tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post302114570925982636..comments2024-03-18T22:21:33.261-07:00Comments on The Debate Link: Huckabee's HolocaustDavid Schraubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-14971656922773771322007-10-21T15:54:00.000-07:002007-10-21T15:54:00.000-07:00Er, how did Jews killed in the Holocaust "sacrific...Er, how did Jews killed in the Holocaust "sacrifice their lives for the common good"? I suppose you could look at the post WWII support for a Jewish state as the "common good" that was achieved, but it's also kind of a disgusting way to look at it.<BR/><BR/>Note that Jews also distinguish THE Holocaust from centuries of oppression and murder, which activities usually fall under the general heading of "pogroms." What Huckabee and others who use the word Holocaust are trying to do is steal the moral authority of something that all decent people consider to be perhaps the greatest tragedy of the twentieth century, and turn it to their own causes on which there is less of a consensus. <BR/><BR/>I also find the idea that a woman who doesn't want to go through pregnancy and childbirth is the equivalent of a Nazi to be pretty screwed up. Women have abortions because they're trying to rid the world of ... their own descendants? What? <BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://dsadevil.blogspot.com/2007/10/inconvenient-truth.html" REL="nofollow">Once again</A>, we see how shallow the Republicans' claim to care about pregnant women really is.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-59710785887995052902007-10-20T21:41:00.000-07:002007-10-20T21:41:00.000-07:00Doesn't it also honor those who we remember their ...Doesn't it also honor those who we remember their sacrifice for the common good?Paul Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264559497450834657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-76826712744026814202007-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:002007-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00Because we think it is a unique event, and not som...Because we think it is a unique event, and not something rightfully compared to other historical catastrophes or atrocities. There are distinguishing elements of the Holocaust that make it different from other genocides (and there are distinguishing elements of other genocides that make them different from the Holocaust, and each other), and victims don't like the specificity of their oppression blurred into a generic category. Ownership of experience and all that.<BR/><BR/>One of my friends who is active in human rights organizations says that, in the circles he runs in, it's a general policy not to appropriate labels associated with one disaster to refer to another ("Gulag", "Apartheid", "Holocaust", etc.). The victims of the original event tend to get angry, and the discussion of the contemporary tragedy tends to get sidetracked into a debate over whether its really parallel to the first. This, needless to say, is just not productive, and needlessly antagonizing.David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-17570073531726926262007-10-20T21:09:00.000-07:002007-10-20T21:09:00.000-07:00From the perspective of the Jewish community, "Hol...<I>From the perspective of the Jewish community, "Holocaust" ought to be reserved for the specific extermination of European Jewry from 1933 - 1945</I><BR/><BR/>I guess I knew that but what is the reason exactly?Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07617213327912889142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-53509849957885992102007-10-20T20:40:00.000-07:002007-10-20T20:40:00.000-07:00Truly, if others had not stood against that evil a...Truly, if others had not stood against that evil at that time...we'd all be learning a different history and we wouldn't be having this discussion. Can't we stand now against evil against any life...together?Paul Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264559497450834657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-62168245928581704542007-10-20T19:48:00.000-07:002007-10-20T19:48:00.000-07:00Genocide is likely a more apt term, however, when ...Genocide is likely a more apt term, however, when one is wanting to raise awareness of an evil act of terror...why not holocaust?Paul Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264559497450834657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-51348156361522766952007-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:002007-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00I did check a dictionary...I did check a dictionary...Paul Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264559497450834657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-32294244009837338582007-10-20T19:44:00.000-07:002007-10-20T19:44:00.000-07:00I'm aware other people do use "holocaust" as a gen...I'm aware other people <I>do</I> use "holocaust" as a general term (and dictionaries reflect what people do, not what I wish they'd do), but Jews do tend to dislike when it is used as a generic term for "genocide." From the perspective of the Jewish community, "Holocaust" <I>ought</I> to be reserved for the specific extermination of European Jewry from 1933 - 1945 (see caveat below).<BR/><BR/>I will, however, carve out an exception for its original meaning, "sacrifice [of lives] by fire", since that pre-dates the Holocaust (capitalized). This would include the expression "nuclear holocaust." However, Huckabee's case of abortion doesn't fit within that exemption.David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-16819233684375840342007-10-20T19:28:00.000-07:002007-10-20T19:28:00.000-07:00you're wrong about the word holocaust only being a...you're wrong about the word holocaust only being a proper noun. check any dictionary. eg,<BR/><BR/>http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/holocaustAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321349.post-66592824125686312902007-10-20T18:51:00.000-07:002007-10-20T18:51:00.000-07:00I've used the term 'holocaust' to refer to the eco...I've used the term 'holocaust' to refer to the ecological degradation that is leading to the loss of 10 million children a year. I believe that Huckabee was just wanting to bring attention to the sacredness of life...whether Jewish, American, third-world poor....what ever creed or race....life is sacred.Paul Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264559497450834657noreply@blogger.com