April 20, 2009
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E-Mail Propaganda
The other day I received an e-mail from a relative, sent to most members of our family. Later on, another relative also forwarded the same e-mail to me (and others).
It is an e-mail about how schools in the United Kingdom are no longer teaching about the Holocaust because it is offensive to Muslims who don’t believe it happened. The e-mail then goes on to show all these gruesome pictures of the Holocaust, talking about how Dwight Eisenhower had all of these pictures taken because he knew that some “son of a bitch” would one day try to say it never happened. The e-mail ends with talking about how we must never forget this horrible chapter of our history, and never allow people to try and erase it out of the history books. And finally (like all e-mails of this kind) it says to pass it on to everyone we know so that people will not be able to forget. Both relatives also said in the text of their message that they knew people (family members) who had fought in WWII and had seen the atrocities in the concentration camps, trying to give more personal reasons why we should further spread this hate propaganda.
First of all, this isn’t true. I’m not one of those people that think the Holocaust didn’t happen. I wasn’t around back then, but with all of the pictures I have seen, with all of the stories I have read about it, with all of the people I have met who were either there or helped liberate the camps, I think it probably did happen. However, the United Kingdom is NOT removing it from their history books. This e-mail has been out for a long time, even including editions about the University of Kentucky (another UK), and both Britain and the University of Kentucky have flatly denied it and even offered proof of their curriculum. From what I read on Snopes.com, there was one classroom in some school in the UK that stopped teaching it, and that was apparently how this e-mail got started.
This isn’t the first time I have received propaganda e-mails from members of my family, but this time I decided that I would say something about it. I sent an e-mail to both of the people who sent it to me, telling them that this was a hoax and even giving them the URL for the Snopes article. I told them that it was a nice attempt to try to generate hate toward Muslims, but that was all it was. I received a message back from one of them, thanking me for telling them that it was a hoax, but saying that the Holocaust most definitely was not a hoax. She said there are people who are trying to discredit it, trying to say that it never happened just because it is uncomfortable for them, and she said we need to make sure that nobody is allowed to do that. It went on (as a lot of this relative’s messages do, especially to me it seems) to talk about how there are also many people out there trying to say that the Bible isn’t true, that Jesus never existed, and she said that it is obviously true and we need to stop people from spreading such lies.
How are e-mails like this furthering a good cause? Yes, it helps to ensure that people never forget, but it does that by rubbing their faces in it. Just because something horrible happened doesn’t mean we need to constantly remind people, nor does it mean we need to specifically rub it in the faces of people who don’t want to believe it. E-mail propaganda like this (and like a lot of other e-mail propaganda in general) is not being sent around so that people won’t forget; it is being sent around to offend people, and to attempt to foster hatred for the people who would say they don’t believe it. Both of these people that sent the message to me are Christians, and I couldn’t help but wonder how they would react if I started some sort of e-mail chain reminding everyone about the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and extremely bloody parts of the Bible (a book that they believe is true). But all of it did happen right? And it was all pretty horrifying, so I guess we need to remind people to make sure that they don’t forget, right?
Seriously people, it is very doubtful that people are going to forget about this anytime soon. Whether the Holocaust happened or not, there are plenty of people who claim to be eyewitnesses and plenty of stories going around about it. There is so much there that it isn’t going to be fading out of our history anytime soon. Case in point? The Spanish Inquisition and Salem Witch Trials that I mentioned before. I am sure many Christians would like to just forget that those things happened, but they did. And both of them happened centuries ago, yet we still know about them. So I highly doubt that something like the Holocaust, which only happened less than 70 years ago, is going to be forgotten in our lifetimes or for centuries beyond.
Comments (5)
Actually, there are quite a lot of Holocaust deniers–Google it and see the enormous number. There are an amazing amount of people who don’t believe it, or at least say that they don’t. I think it’s an interesting thing that, as you say, no one really denies the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc. but the Holocaust has definitely been denied by many. I’m thankful that the UK hasn’t done that, but I think your relative is right in saying we mustn’t forget it, any more than we forget the Inquisition or 9/11. Atrocities committed to humanity are worth remembering or we eventually lose our own humanity.
