Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 78 Editor's Choice: 28
-
Some answers to Alan_S 's questions
[Read the article: "We don't want to confirm or deny the Holocaust"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Alan_S wrote:” I'm not saying that the Holocaust does not matter, I'm saying that it is not happening in the here and now and Ahmadinejad's evasion on histiorical fact is the least of our concerns…. [last paragraph] I don't think his views on the Holocaust are particularly germane to the state of affairs in the here and now. Can we find away to not allow the irrelevant to distract us?”
Because his views show that he shares the same beliefs as neo-Nazi’s. He IS a smart man who must either know that it happened (and therefore cynically denies it ) or he lies to himself to serve his own ideology. For him to deny the Holocaust puts him in the same Jew-hater boat as other Holocaust deniers. Hence, it is “germane” because generally most people don’t like the idea of an intense Jew-hater -or any fanatical racist person- having access to nuclear weapons.
“Why is it that the same superpower looks the other way when India, Pakistan and Israel join the nuclear club?”
Its probably not fair or consistent for the US to look the other way. On the other hand, Israel has not vowed the destruction of any of its neighbors. Israel is still a democracy. A multi-religious, multi-ethnic democracy. India is also a multi-ethnic-multi-religious democracy. Pakistan is not, but at least Pakistan’s government is secular. Although there is much distrust between Pakistan and India, they have never vowed for each other’s destruction and their conflict is not based on racism. And I believe the US did try to find someway to influence (unsuccessfully) India, Pakistan, and Israel away from developing nuclear weapons. Before 9/11, we had an embargo on Pakistan because of their nuclear weapons.
“Why was the moral solution to the establishment of a Jewish state the eviction of millions from their ancestral homes?”
The eviction of Palestinians was not moral. That “eviction” accured during a time of high-intensity guerrilla warfare between Palestinian and Jewish forces - not a time when people were stopping to contemplate how to find moral solutions. The majority of those fighting Jews had lived in Israel long before the Holocaust. Jews were immigrating en-mass to Palestine from the 1880s onward. Almost no Israeli INSIDE Israel claims that their state was created as some sort of moral solution- they are much clearer about the history of the founding of their state than Americans are. The US, and the West in general, does not support Israel because of some guilt over WW2. Well… maybe Germany supported Israel because of guilt. The US barely supported Israel until after the 1967 war (the famous Six Day War was fought on Israel’s side entirely with French-made aircraft and weapons…the Pan-Arab army under Nasser’s control used Soviet-made guns and tanks). Britain went back and forth in its support. Western support arose mostly because the Arab neighbors of Israel were getting their weapons from the Soviet Union and hence were perceived to be under Soviet influence. Now Israel and the West are allies and hence receive support.
“Why does the US get to use the attacks of 9/11 to justify the launching of an unprovoked war?”
Good question. But has nothing to do with Ahmadinejad, his attitude towards JEWS, and his desire to attain nukes.
-
Never tried table talk before...
[Read the article: "We don't want to confirm or deny the Holocaust"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think Alan_S suggested this type of thing can be moved into there as a better place, rather than responding to each other's letters. If so, this letter feature should be modified to be more like a bullitin board...anyway...
Marc...The way I read it, he IS questioning whether or not Jews died in the Holocaust. And Palestinians didn't get kicked off their land because of some European guilt. The Palestinian - Jew conflict started before WW2. Most actually didn't get kicked off their land at all and there are many Palestinians living in Israel.
Dayenu, Captainlarab...Only some Arab and (possibly...I don't know) Iranian leaders supported the Nazi's and their reason for support was tied into Colonial Era politics. I feel it is wrong to bring this up in relation to what the President said. OK. If your point is that he is not the first Arab (or Persian) anti-Jew, then fine...point taken. But unknowledgeable readers may take that to mean your point is that Arabs and Persians were mostly Nazi's. And even if that were true during WW2 (which its not), it has nothing to do with this President.
And Dayenu, I do believe it is extremely important to understand him. And it should have been more important to understand Hitler. If people had understood Hitler, we may have been able to stop him before the Nazis' wiped out the European Jews. As neilK pointed out, the whole Holocaust issue is the President's *ploy*. From this we can understand his tactics in the war of ideas. And as I pointed out, he actually seems to have a very low "moral intelligence"; he will not influence any who are not already in his mind-frame.
Alan_S...I will try out table talk. Anyway, his views on the Holocaust are relevant because it shows he is anti-Jew (which is 100% racist) And again, racist guys should not have nukes. Yes, he most probably would not move to attack Israel if he had nukes. But that's besides the point. IF he gets nukes, then there will be a nuclear arms build-up in the Middle East. And that's really not good. But I agree with your viewpoint...we should be looking to solve the problems of the present rather than focus on the past, so long as we also learn from the past.