He said what now?

On By EstherIn In the news

My reaction to the news this morning…

On the Jewish holiday of Pesach (which commemorates persecution of the Jews!) US press secretary Sean Spicer said the Nazis hadn’t used chemical weapons? What, pray, was Zyklon B? He clarified later that Hitler hadn’t used gas on his own people? What, no German Jews or German gay people or German Nazi opponents or German disabled people were gassed? And they were sent to ‘Holocaust centers’ ? What, for a conference or something? He has apparently apologized for the statement since, but I wonder, did he really learn anything, does he get it?

I don’t give a fuck that it wasn’t his intent to downplay the Holocaust – he did do it! And you only do that when deep down you just don’t get it. It reminded me of this little scene in Hidden Figures when Kirsten Dunst’s Vivian Mitchell says to Octavia Spencer’s Dorothy Vaughn that she never treated Dorothy any different because of the colour of her skin. Dorothy smiles indulgently and says “I know you probably believe that”

I am glad there was a clamour against Spicer’s statement and he did sort of apologize, but did this teach him anything? My visit to Auschwitz for the first time when I was 19 and for two visits afterwards have left a lasting impact on my life. Maybe the White House staff should do the same or at least visit a Holocaust museum, there is one right there in Washington DC…

21 thoughts on “He said what now?”

  5. Servetus

    I caught the beginning of this before I went to the second Seder but the virtue of Pessach with the highly observant is that they have news blackout for 48-56 hours. So I get one more day of the holiday before the people I’m with discover this. (Well, probably some of them are cheating but they’re not talking about it). Otherwise it’s all anyone would be talking about, and there would be very intense arguments because yes (and despite this type of thing; it’s not the first time, witness what Spicer said in January on the Jan 27 commemoration day), the current administration still has Jewish supporters. Look at how the Likud minister condemned the statement and then accepted the apology … says who’s in bed with whom. Likud should have been ALL over this. There’s been this political alliance between Israel and US conservatives for a long time (via the bridge of evangelical teachings about Israel), but when all of this is put into the hands of a literal know-nothing, it should break apart. That it hasn’t / doesn’t really tells one something about Israeli and US politics. I hope Israel is paying better attention than the reports I’ve read so far suggest.

    Chag sameach!

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    1. Netanyahu and Likud are detrimental to any real peace process in Israel, imo. All they want is military backing from US, they don’t give a damn about any ethics in that regard. Doesn’t surprise me they’re quick to accept an apology…
      I hope this doesn’t taint Pesach too much for you, even though I know it probably does. Chag sameach to you too!

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  6. Servetus

    Oh: the other thing it suggests is the segmented way that Spicer (and possibly the administration) think about religious and national identities. If “Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons on his own people,” so Jews weren’t Germans, are Jews Americans? Are Muslims Americans? There’s a strong implicit connection there to the possibility that he thinks Americans = Christians.

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    3. squirrel.0072

      Ce type de commentaires sont de nos jours, de plus en plus nombreux. Le provocateur joue avec les mots, dans le but de flirter avec les thèses négationnistes, sans pouvoir être juridiquement sanctionné pour ses propos.. Cela est voulu, délibéré, pour flatter, pour rallier les personnes qui sont dans les mouvances extrémistes, mais aussi choquer les biens pensants, tout cela pour faire de l’audience.
      (cf: L’éditorial du journal Le Monde: ” En affirmant, le 9 avril, que « la France n’était pas responsable » de la rafle du Vél’ d’Hiv de 1942, la candidate du Front national revient au déni de l’après-guerre.”
      J’ai également été choquée de la révélation par Novaia Gazeta, sur les usages supposés de prison secrète, d’un ancien bâtiment militaire situé dans la ville d’Argoun, dans l’est de la Tchétchénie.
      Dans quel monde vit-on?

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  7. Like Herba said, it´s unbelievable and so stupid! Has he ever visited historical lessons?
    Nobody should use chemical (or any other) weapons on any people, whoever own or foreign 😦

    Liked by 4 people

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      1. Servetus

        Or like Hitler wouldn’t have considered dropping chemical weapons on his own population if there’d been a sign of armed resistance, or a public resistance movement that lasted more than a long day or two inside Germany itself. Germany invented sarin in 1938 and was producing it for use in artillery shells all through the war.

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