Yes, Virginia, there really was a Holocaust

I have been trying to ignore stories about last week's Iranian conference on whether the Holocaust actually took place or not. (We all know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a nutcase.) This article in the LA Times really puts this conference into perspective. According to this emigree from Somalia, it's not that all Muslims deny the Holocaust - they are simply oblivious. They've never been taught about the mass murder of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents, (or for that matter anyone Hitler didn't like)... or seen pictures of the gas chambers, the cattle cars, the piles of suitcases and shoes and hair. As this writer suggests, they are being fed propaganda, not unlike Josef Goebbels' efforts, telling them that Jews are evil.

Yes, there are still people in this great melting-pot of a country who have 'issues' with Jews (and why are there Jews in Hollywood who have forgiven Mel Gibson for his idiotic rant?!?) but for the most part, we're left alone - and even regarded highly enough to be given a small spot on the retail sales floor for the requisite blue and silver chanuka crap this time of year. ;)

How do we combat the institutionalized anti-semitism of the Muslim world? How do you change years of prejudice, hatred, and negativity? I hope the outcome of the "conference" is a) rational - yes, the Holocaust happened (hah!) and b) serves to wake the world up to what's going on over there. But somehow, I doubt it.

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