Sunday, July 10, 2022

If you seriously want to teach "both sides" of the Holocaust, ...

... then you've already decided which side you're on.

That is all.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What exactly is the “other side” of the Holocaust?

7:58 AM
Anonymous said...

I grew up in an evangelical Christian environment, which tends to be at least white supremacist adjacent, when not caught completely in bed with white supremacists.
I remember when the movie American History X came out, and when watching it, I recall commenting "Edward Norton's character (the neo-nazi) is wrong, but he makes a lot of really good points".
Which made me wonder, if I agree with a neo-nazi, what does that make me.
So I slowly started educating myself, and I no longer agree with nazis on anything.
Since then, I apply a simple rule to any political argument: look at which side the nazis are supporting, and join the other side.
Nazis are at the freedumb convoy? Join the other side.
Nazis support Tucker Carlson? Boycott fox news.
It makes decision making so much easier, and I no longer have to worry if I'm in the wrong, because if Nazis disagree with me, how can I be wrong?

11:59 AM
Purple library guy said...

Well done, Anonymous. It can be hard to get out from under one's upbringing--I don't know whether I'd have had the strength of character to do that, since I was brought up by atheist progressive bookish types whose idea of indoctrination was to encourage me to read everything. Including the bible, 'cause they feel it's a major key to English literature. But if they'd been different--I like to THINK I'd have had what it took to form my own ideas anyway, but I don't KNOW.

1:52 PM
Anonymous said...

The "other side" of the Holocaust is that (a) it never happened, in the alternative (b) whatever did happen was grossly exaggerated, or (c) Hitler didn't know about it and if he did would have opposed it. This is the position historian David Irving argued when he lost his libel case to Deborah Lipstadt.

Veering further into fantasy, some argue that the Holocaust was a Jewish plot to bring about the state of Israel by encouraging Jews to flee there.

Finally, we come to the view that the Holocaust was a good thing because it eliminated a lot of undesirables and that we should do it again. In short, "there are good people on both sides."

2:13 PM
Anonymous said...

In Alberta until fall 2021, the positive aspects of Nazi Germany were *sort of taught*.

( I say this as a child of the last generation of Ontario students required to say the Lord’s Prayer in Kindergarten. ; my father isn't in heaven, he's at work, what is this bullshit...?)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-education-nazi-document-1.6247382

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press Nov. 12, 2021:

"A document that suggested Alberta students learn about the positive aspects of Nazi Germany has been deleted from the Ministry of Education's website, following criticism from multiple groups.

The document, a set of guidelines for "recognizing diversity and promoting respect," suggested considering whether a given educational resource addressed "both the positive and negative behaviours" of various groups.

"For instance," it read, "if a video details war atrocities committed by the Nazis, does it also point out that before World War II, German government's policies substantially strengthened the country's economy?"

The specific section being deleted asks teachers to consider both sides when using resources: “Does the resource reveal both the positive and negative behaviours and attitudes of the various groups portrayed? For instance, if a video details war atrocities committed by the Nazis, does it also point out that before World War II, German government’s policies substantially strengthened the country’s economy?”



11:16 PM
Anonymous said...

Thanks Purple Library Guy. It can be difficult to get out of a poor mindset that a person grew up in, although I consider "don't agree with nazis" to be a low bar that shouldn't require congratulations. That should be a basic requirement of participating in civil society, but sadly, that's not the country I live in.
I'm no longer on Facebook so I don't know how many of my family members support the freedumb convoy, but I'll bet it's too many for me to be comfortable with.
I can recall a past conversation with an aunt of mine at my grandfather's funeral where she said Obama was a "secret muslim". I also remember my dad and a cousin of mine exchanging white supremacist style "my country, love it or leave it" memes.
I got better. It seems too many of my family members did not.
I think what helped the most was getting a job in my mid 20's where I had exposure to a diverse group of coworkers that included people from Europe, south and east Asia. A few teammates were gay, and one coworker was transgender. There was also a wide array of beliefs amongst them, including Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and atheism. It really opened my eyes and helped me to be more empathetic and less judgmental towards people different from me.

11:37 AM
Anonymous said...

I have seen moral parsing of the nutritional knowledge, eg B vitamins, gained by human experiments. I have no problem using those results and I believe I am honouring the murdered victims by using those results in positive ways. The nazis wanted to find out how cheaply they could keep their slave labourers alive. I use that knowledge to maintain my health. That is not a "positive aspect" it is simply picking up the pieces after nazis were defeated.

6:57 PM
Anonymous said...

There is another "other side" to discussion of nazis. This is the meme of the far right that nazis are actually far left, since they called themselves socialists.
They seem to grasp the DPRK is neither democratic nor for the people, but love to flog this other side of the story.

7:00 PM

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