Will Iran Tumble Down the Rabbit Hole?
Another Arab defied history and called the holocaust a myth. The bodies stacked like cord wood inside the gas chambers, the lime-strewn decomposing corpses of thousands inside the death camps, the 6 million souls brutally annihilated by the German Nazis -- this is no myth. Survivors have shared their nightmares. Soldiers who liberated the camps have borne witness. Journalists with their cameras captured the carnage in grim detail. The holocaust was no hoax; it was horribly real.
The Arab idea that the holocaust is a Jewish hoax, while shocking, is not new. During World War II the war in Europe seemed far removed from many isolated Arab villages. In the 1940s news came primarily by radio in villages privileged to have electricity, occasionally by newspaper for those who could read, often weeks late or not at all. In small villages it may have been possible for the uneducated to dismiss the reports as Jewish propaganda. But the horrifying reality was starkly known in the cities and in circles of educated men. The account I read spoke of the horror and revulsion of an Arab village leader who knew the truth of the holocaust. Yet he allowed the people of his village to believe the myth. He did not speak out against it. And in time, the myth became the new reality.
In any other venue such behavior would be denounced as psychotic. We label as delusional the fanatics who believe that somewhere in the southwestern desert secretive US scientists run tests on captured aliens. Of course it's preposterous, but for true believers Area 51 exists. Even more outrageous are the confused souls who believe the moon landing was acted out on a secret California soundstage far from the lunar surface. The flat earth society still meets despite irrefutable proof that the earth is round. The world is filled with ghost hunters, former UFO test subjects, and other tortured souls who inhabit an alternate reality. I'm sure some of them are Arabs.
But most Arabs are reasonable people like you and me who live ordinary lives just like the rest of us. How then can an Arab leader have the audacity to flagrantly deny the reality of recorded history and declare the holocaust to be a myth? How can Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad profess to believe such proven nonsense and host a conference of like-minded bigots from 30 countries as he did this week? This is a supposedly educated man, a supposedly responsible leader of his people, an undeniably powerful force in the Middle East and the Arab world. Unfortunately, people are too often like sheep, willing to follow the herder. When a respected leader of the Arab world labels the holocaust a myth, many Arabs, fueled by centuries of hate, are only too willing to believe him.
This predilection the Arab community has for restructuring history to their liking worries me. Historically the "facts" of various battles have been restructured by the Arabs: failed commanders painted as heroes, battlefield routs colored as heroic stands against unimaginable odds. Why is the collective Arab ego so incapable of humility and error? Why must every Arab failure be rewritten as the fault of the Jews? Why can't Arabs take responsibility for their actions? I was shocked to read that when Israel was founded, the Palestinians were also offered a homeland but refused! Yet now they blame Israel for their lost opportunity.
I do not understand how a man, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, can espouse a point of view so opposed to historical fact. I do not understand how the supposedly educated Iranian society can support such an ignorant view of history. I do not understand how the Arab nation can choose to live a life so utterably devoid of integrity. But then I don't understand how the German people could have goose-stepped after Hitler and under the guise of racial supremacy made such a dedicated and nearly successful effort to wipe out the Jewish race. Is history doomed to repeat itself? Will Iran's streets ring with the cry of "Heil Ahmadinejad"? And most importantly, will the world stand idly by and allow the tragic lessons of the Holocaust to be forgotten?
The Arab idea that the holocaust is a Jewish hoax, while shocking, is not new. During World War II the war in Europe seemed far removed from many isolated Arab villages. In the 1940s news came primarily by radio in villages privileged to have electricity, occasionally by newspaper for those who could read, often weeks late or not at all. In small villages it may have been possible for the uneducated to dismiss the reports as Jewish propaganda. But the horrifying reality was starkly known in the cities and in circles of educated men. The account I read spoke of the horror and revulsion of an Arab village leader who knew the truth of the holocaust. Yet he allowed the people of his village to believe the myth. He did not speak out against it. And in time, the myth became the new reality.
