Monday, February 11, 2008

That's What I Wanted To Say

A metaphor many have been grasping towards for years...
Imagine for a moment, and only for a moment, that you find yourself in 1939 America. You are by a water-cooler during a break and you hear your colleagues discussing the Nazis attacking Jewish businesses. You hear one of them say, "So what? Haven't Americans attacked Jews before? What, are we perfect?"

I know, for a moment you think you are in the Twilight Zone, so you interject, "But in Germany it is official policy that allows one to attack Jewish interests without legal consequences. In America, if such things happen, the perpetrators are arrested and punished."

Your colleagues are not impressed, "Ahhh, you're a Naziphobe and racist, what have you got against Nazis?"

You point out that the majority of Nazis either agree with Hitler's anti-Jewish Policies or say and do nothing to oppose them while in America it is only a small minority that engage in violent anti-Semitic acts and when they do they are punished. But they do not see the difference. If 99% of Nazis are evil and only 1% of Americans are evil then the two are morally equivalent.

No comments: