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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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Big_Bird

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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freethought
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:56 am Post subject: |
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I think it's not a matter of being 'over-emphasized', but rather incorrectly emphasized. By that I mean look at all the other examples brought up in this thread: Bosnians, North, central and South American Aboriginal populations, Africans during the slave trade, the 12+ million who died in the Belgian Congo under the work of King Leo II.... you can add to that the 25+ million russians who died in WW2, the who knows how many Chinese who died in any number of Mao's 'great' ideas, the list of massive atrocities is astonishing.
SO when I say incorrectly emphasized, I think the it is improperly weighted with regards to these other examples, and, moreover, the emphasis should be put on the state sanctioned and organized policy of the concentration and extermination camps, and that there are people who need to be 'changed' eg: Homos.
Rather than saying 'poor jews' we should be learning about what mechanisms and policies led to these events, because that is a far great lesson to learn. I guess it boils down to a matter of when we say 'never again,' we mean for ALL people around this world, and doing things to stop it from happening. |
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PimpofKorea

Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Location: Dealing in high quality imported English
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:39 am Post subject: |
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Hey I gotta joke for ya *disclaimer...do not take this the wrong way*
What's the difference between a pizza and a jew?????
A pizza doesn't scream when you put it in the oven.... |
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Fresh Prince

Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: The glorious nation of Korea
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:45 am Post subject: |
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How can you even debate this?  |
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Adventurer

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:53 am Post subject: |
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I think when it comes to the Jews and Arabs, many people downplay the holocaust and many downplay the holocaust. It is a way to spite one another. It traces to prejudicial views from both camps. Denigrating the holocaust, questioning the fact that it happened is racist. Stating that so many of the Jews died from illness does not absolve the nazis of guilt.
Why did they get those illnesses? They got the illnesses because they were starving, malnourished, and working at the same time. The holocaust, however, including 2 million Catholic Poles who are often not mentioned. The holocaust saw the death of 11 million people of the 11 million there were about 5 million gentiles. The underplaying of the gentile victims by some who use the holocaust for political gain are doing a disservice to all victims of such tragedies. The suffering of people is often used for political gain of various powerful figures such as Saddam pretending he cared about the Palestinians. It is all about power and jockeying for power. |
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Mister

Joined: 05 Jan 2007
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Spliff's comments on page one have nothing to do with Anti-Semiticism.
There has been research and discussion about the numbers and means of casualties of the Holocaust by historians and researchers for years.
Jews are not a "race" but a religion that comprises many races and religious groups throughout the world.
Anti-Zionism is not related to Anti-Semitism, although some to try falsely link the two for their own political and ideological purposes. |
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Satori

Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: Above it all
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: |
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| Muramasa blade wrote: |
| SPINOZA wrote: |
Can folks PLEASE stop misinterpreting what people are saying? Otis hasn't said that, Wrench. Otis made a totally unambiguously pro-Israeli OP.
Anyway, given that the Holocaust is believed to be exaggerated, and the figure I assume believed to be less than 6 million, what is the believed figure and what is this based on? Sources anyone? You can't just say the Holocaust was exaggerated and offer *beep* all evidence. |
Sorry if this post is a little incoherent....a little too much red wine. In any event, I can't speak for Spliff, but numbers have nothing to do with my opinion of why the Holocaust was exaggerated.
I'm not sure what the numbers are, and I doubt even the experts know for certain. If the number is six million that's fine, if it's five or four million, that's fine too. In a way, the numbers game is ridiculous, is there a certain magic number you need to hit. Even though the number may not be certain, that's still a whole lot of people dying.
What I object to is the fact that the Holocaust is being made out to be a big event. I'm not Jewish, so why should I care about the Holocaust? I guess that would be because I'm human. That would be the same reason, I should care about the conditions of the Rwandans, Cambodians, Bosnians, etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I believe the Holocaust has been overemphasized. Jewish people were not and are not the only people that suffered. During the Holocaust, there were numerous gypsies, Serbians, Polish, etc. died. As stated previously, many people have been the subject of attrocities. Why is it that these people are not focused on as much? In the end, I fear that the idea of the Holocaust is being over used, and that can demean it's value.
There's also the possibility that the Holocaust can be used, and abused, by people who want to manipulate nationalistic sentiments. One need look no further than China, and South Korea, with respect to Japan to see how this might be the case.
Finally, I'm curious as to the benefit of constantly bringing up the Holocaust. What does it motivate the average person to do? Does it make them kinder and more tolerant towards Jewish people? I'm really curious. Yes, it can be argued that it acts as a deterrent to racism and bias. On the other hand, it could be argued that WWI and WWII should have acted as deterrents to any further war in the world.
I'm just tired of anti-semitism, semitism or any form of nationalistic idiocy. People who are nationalistic, racist or whatever all deserve to be sterilized. In the end, this a long post, which probably no one will read, but I would be genuinely interested in hearing more about this topic. |
It has higher impact on the consciousness because it happened within the context of a world war where one country was trying to take over the world. The other atrocities you mention are local conflicts... |
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nelzer13
Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Location: Seoul (Bundang) - orig. from Minnesota
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| has anyone read Night by Elie Wiesel?? ..that might help answer your questions |
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Adventurer

