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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Memorial email??? re-word first please....

I received this chain email from a friend today; needless to say, I had some problems with the author's note at the end of the cartoon. My response is listed at the end...


Begin original message------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


May we not forget… It won’t be long and they will all be dead. Let’s not learn the lesson again the hard way.

In MEMORIAM - 60 YEARS LATER?...?

Please read the little cartoon carefully, it's powerful. Then read the comments at the end.?
I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message. I hope you'll consider doing the same.

In Memoriam?

cid:001201c9559d$e7eb3e30$9A57B94F@FWHemmingerPC




It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated with the German and Russian Peoples looking the other way!
Now, more than ever, with Iraq, Iran , and others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide!
Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world.


Please send this e-mail to 10 people you know and ask them to continue the memorial chain.

Please don't just delete it.
It will only take you a minute to pass this along -Thanks!

"A wise man asks questions, a fool is afraid of knowledge"

End original message--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


My response:


I'd forward this, but I don't agree with the wording at the end of the cartoon. I feel like I'd be forwarding the same kind of ignorance that, in part, led to the Holocaust. The writer is making some awfully big generalizations, which should not be done when dealing with a subject like the Holocaust. "While the Russian and German peoples looked the other way???" They didn't all look look the other way, and at the writers own admission, 20 million Russian died; were they looking the other way? I think not....Not all Germans agreed with Hitler, nor did they sit idly by while he committed the atrocity that was the Holocaust; many died fighting against Nazi policies. Saying "while the German and Russian peoples looked the other way," dishonors the memory of those who were brave enough to stand up, be they Russian, German, or otherwise, many of whom were killed as a result.

Then, the author makes another mistake of over generalization by saying that "now, more than ever, with Iraq, Iran, and others, claiming the Holocaust to be a 'myth'." There is a minority of people in those countries who may beleive this, and get attention for saying it, but the author seems to beleive that the entire populace of each of the named countries holds this beleif, which is simply NOT TRUE. Thats like saying that all Muslims are terrorists, when it is only a small percentage of Muslims who take to extremist ideals. The cartoon is nice, but the following commentary comes off as a bit ignorant. Here is a generalization that was made during WWII:

All the Jews are responsible for the world's problems, and therefore should be exterminated.

See where generalizations about an entire group of people can lead??
It's good to remember the Holocaust, but a little critical thinking would seem to be in order when sending out an email like this, especially if you intend it to be forwarded to 40 million people.....

A wise man also knows that you cannot judge an entire people by the actions of a select few.....
None of us can honestly say what we would have done in such a situation, there is no way to know, we weren't there; and let us hope that the world never has to go through something like that again.
Think about it.





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