Joel Stein, again.
Amazing how some people don't realize that maintaining moral positions is not just a rhetorical flourish , but a stand required of one by character, by what's right.
Horror at the Holocaust stems not from my cultural background as a Jew, but from my cleaving to a moral system of right as taught in G-d's Torah, which values all human life and abhors what they did. My personal connection then is a part with this moral stand.
Hence, my distaste at Mr. Stein's "humor"--
"But I kind of like the Mexicans. I find it hard to hate people who clean my house and serve delicious, cheap food. If the Germans could learn to dust and make a decent taco, I think we would have stopped making Holocaust movies a while ago."
(If you'd like, the whole screed is here: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-oe-stein28mar28,1,511993.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true)
I remember the Holocaust and what the Germans did not because the Germans are "not a nice people" whom I don't like. They are who they are, and many, many stood up for what's right. But-- and here's the key-- many did not, and lest we forget, (and pardon the truism, but its true, alright) we will be doomed to repeat it. It's about character, stupid.
To use just this image in such a piece is-- tasteless. Worse, it reveals, if it needed revealing, a lack of moral vision and judgement. Another reason, if I needed one, not to buy the LA Times.
Horror at the Holocaust stems not from my cultural background as a Jew, but from my cleaving to a moral system of right as taught in G-d's Torah, which values all human life and abhors what they did. My personal connection then is a part with this moral stand.
Hence, my distaste at Mr. Stein's "humor"--
"But I kind of like the Mexicans. I find it hard to hate people who clean my house and serve delicious, cheap food. If the Germans could learn to dust and make a decent taco, I think we would have stopped making Holocaust movies a while ago."
(If you'd like, the whole screed is here: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-oe-stein28mar28,1,511993.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true)
I remember the Holocaust and what the Germans did not because the Germans are "not a nice people" whom I don't like. They are who they are, and many, many stood up for what's right. But-- and here's the key-- many did not, and lest we forget, (and pardon the truism, but its true, alright) we will be doomed to repeat it. It's about character, stupid.
To use just this image in such a piece is-- tasteless. Worse, it reveals, if it needed revealing, a lack of moral vision and judgement. Another reason, if I needed one, not to buy the LA Times.
posted by Rabbi Zvi B. Hollander | 3:50 PM
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