Anti-Semitism sure seems to be in vogue again. What we're witnessing right now, all over the world, is pretty chilling. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just finished his Holocaust Denier's Conference in Tehran, featuring the deep thoughts of luminaries like David Duke, while he continues to openly muse about wiping Israel off the map. Jimmy Carter, who at one point apparently was President of the United States, has a book out that compares Israel's attempts at self-defense to apartheid. The instant-classic "Baker Hamilton Report" casts numerous aspersions against Israel.
But of course one can oppose Israel without being an Anti-Semite, right? Maybe. But I doubt it. We have seen many horrible things happen in the previous century. Horrible things are happening now. And you can hear the sounds of knives being sharpened.
Never again may have a shelf life. And it could be soon. Unless we start to pay attention.
2 comments:
We are now at the point where even the youngest people who had first hand experience of the Holocaust are in their late 60's. With fewer first hand observers it becomes easier for people to distort and try to pretend that the Holocaust never happened. We're guilty of this in the United State at a different level. There have been several large scale Holocaust-like events in Africa within the past decade, and most Americans don't know or don't care......We can say that the Iranians are beasts, but we must look at ourselves as well. To allow something to happen while not directly participating is not the same level of sinning, but it remains a sin.
Hey anonymous,
Not so fast. Collective guilt is pernicious. We are not, nor have we ever been, an omnipotent nation. We cannot solve all the world's problems, or prevent all determined evildoers from carrying out their agendas. We pick our battles. The charge always comes, "yeah, but only in places where we have an interest." Yep. It is an especially strange idea that America is only best when it acts in ways that don't affect its self-interest. Compelled altruism is never satisfactory. It's also, ultimately, an oxymoron.
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