A Very Thought Provoking Question About WWII

[cincygreg]

This is not meant to be some kind of religious thing, but it does involve a religious group. (you know me, I kinda steer clear of that stuff)

Anywho, since today is the beginning of Chanukah I thought I'd tie the two together.

Do you think that in some kind of way that the Jewish Community should be even more retrospective today based on what they lost and what was done to them during the WWII, just as we are all retrospective about the tragedy at Pearl Harbor?

Please feel free to discuss openly.

<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 07, 2004 04:33 PM: Message edited by: cincygreg ]</font>

[Lew]

I don't about that, but let me offer a corrolary to your original post. I seldom discuss this openly, because I don't have time or the energy to refute the anti-semitism argument. But I have been asking a question for almost 20 years now, and no one seems able to give me an answer. I've posted it here before, but in case some missed it (and maybe Pina can set me straight)....

We are incessantly reminded about the 6 millions Jews who were killed during the Holocaust. Yet the overall death toll from WWII, while no one knows for sure, is well into the tens and tens of millions. As best as we can tell, Hitler would rank no higher than 3rd on the death toll list, behind silver medalist Josef Stalin and the grand-champion, Chairman Mao at the top of the list.

Yet there is no museum in Washington, D.C. honoring either the Chinese who were killed by Ma or the Russians who were killed by Stalin.

Can anyone offer me an explanation? I wouldn't even bother asking this on a campus, as I doubt anyone would get past the anti-semitic ad hominem attacks.

For the record, I am not anti-semitic, but I do have a problem with U.S. foreign policy towards Israel, I do believe Israel has been more of the problem than the victim over the past 40 years, and I'm not sure anyone can answer my question truthfully.

But, just in case, steer me someone.....

[LanDroid]

Good question, but one difference is Stalin and Mao were killing their own people and did not target a specific race. Hitler was killing German Jews (among gypsies, homos, leftists, etc.) to be sure, but his goal was to exterminate Jews from all of Europe. Stalin and Mao did not invade other countries with any intent of removing other races in those countries. Stalin and Mao targeted intellectuals and political opponents in general, not all members of a specific race.