I strongly disagree that one should not make comparisons to the Holocaust, or only do so rarely. Nor should one take offense merely because someone makes an inapt comparison to it--or, rather, one you happen to find inapt.
In fact, we should reference the Holocaust, as well as the few other historical events where we can agree people and governments committed atrocities. We are supposed to learn from the past. We cannot do so by shutting our minds to the idea that anything like what happened at particular place and time to certain groups cannot happen now. Indeed, that is part of your point.
Note that it is the fact that Carano posted the comparison that started an important conversation. If people are afraid to discuss the Holocaust, then people might not have the discussion. It is easy to avoid this chilling effect--let people speak. If they are wrong, others can disagree. Dialogue.
People have been trained view Holocaust comparisons as flawed, suspect, or possibly "offensive." Just people have been trained to view criticism of the state of Israel is suspect, often reflexively labeling it anti-Semitic. This is wrong. We cannot avoid repeating the past if we cannot think about it in connection with our present and future. We cannot have a free society without the freedom to think and discuss.
Nick, I very much agree with you so I'm quite curious you apparently heard me say the opposite. (In fact, I argued your same point in the comment section of Bari Weiss's Substack essay about Carano's firing.) Can you point me to where you heard me saying otherwise? I don't mean that in a challenging way; I'm truly interested to understand how my words ended up being read to mean the opposite of what I think. I appreciate your feedback and am glad you (otherwise) liked the essay. Thanks!
Thank you for your support. And yes, let us pray indeed: may we open ourselves to the energy of those angels, may we buy into the power of love so we might stand for what is truly good.
Hi Jim, I meant to leave a comment yesterday and got called away in the midst of writing it.
I want to thank you for your feedback. I'm grateful to know my thoughts resonated, and you saw this piece as a candle in dark times. It means a lot to hear that.
Thank you for this feedback! It tells me I managed what I intended: to make an urgent point but without hard edges that hurt or antagonize. I am grateful you took the time to say so.
Your prose in particular, is gorgeous -- lyrical, yet clear and effortlessly readable (maybe the hardest trick of all), and as you mentioned above, not prickly or antagonistic in the least. That last point is so refreshing, and maybe what made the biggest impression on me. The "othering" that you warn of is well underway, in my view, and one of the signs is the breakdown of our public dialogue. Strident, angry polemic is everywhere, and the only goal seems to be "owning" the other side by any means necessary - a firmly bipartisan observation, I might add. We pretend we're having conversations on Twitter, as if all those short bursts of agreement, contempt or mockery all in a long chain without cohesion or depth somehow constitute a meaningful dialogue. It's wretched. Yesterday, someone in Ottawa posted lists of names from the hacked truck convoy donor list onto the doors of the buildings where these people lived; the posters were titled "Know your neighbour." Aggressive, angry othering happening right before our eyes, in polite, mild-mannered Canada (where I am from). When I read that news story, I immediately thought of Germany in the 1930's -- and I usually recoil from such comparisons. But in the space of only a few years, I've seen my fellow citizens go from neighbourly and kind to suspicious and contemptuous at a level I never would have thought possible. It made for a very difficult day, coming as it did on top of all the other difficult news we Canadians have been dealing with. Finding your essay was a remarkable experience for a couple of reasons: it was the exact antidote I needed to the screeching clamor that has utterly overwhelmed Canada's public dialogue, at the moment; and it was an affirmation (and a wake-up call) to the hazards I sense are coming our way. I found "The Rhyme of History" at the exact moment I needed to read it, and I cannot thank-you enough.
That story from Ottawa is heartbreaking, and frightening. What will it take for people to recognize the path they are pursuing?
I keep coming back to MLK Jr.'s words: Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. And to Daryl Davis's example as a black man who purposefully sought out KKK members and befriended them, reached out to them with love until they caught sight of his humanity and changed their hearts. We need an army of people willing to stand up for reconciliation, to offer kindness in the face of enmity, to opt out of the tribal view of one another that urges us towards resentment and othering. I think the only way is to be that person who rises to the challenge, who chooses to be the change and promotes that path at every opportunity. At the very least, it will add to the energy of love in our world. And love drives out hate.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience of this moment and my essay. It is deeply gratifying to hear it made a real difference to you. And I am humbled and inspired by your generous words of support.
Thank you for this. I clicked through from here to HONY's Rwandan series, an incredibly difficult read. What you are doing by sharing these well-reasoned, caring, wise, and respectful musings is so important to the world as it is these days. I am grateful for you.
