Cultural sensitivities
I watched an exposee of Mel Gibson on the bio channel the other night, and it got me to thinking.
Why is it that if anyone ever questions the holocaust in any frame or fashion, doing so is considered "anti-semitic?
Any historical event is bound to grow some embellishments and misperceptions. I'm not talking about claims that the entire event never happened, because we all know that it did. What I'm talking about is conjecture exploring the total accuracy of some of the claims that have evolved over the years.
It seems that any suggestion that objective perception might vary from what has nearly become dogma, is Anti-semitic. Seems like a cultural taboo or a purpose driven moral panic might be at work here?
Why is it that if anyone ever questions the holocaust in any frame or fashion, doing so is considered "anti-semitic?
Any historical event is bound to grow some embellishments and misperceptions. I'm not talking about claims that the entire event never happened, because we all know that it did. What I'm talking about is conjecture exploring the total accuracy of some of the claims that have evolved over the years.
It seems that any suggestion that objective perception might vary from what has nearly become dogma, is Anti-semitic. Seems like a cultural taboo or a purpose driven moral panic might be at work here?
Comments
How about someone gay speaking on the screen? Does that suggest Christian family values are being discounted? How far do you draw these lines of distinction?
What is this question about? Are you referring to this single instance by Mel or does the question refer to every single time someone mentions the Holocaust?
Who is applying the anti-semitic label?
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once stated that he felt that certain aspects of the holocaust might have been embellished for effect, he was immediately branded anti-Semitic for daring to ponder that which some evidently consider to be sacred and incontestable facts.
Now (personally) I can see branding the outright holocaust deniers as anti semitic (those who try and claim it never happened, etc)... But those who simply strive for an unbiased weighing of the facts, with a bent towards objectivity (those who, for example, point out that the crematoriums served legitimate purpose as well by eliminating diseased corpses from crowded environments where typhus was a serious concern) seem to be branded "AS" as well, for merely venturing too far beyond the constraints of groupthink.
Who is stopping you from expressing yourself in any words you want?
The "J" word? Hey! That's my name! I am not nor have ever been Jewish, but I give you permission to use the word Jew in any way you want. However I will not guard your house or answer your phone.
Political correctness only bothers you if you let it--no one here is listened to enough to make a dent in the zeitgeist, so let er fly.
That said; we all here reserve the right to judge anyone and everyone's words in any way we like. Here, political correctness is an individual thing.
You don't think Muslim has become a racial slur in many heads? I think a survey of Americans (The Greatest Country EVER!) would show most people would rather be called a Jew than a Muslim.
As for "Group Think", that is just a cliche for the "common sense" part of culture you do not like. You completely ignore the parts you do willingly internalize, yet they are just as much "Group Think" as those you will not swallow. Group Think is culture. Its how all this happened--people agreeing on things and how to get them done.
The genetic lines, revealed by DNA, show that the threads of migration that left Africa beginning 75,000 years ago have crossed and recrossed and recrossed... until now, if you randomly took a person from any country, no matter how ethnically "pure" they look, it is highly probable their DNA will contain strains of migrations from many disparate places.
We are all Africans and we are all mutts. Ain't it the nuuuuttzz!
All of our ancestors are from a small group of aprox 20,000 people that managed to hold on during the last major climate change. We all started as Africans. There have been hundreds of different migrations leaving Africa over those 75,000 years. And those migrations split and joined with others. So we are now all African mutts, with evolutionary changes that are caused by the environment in different parts of the earth, mixed together in our blood. Are differences are skin deep. Unfortunately, our fear of different colored skin and facial characteristics goes way deeper than our skin. It is as deep as our tribal instincts to compete, control and survive.