[lit-ideas] Re: doubly disturbing headline of the day
- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:21:17 -0500
> If one wanted to argue
>with the people mentioned in the article for better treatment of
>Palestinians by Israelis, wouldn't the Holocaust experience be an excellent
>starting point?
It would be, IF that was WHY the people were objecting to this link. But it
doesn't seem to be the case.
> Perhaps forcing the Palestinian to play the violin mocked
>the Holocaust experience, but surely the physical and social marginalization
>of the Palestinians is an even greater mockery?
Yes.
>In other words, the reference to the Holocaust raises the possibility of
>improving the situation
>and in this sense is something better.
But the reference to the Holocaust, and the objection to the soldiers'
actions, was specifically not because the soldiers were treating the man
LIKE others were treated during the Holocaust, but because in doing so,
they were mocking the memory of it. In other words, it would seem that they
are not objecting to the fact that these kinds of actions were also in the
Holocaust and this is/was horrible, but that the soldiers would even
descend to the level of invoking anything that might remind somebody of
"The Holocaust" in such a negative way -- that is, as regards the treatment
of the Jews by Nazis, set against the treatment of Palestinians BY the Jews
now. The sentiment might hint at better things, but it seems completely
wrongheaded in its application. And in this way, I think that the substance
of Donal's "little rant" was not so far off the mark. This prevalence of
ownership over suffering, and subsequent, possibly blinkered consideration
when viewing other's suffering, is what is disturbing to me.
Paul
##########
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Kingsville, ON, Canada
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