In any other venue such behavior would be denounced as psychotic. We label as delusional the fanatics who believe that somewhere in the southwestern desert secretive US scientists run tests on captured aliens. Of course it's preposterous, but for true believers Area 51 exists. Even more outrageous are the confused souls who believe the moon landing was acted out on a secret California soundstage far from the lunar surface. The flat earth society still meets despite irrefutable proof that the earth is round. The world is filled with ghost hunters, former UFO test subjects, and other tortured souls who inhabit an alternate reality. I'm sure some of them are Arabs.
But most Arabs are reasonable people like you and me who live ordinary lives just like the rest of us. How then can an Arab leader have the audacity to flagrantly deny the reality of recorded history and declare the holocaust to be a myth? How can Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad profess to believe such proven nonsense and host a conference of like-minded bigots from 30 countries as he did this week? This is a supposedly educated man, a supposedly responsible leader of his people, an undeniably powerful force in the Middle East and the Arab world. Unfortunately, people are too often like sheep, willing to follow the herder. When a respected leader of the Arab world labels the holocaust a myth, many Arabs, fueled by centuries of hate, are only too willing to believe him.
This predilection the Arab community has for restructuring history to their liking worries me. Historically the "facts" of various battles have been restructured by the Arabs: failed commanders painted as heroes, battlefield routs colored as heroic stands against unimaginable odds. Why is the collective Arab ego so incapable of humility and error? Why must every Arab failure be rewritten as the fault of the Jews? Why can't Arabs take responsibility for their actions? I was shocked to read that when Israel was founded, the Palestinians were also offered a homeland but refused! Yet now they blame Israel for their lost opportunity.
I do not understand how a man, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, can espouse a point of view so opposed to historical fact. I do not understand how the supposedly educated Iranian society can support such an ignorant view of history. I do not understand how the Arab nation can choose to live a life so utterably devoid of integrity. But then I don't understand how the German people could have goose-stepped after Hitler and under the guise of racial supremacy made such a dedicated and nearly successful effort to wipe out the Jewish race. Is history doomed to repeat itself? Will Iran's streets ring with the cry of "Heil Ahmadinejad"? And most importantly, will the world stand idly by and allow the tragic lessons of the Holocaust to be forgotten?
Hey, the Arabs are not the only Holocast denyers. Look at the revered Christian Mel Gibson the maker of the Passion of the Christ and who is avowed, completely anti-semetic goon. He also says he does not believe the Holocaust took place either. And he is not the only American to say that becuase there are any number of Jew-haters in the US and Latin America.
Save your ire for what is really happening. It is global distain for the success of Jews which comes from the value they have always put on education and learning and a religion that is based on what you do on this earth, not where you will be when you are dead. Those things are what sets them apart from most other immigrant or ethnic groups and why they tend to persevere and become successful professional people, as opposed to day laborers.
Distain for those who work hard and have some modicum of success, is universal by people who do nothing. You can see this in the African American's and Latino's hate for Koreans in Los Angeles becuase Koreans are shop keepers in the depressed neighborhoods where some of these enthic groups live. People, especially lazy, clueless people always hate those who are successful, thinking it the other people's success had to be by trickery and ripping people off, as opposed to hard work. That is becuase all those lazy no goods know is their own trickery, ripping other people off, and dissolute lifestyles. They have no idea of how to work hard at a legal job.
It is the same with the Arabs. Do you think that Jewish people got to where they are in the world and in the Middle East by sitting around on their butts and complaining? NO! They worked damn hard and continue to do so to regerate forests, make farmland, create orchards, create cities, live by the rule of law: you name it! They are working hard for a better tomorrow. What do the Arabs do? They sit around and pity themselves and their poverty, they bicker among themselves and kill each other for the slightest provocation, they magnify any sight into a mountain of honor, the brainwash their children with hate, and, in the case of the Holocaust Meeting, deny the obvious if it suits their needs.
History will come to show the Arab world of today as idiots who will continue to live in the stone age under brutish despotic leaders when the rest of us are eating manna and honey and living on other worlds in grace and dignity.
Posted by Anonymous | Sun Dec 17, 08:59:00 PM EST