There's an incident going down here in New Zealand at the moment concerning a Member of Parliament, John Tamihere. He's made a few 'politically incorrect' statements expressing his opinion. The problem is that he made these statements to a reporter who has then used that information against him and created a political firestorm. I saw the reporter being interviewed last night, and this reporter went to great lengths to imply that Tamihere knew he was being interviewed, and that anything that's happened as a result of this reporter's actions is lying or misinformation by Tamihere. The reporter's repeated attempts to show Tamihere as a liar and politically incompetent seemed far in excess of what's required from a reporter. The facts should speak for themselves, but it seems obvious this is a political 'hatchet job', where information given 'off the record' is being presented as 'on the record', taken out of context and presented to the public for the express purpose of destroying the political career of Tamihere.
The most inflammatory element that he said is: "I’m sick and tired of hearing how many Jews got gassed, not because I’m not revolted by it – I am – or I’m not violated by it – I am – but because I already know that. How many times do I have to be told and made to feel guilty?"
As a response to this comment, Dr Effraim Zuroff, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel director, told the Jerusalem Post: "It would appear that MP Tamihere is in urgent need of psychological assistance to increase his ability to deal with the sad history and reality of life on the planet Earth during the past century, an absolutely necessary quality for anyone who desires to serve as a public representative. In that respect, 'Holocaust fatigue' is simply a new form of mental illness, which is a condition which should disqualify him from public service."
Now, I've got a big problem with this. I, too, believe that historical facts should be left as historical facts. Yes, the Holocaust happened. Yes, it was shocking that it happened. Yes, a lot of Jews died. Yes, it's something for us to learn about, and hopefully to learn from. BUT. For the Jews to now start a new ball rolling, that any public representative who doesn't like hearing about the Holocaust over and over and over, is mentally ill, is just ludicrous.
Where does it stop? The implications are interesting. First, public figures are mentally ill and in need of psychological counselling if they don't like hearing about the Holocaust. Then the obvious next step is that ANY person is mentally ill if they don't like hearing about the Holocaust. What does this mean? We all start getting "re-educated" about the Holocaust? Will we need to have regular Holocaust education sessions until we agree with the Jews?
Doesn't this sound like the beginnings of brainwashing to you? The Jewish way is the right way, and anyone who disagrees will need psychological counselling.
And what about the steps after that? If not wanting to hear about the Holocaust makes us mentally ill, what if the Americans jump on the bandwagon and starts claiming that anyone that does NOT support America is also mentally ill? Because we all know that America is the shining beacon of exemplary leadership and citizenship, and anyone who disagrees must be 'with the terrorists'. I can see that we're all going to need re-educating on how we feel about America as well.
Considering that the Americans managed to justify torture as being ok if the intention is not to enjoy it but only to gather information, then they'll surely justify brainwashing… I mean, education on how wrong we are to consider that Americans are anything but good people, and that George Bush Jr should become the next Pope, because hey, it's common knowledge that he's doing only what God tells him to do.
Which reminds me of another thing… if an ordinary person says that God talks to them and tells them that they're doing the right thing as they organise the deaths of a few people, then they'd be locked up for insanity. In some parts of the world (including America) they'd be executed. But when George Bush Jr says the same thing and organises the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, he becomes a shining beacon of justice, liberty and The American Way.
It all makes me wanna puke.
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