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:59 am Post subject: |
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| Mister wrote: |
Spliff's comments on page one have nothing to do with Anti-Semiticism.
There has been research and discussion about the numbers and means of casualties of the Holocaust by historians and researchers for years.
Jews are not a "race" but a religion that comprises many races and religious groups throughout the world.
Anti-Zionism is not related to Anti-Semitism, although some to try falsely link the two for their own political and ideological purposes. |
Some Jews consider themselves to be part of a Semitic Jewish race or culture. Of course, it is a mixed baggage.
You have to consider when it comes to the Jewish people, they have been part of Western civilization for about 2,000 years. So, they will get emphasized more than say the Armenians and those of the Congo.
They also have a lot of people who work in public relations, the media, and they try to remind people of the holocaust. An example of this is with Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" which is a great movie. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| Muramasa blade wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Muramasa blade wrote: |
| 1) There's no point in crying over spilt milk. The British and Americans, didn't know what kind of headache they were getting themselves into, when they set up the state of Israel. . |
Only they didn't. Israel was established by U.N. mandate. |
The U.N. and it's predecessor, the League of Nations, was not and is not a monolithic entity. Based on that alone, the U.S. and Britain would have had a part in establishing Israel as a nation.
In addendum, the U.S. and Britain are among the more powerful members of the U.N. It is unlikely that the U.N. would have been able to act without their support, or at least their approval. The U.S. and Britain, had political and ideological, reasons for supporting the creation of Israel.
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When you post nonsense like this, it makes it hard to take you seriously. Britain ABSTAINED from the UN vote. It did NOT vote for Israel's creation. Next time do some fact checking...it might actually make people think you know what you are talking about. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:44 am Post subject: |
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It's spurious to say the Jews aren't a race. The term race lacks clarity and if you wanna argue the Jews aren't a race in the same way that folks argue that Koreans aren't a race, then I guess that's fair enough and it won't benefit the discussion in the least to pursue that. The difference between a race and an ethnicity is not well-defined in my opinion since both presuppose genetic and physical heritage. The latter certainly exists and to be honest I'm not sure why people even bother debating the difference**, and in any case there is a strong racial (or ethnic, or hereditary) element to the Jewish religion, claiming a genetic heritage to the Jews of the Diaspora and the ancient Israelites. This is the basis for the State of Israel being where it is....because that's where they originally came from!
Anyway, where are all the links in support of the view that the Holocaust was exaggerated, given that many people appear to be able to throw such assertions around dogmatically?
** until the definition "any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race" is erased from the dictionary, I shall continue to use the term 'race' in this traditional fashion. |
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Tobacco Dreams

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| SPINOZA wrote: |
| It's spurious to say the Jews aren't a race. |
You need to look at a book called _The Myth of the Jewish Race_, by Raphael Patai.
The book's photo section does a brilliant job of illustrating the argument against viewing Judaism as a race. It shows European Jews with blond hair and blue eyes, African Jews who are unmistakably black, Indian Jews who resemble their Hindu and Muslim neighbors, and so on.
Millennia of intermarriage could hardly have resulted otherwise.
The Jews are not a race. |
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