tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201207866891064896.post1922944093994588649..comments2023-04-26T16:14:38.493+01:00Comments on Stories From The Diogenes Club: A Manifesto for ChangeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201207866891064896.post-35758642814935308012010-07-11T21:45:31.555+01:002010-07-11T21:45:31.555+01:00Thanks Charles. Your final comment says it all: &q...Thanks Charles. Your final comment says it all: "tolerance is our progeny's only hope". Tolerance must extend to those with whom we disagree - or it is not tolerance at all. No one should be persecuted for thier beliefs, neither Jews or Holocaust Deniers. Tolerance must extend to everyone.<br />Dr PhilDr Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02960147346745074078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201207866891064896.post-19395994882009935932010-07-11T21:30:21.456+01:002010-07-11T21:30:21.456+01:00"Holocaust denial should be no more of a crim..."Holocaust denial should be no more of a crime than God denial."<br /><br />To the best of my knowledge, no one yet has murdered millions of people because they deny God (the former Soviet Union had no official position on religion). But, millions of innocent Jews were murdered because they believed in God, in their own way. If we allow our progeny to forget the mistakes of the past, they may be doomed to repeat them. <br /><br />No genocide in history compares with the Holocaust for its sheer production-like extermination of millions of innocent people. Of course, millions of Jews were murdered during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, as well. But, for the scope of massive annihilation, the Shoah (Holocaust) stands alone as the most egregious genocide in history. <br /><br />No event in human history has been studied more thoroughly and carefully than the Holocaust. Thousands of thesis and dissertations papers have poured over mountains of data, from physical evidence and anecdotal testimony to captured German war documents. Virtually everyone with a PhD in History will stake their career on the fact that millions of Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany. One can no more "revise" this fact than one can revise the existence of gravity. Wannsee Conference records prove that Nazis planned the extermination of Jews as, "The Final Solution." German concentration camp records prove that it was carried out.<br /><br />Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize genocide we send a critical message to the world. As we continue to live in an age of genocide and ethnic cleansing, we must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions. <br /><br />Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. Deniers seek to distort the truth in a way that promotes antagonism against the object of their hatred, or to deny the culpability of their ancestors and heroes. If we ignore them, they will twist the minds of countless young people, creating a new generation of those who deny the facts of the worst episode of genocide in history. Freedom of speech and the press is a symbol of a healthy society. Yet, since no crime in history is as heinous as the Holocaust, its memory must be accurately preserved, to protect our children and grandchildren. <br /><br />Museums and mandatory public education are tools to dispel bigotry, especially racial and ethnic hatred. Books, plays, films and presentations can reinforce the veracity of past and present genocides. They help to tell the true story of the perpetrators of genocide; and they reveal the abject terror, humiliation and degradation resulting from blind prejudice. It is therefore essential that we disclose the factual brutality and horror of genocide, combating the deniers’ virulent, inaccurate historical revision. We must protect vulnerable future generations from making the same mistakes. <br /><br />A world that continues to allow genocide requires ethical remediation. We must insist that religious, racial, ethnic, gender and orientation persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Only through such efforts can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.<br /><br />Charles Weinblatt<br />Author, "Jacob's Courage"<br />http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/Charleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10543105906628694496noreply@blogger.com