Whenever any official visits Israel, they are expected to visit the Holocaust Memorial. It is a very sober and impressive place, and built for the sole purpose of remembering so that it will not happen again. Unfortunately, it’s not as effective as we’d like to think–those things keep happening, in Rwanda and many other places. Don’t negate the importance of remembrance, though. Without those efforts, we would be that much more vulnerable–there are always young children coming on, and they don’t have the memories–they are only relying on what they learn. So what we teach them is vital.
Sure, it’s more comfortable not to look at such things, and I avoid it whenever possible, but we need to have an awareness of what men are capable of when their lives become unbalanced.
I would take it even further and ask what good comes of even knowing about these things. Of course we should know our history, but that’s not the reason why many people think we should know about the Holocaust. How many times have we heard that those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it? I would question whether knowing does any good. We want our leaders to know their history, for sure. But the average Joe knowing his history really doesn’t do any good… as evidenced by scenarios like Darfur, Tibet, Rwanda, etc. All the knowledge in the world won’t stop the bloodshed if your leaders have their heads stuck in the sand.
It takes a lot of guts to turn it around and call your relatives out on their gullibility. I get these things too. The header looks like “Fwd: Fwd: FWD: fwd: …” yo. I just delete them.
If people really want to make sure we never forget, then they ought to craft a really smart message campaign that doesn’t base its whole premise on a fabricated story.
I think you’re right, this is a campaign meant to foment hatred and racism.
Three points:
1) I hate e-mail propaganda. Hate it with a passion. And that applies to points-of-view with which I agree as well. I get e-mails from relatives (and now parents of my students) that trash Obama or Muslims or whatever almost everyday. I delete them without reading. I spend time every week teaching my students the difference between fact and opinion, between news and propaganda.
2) Personally, I want to learn and know the unbiased history of the Holocaust, the Crusades, the Inquisition and all other such tragedies so that I can hopefully help fight them in my own time.
3) Though your spam mail was about a hoax, there are thousands of Holocaust deniers in the US and around the world. I’ve met dozens myself, mostly while teaching history. I’ve had far too many students say, “My dad says that stuff is all made up by the Jews in the media.” It sickens me. I’m not sure why anyone would try to deny something so blatantly true. Why not deny WWII entirely? Perhaps they feel some sort of guilt by association since most countries did so little to stop the horrors. Or perhaps they don’t like to admit the evil that lurks in the human heart. In any case, I’ll do my part to teach the next generation the truth…good, bad, and ugly.
Oh, and if perchance any deniers happen to read this–I personally have met Holocaust survivors and seen the tattoos and my grandfather also served in post-war Germany. I promise you, the Holocaust was all too real.
@senegaldude - John, you make some very good points. I also can understand about making sure people don’t forget about the horrible things in our history. There is a Holocaust Memorial in Israel (?) for example, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. However, there is a big difference between having a memorial to remember what happened and constantly rubbing it in someone’s face. It particularly makes me mad when they start linking it to specific people groups, sexes, or religions to foster hatred and discrimination for those people. Yes, build memorials, write it in history books, but we don’t need people constantly trying to rub it in our faces. I know there are a lot of deniers out there, but the point still stands. Rubbing it in their face isn’t going to make them believe anymore than they already do, and will actually probably make them hate you and deny it all the more.
That being said, I agree with a lot of what you said. By knowing about the horrible parts of our past we can help make sure that will never happen again. And I know you well enough to know that when you say you are fair and balanced about deleting hate propaganda e-mails from BOTH sides, I know you actually do it. But I think LadyLibellule also has a good point about how knowing such cruel and horrible parts of our history may not be such a good thing. There have been many people who have used this knowledge for evil, or to try to guilt people into doing things they want. There is a fine line between not wanting people to forget so that it won’t happen again, and making people remember it so that you can constantly give them huge guilt trips and extort them.