[Vision2020] Apology, bias, and the holocaust

[Joe Campbell]

I received a number of off-list emails suggesting that I went too far
today, which I suppose is correct. For most of the time I was being
playful and that was careless on my part, given the serious nature of
the topic.

I'm especially sorry to Dan and Paul for making it seem as if they
support holocaust deniers, etc. They do not. I'm sure in their views
on these subjects are complex, more complex than can be explained in
short responses to my questions.

Note I never SAID they supported holocaust deniers, nor did I ever
believe it. I merely asked some questions. Nor were they loaded
questions. A loaded question would have been: Do you STILL support
holocaust deniers? Mine was just the "Do you" part, which I thought
would be easy enough to answer. My answer is: "No, I don't support
holocaust deniers (or slavery revisionists)." (Thanks to Gary Crabtree
for (sort of) giving this same answer!)

Which brings me to the point I was trying to make in the beginning,
which is that we've become complacent in our acceptance of radical
right wing viewpoints. Some of this is for political advantage, e.g.,
conservative candidates afraid to say anything for fear of losing
votes. (Again, I'm sorry for implicating Dan in this since, as I said,
I think his views are more complex and not of this nature.) Some of
this is due to an incorrect view about objectivity: that being
objective requires you to see both sides of everything. Well, not
everything has two sides. The other side of "Denying the holocaust is
wrong" is not a defensible position, IMO. Call me arrogant but I've
seen the Sorrow and the Pity.

According to Keely, I think that "everyone who disagrees with [me] on
this point is either a slavery defender, locked into or indebted to
the Wilson camp, or simply just bad." I don't even think that Crabtree
is a slavery defender. He has defended slavery defenders, which is bad
enough in my book, but I have said time and time again that I don't
think he is racist. And he is the only one that I think is in the
Wilson camp. I'm simply astonished at how unwilling even moderate
conservatives are when it comes to criticizing the good pastor, or
criticizing crazed right wing viewpoints. I have no such
unwillingness. In fact, I feel an obligation to be critical.

I grew up in a town in NJ with about the population of Moscow spread
out over one square mile; 40% of folks are Jewish. When I was in high
school you could walk into almost any deli on almost any day and find
someone with a number tattooed on his or her arm indicating time spent
in a Nazi concentration camp. Many of my best friends had grandparents
with such tattoos, though all of them are now dead.

I still visit about 2-3 times a year and often I get to talk with my
friends' parents since I still stay in touch with many of them. (Five
of my friends flew out last December for my 50th birthday party, for
instance.) When I tell my friends about Wilson et. al. and their
criticisms of gays and Muslims along with their slavery revisionism,
they remind me that this is how it started in Germany. It starts with
minorities, because no one but them will complain, and then it builds
from there. There was a saying I grew up with: Never forget. History
has a way of repeating itself and if one is not careful, if one
forgets, it becomes all the more possible.

I have to look my friends' parents in their eyes when I see them 2-3
times a year and I could not in clear conscience do so without knowing
that I did my best to speak out against hate speech. I know that
people think that speech and beliefs are innocuous but I respectfully
disagree (more on this in another post).

The fact is that there are reports from numerous sources about an
increase in hate crimes, especially since the last election. My
earlier posts on this topic mostly contained questions: Is there a
connection between a rise in violence and conservative tolerance for
divisive speech? Later I became more aggressive but at no point did I
BLAME conservatives for the recent murders inspired by right wing
extremists. Clearly the blame lies with the murderers. My point is
more subtle.

We just finished an 8-year stretch in which hate politics was used to
get an idiot elected president for two successive terms. Just think
about that for a moment. He wrecked the economy, started two endless
wars, and made a joke of our constitutional rights -- to name just a
few things. But the worst of all of it was the way he won the
elections, since it was built on hate, pure and simple. Many key
states -- as well as politically irrelevant states like Idaho -- came
out in huge numbers to vote against gay marriage.  He stirred up
hatred of Muslims to support the war as well as hatred of foreigners
to support his draconian immigration policy. And, I think, we are
still suffering from the consequences of that election strategy.

Today I saw a documentary on Information Discovery about the rise of
hate groups in American. And guess what? The strategy for recruitment
in such groups is much the same as Bush's election strategy: use hate
to build interest. And I think it is undeniable that these groups are
growing in numbers. (A friend mailed me something on this that I'll
post should any of you be in doubt.)

Does this make us blameworthy, or conservatives blameworthy, for the
recent murders? Of course not. But that is not the issue. The issue is
that each of us is part of the world and what happens in that world is
due in some part to our actions. We can speak out against hate speech
or not and whether we do or not will have some influence on our
future. In less than 50 years, whites in the US will be a minority in
this country. So respect for minority viewpoints is only a matter of
time.
Either we all learn to respect each other's differences -- which
includes, in my book, speaking out against hate speech whenever the
opportunity arises -- or our children and children's children will
suffer the consequences. It doesn't matter if anyone blames us for it.
What matters is that we can do something about it now.

Joe Campbell