twain once said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but that it did ‘rhyme’. The implication being clear enough. The simple fact that we are all faced with, is that the past rarely stays ‘in the past’. When dealign with World War 2 and the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime and the Third Reich, it is absolutely vital we keep these lessons in our minds.
In the United States, we are in a strange climate. I don’t know what it’s like for the rest of the world, but in the US, I have witnessed a strange phenomenon taking place. With each passing year, more and more people are growing distrustful of anything that is ‘established’ or ‘known’. In a lot of ways this can be traced back to the Watergate scandal. I’ll never forget reading “All The Presidents Men” (THE definitive book on the subject) and being struck by the general attitude that was prevalent. You see, investigators/journalists could understand corruption in President Richard Nixon’s administration. Not too many people balked at that. When it came to the idea of the President being corrupt, now that was a stretch that not too many were willing to accept. Even though there were political disagreements going on, at heart, most people still believed in the integrity of the Presidency. After Watergate there has been a never ending flood of scandals and corruption. I’m not old enough to be able to say what happened first hand, but as far as I’m able to see, this created a massive ripple effect. Now, Americans became distrustful of, well, everything and everyone. If our own President was lying to us, then everyone is now held under suspicion. No one is above reproach.
As a result this has given the rise to a never ending flood of strange ideas being peddled all over the place. One major idea is the beef that the Holocaust was in fact, a hoax. That it never happened at all. For many years now, I’ve watched neo-Nazi’s crop up here and there. (even long before 2016) It was either in 2013 or 2014 (can’t remember the exact year), I was having Thanksgiving dinner with a family member who was telling me about their close friend in High School that was a professed admirer of Adolph Hitler and whose favorite book was “Mein Kampf”. At he time I was too young to respond intelligently, so I just sort of nodded. You might as well have been telling me that you met a mermaid or something, I really couldn’t wrap my head around someone who could be that stupid. There was a few other times I briefly encountered such delusional ideas, usually on videos or some insane keyboard warrior.
Then 2017 rolled around. I watched a truly disturbing video of a group of crazy radicals, walking down the streets of Charleston, carrying torches and chanting out, “Jews will not replace us! Blood and soil!” The precise words that Hitler would declare at his rallies. I found this to be truly disturbing, but even then I wrote it off as just some goofy radicals. Look, when you have a nation of 300+ million people you will inevitably have people who believe delusional things. That’s how free thought works. I hoped that maybe the whole thing would just simmer down from there, but no. It didn’t.
Now I’m sickened at watching fellow Americans respond to the bloody war between Israel and Hamas by blaming Jews. Justas I was horrified to learn that when I was just a toddler, when 9/11 came about, angry Americans responded by violently attacking (and in a few cases, killing) innocent Iraqi Americans. I’ve personally seen social media posts where cowardly individuals who don’t even have the spine to use their names, post the most despicable kinds of lies and insults at Jewish people. It’s absolutely disgusting and abominable.
Now there are a plethora of despicable individuals talking about how the Holocaust is just a hoax. It’s a growing thing. I’ve known about this for over a decade, it isn’t a new thing. Look, I support free speech, even if that speech is something I think is just vile and pathetic. Just as I can use my fee speech to condemn those who promulgate this lie. This is a problem because it is a grievous insult to those who suffered through the horrors of the gas cambers, and the work camps.
If there is anyone who has even toyed with such a lie, let me educate you about something. The Holocaust was not merely relegated to Jews, although they bore the brunt of the atrocities. We all know how Hitler made Jewish people wear the yellow star, marking them as somehow sub-human. There were other victims. There were those who were forced to wear a black star, those were anyone who was deemed a ‘political radical’ (anyone who didn’t go along with the Nazi regime). They were imprisoned, tortured and killed. Black people were also in the work camps too. I’m surprised at how this doesn’t get a lot of attention (especially today). Yes, the Supreme Leader apparently felt that black people didn’t fit in his mad dream of the ‘master race’, so he attempted to exterminate black people as well. The there were those who were forced to wear a pink star, these were people deemed to be homosexuals. (by the way, many of these victims weren’t even gay, they had just made the wrong people angry) All of the above were deemed to be ‘socially inadequate’, ‘sub-human’ and therefore must be exterminated.
Anytime the lie that the Holocaust was a hoax is shared, this is what we’re really talking about. We’re talking about the apex of crimes against humanity. What the Nazi regime (and all their cronies, not just Hitler) engaged in was one of the most barbaric acts ever committed in human history. And here’s the thing, it wasn’t even that long ago. The atrocities committed were not part of some medieval barbarism. Anytime that someone shares this despicable lie, they are covering for murder. They are covering for genocidal racism. They are standing for the most vile form of apartheid. That is why we’re discussing this right now. This is why I cannot be silent, and neither can you.
