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The links in the article reveal a situation "when civilized society
must intervene."<br>
<br>
"One moral truism that should not provoke controversy is the
principle of universality: We should apply to ourselves the same
standards we apply to others - in fact, more stringent ones.
Commonly, if states have the power to do so with impunity, they
disdain moral truisms, because those states set the rules. That's
our right if we declare ourselves uniquely exempt from the principle
of universality. And so we do, constantly. Every day brings new
illustrations."<br>
<br>
But Mr. Ludsin's letter does raise a practical question, given
universality, when he writes, "Perhaps in this modern age of instant
communication we can anticipate the virus of hatred and act faster
and more effectively."<br>
<br>
What should we do, "act[ing] faster and more effectively"? --CGE<br>
<br>
<br>
On 6/14/11 8:21 PM, David Green wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:992519.31853.qm@web65414.mail.ac4.yahoo.com"
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<h1 class="entry-title">1919 Hitler letter reveals seeds of
ethnic cleansing</h1>
<p class="headline_meta">by <span class="author vcard fn">David
Samel</span> on <abbr class="published"
title="2011-06-14">June 14, 2011</abbr>
</p>
<p class="headline_meta"><abbr class="published"
title="2011-06-14"></abbr>
</p>
<div class="format_text entry-content">
<p>A momentous historical find has provided insight into the
manner in which sentiment against a particular ethnicity
can grow from the ravings of a deranged individual into a
frightening national movement with catastrophic
consequences. A <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/world/europe/03iht-hitler03.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1307970070-opIWAXbm9G31UrfjQlPxhQ"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">letter</font></a>
authored by Adolf Hitler in 1919 speaks of removal of the
Jewish people from Germany. While even he surely did not
dream at the time that mass extermination was feasible, he
spoke openly of cleansing his country of an element that
he considered to be polluting the national character. </p>
<p>The enormous significance of this document from the
youthful Hitler is aptly described by <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/l13hitler.html?ref=todayspaper"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">Steven A. Ludsin</font></a>,
a former member of the President’s Commission on the
Holocaust and the original United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, in a letter published in yesterday’s <em>NY
Times</em>:</p>
<blockquote>It shows that warnings existed that when a
powerful speaker advocated that the Jewish people must be
removed from Germany as a matter of national policy, his
sick ideas should have been taken more seriously. Perhaps
in this modern age of instant communication we can
anticipate the virus of hatred and act faster and more
effectively. Words have power, and anyone who ignores this
may allow history to be repeated. The current economic
downturn is fertile ground for hatred to spread. Let’s be
vigilant.</blockquote>
<p>It may start with the ravings of a lowly army corporal
whom some find charismatic. As Mr. Ludsin notes, that’s
when civilized society must intervene. If not, the fever
might spread, and not only to marginalized sectors of the
populace that are still considered by the unwary to be no
threat. Without unequivocal condemnation of early
manifestations of racism, the notion of forced transfer of
an ethnically undesirable population will soon find
expression in higher places, including prominent <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:AYt3fEaAZVwJ:www.pjvoice.com/v18/18003transfer.aspx+avigdor+transfer&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com%E2%80%9D+rel="><font
color="#2361a1">government ministers</font></a>.
Emboldened by silence, even <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/livni-national-aspirations-of-israel-s-arabs-can-be-met-by-palestinian-homeland-1.259321"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">supposedly liberal
ministers</font></a> may jump on the bandwagon, hoping
to curry favor with a population that is hurtling toward
barbarity. The problem can be especially insidious when it
occurs in a country believed to be a culturally advanced
liberal democracy, as was Germany. </p>
<p>Other red-flag factors include whether <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=43328"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">religious or
cultural leaders</font></a> call for
anti-miscegenation measures to protect the purity of one
race from mixture of blood with the “underclass,” whether
there is a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:HUlB5Uczm8cJ:electronicintifada.net/content/zionisms-dead-end/7592+jabotinsky+transfer&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">long-standing
tradition</font></a> of calling for transfer of the
ethnically undesirable, and whether there is a <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.google.com/search?q=palestinian+refugees&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=3Ba&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivnsub&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=23_2TbuCFcjl0QHs5tTrDA&ved=0CGMQsAQ&biw=755&bih=443"
rel="nofollow"><font color="#2361a1">prior record of
success</font></a> at such transfer, which would only
feed the ugly conviction that it can be accomplished
again. Ninety-two years have now passed since the Hitler
letter, and 66 years since the end of his nightmarish
regime. While the Holocaust is a historical event that is
receding in the past, we can only thank vigilant people
and organizations like Mr. Ludsin and the President’s
Commission on the Holocaust, and presumably the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, Abe Foxman and the Anti-Defamation
League, who surely will be the first to call attention to
any early warning signs of a recurrence. In the words of
Mr. Ludsin, who asks that we all join in this effort, we
must “anticipate the virus of hatred and act faster and
more effectively. . . Let’s be vigilant.” Amen!</p>
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