Thank you so much. I am grateful for your support. I see us moving into an incredibly difficult time and we must help each other rise to the moment with our best self. Love can win over hate, but it happens one softening heart and opening mind at a time. What goes around will come around. We can do this.
This is mostly a wonderful essay.
I strongly disagree that one should not make comparisons to the Holocaust, or only do so rarely. Nor should one take offense merely because someone makes an inapt comparison to it--or, rather, one you happen to find inapt.
In fact, we should reference the Holocaust, as well as the few other historical events where we can agree people and governments committed atrocities. We are supposed to learn from the past. We cannot do so by shutting our minds to the idea that anything like what happened at particular place and time to certain groups cannot happen now. Indeed, that is part of your point.
Note that it is the fact that Carano posted the comparison that started an important conversation. If people are afraid to discuss the Holocaust, then people might not have the discussion. It is easy to avoid this chilling effect--let people speak. If they are wrong, others can disagree. Dialogue.
People have been trained view Holocaust comparisons as flawed, suspect, or possibly "offensive." Just people have been trained to view criticism of the state of Israel is suspect, often reflexively labeling it anti-Semitic. This is wrong. We cannot avoid repeating the past if we cannot think about it in connection with our present and future. We cannot have a free society without the freedom to think and discuss.
Nick, I very much agree with you so I'm quite curious you apparently heard me say the opposite. (In fact, I argued your same point in the comment section of Bari Weiss's Substack essay about Carano's firing.) Can you point me to where you heard me saying otherwise? I don't mean that in a challenging way; I'm truly interested to understand how my words ended up being read to mean the opposite of what I think. I appreciate your feedback and am glad you (otherwise) liked the essay. Thanks!
Beautifully written. Let us pray that better angels will prevail over the demons who are fomenting hate everywhere.
Thank you for your support. And yes, let us pray indeed: may we open ourselves to the energy of those angels, may we buy into the power of love so we might stand for what is truly good.
Really well thought out and presented. You really got to the point of how such historical horrors begin so incrementally.
In a genuine way, by sticking up for that actress, you lit a candle in dark times.
Hi Jim, I meant to leave a comment yesterday and got called away in the midst of writing it.
I want to thank you for your feedback. I'm grateful to know my thoughts resonated, and you saw this piece as a candle in dark times. It means a lot to hear that.
Moving, and gently but forcefully argued. Brilliant.
Thank you for this feedback! It tells me I managed what I intended: to make an urgent point but without hard edges that hurt or antagonize. I am grateful you took the time to say so.
Your prose in particular, is gorgeous -- lyrical, yet clear and effortlessly readable (maybe the hardest trick of all), and as you mentioned above, not prickly or antagonistic in the least. That last point is so refreshing, and maybe what made the biggest impression on me. The "othering" that you warn of is well underway, in my view, and one of the signs is the breakdown of our public dialogue. Strident, angry polemic is everywhere, and the only goal seems to be "owning" the other side by any means necessary - a firmly bipartisan observation, I might add. We pretend we're having conversations on Twitter, as if all those short bursts of agreement, contempt or mockery all in a long chain without cohesion or depth somehow constitute a meaningful dialogue. It's wretched. Yesterday, someone in Ottawa posted lists of names from the hacked truck convoy donor list onto the doors of the buildings where these people lived; the posters were titled "Know your neighbour." Aggressive, angry othering happening right before our eyes, in polite, mild-mannered Canada (where I am from). When I read that news story, I immediately thought of Germany in the 1930's -- and I usually recoil from such comparisons. But in the space of only a few years, I've seen my fellow citizens go from neighbourly and kind to suspicious and contemptuous at a level I never would have thought possible. It made for a very difficult day, coming as it did on top of all the other difficult news we Canadians have been dealing with. Finding your essay was a remarkable experience for a couple of reasons: it was the exact antidote I needed to the screeching clamor that has utterly overwhelmed Canada's public dialogue, at the moment; and it was an affirmation (and a wake-up call) to the hazards I sense are coming our way. I found "The Rhyme of History" at the exact moment I needed to read it, and I cannot thank-you enough.
That story from Ottawa is heartbreaking, and frightening. What will it take for people to recognize the path they are pursuing?
I keep coming back to MLK Jr.'s words: Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. And to Daryl Davis's example as a black man who purposefully sought out KKK members and befriended them, reached out to them with love until they caught sight of his humanity and changed their hearts. We need an army of people willing to stand up for reconciliation, to offer kindness in the face of enmity, to opt out of the tribal view of one another that urges us towards resentment and othering. I think the only way is to be that person who rises to the challenge, who chooses to be the change and promotes that path at every opportunity. At the very least, it will add to the energy of love in our world. And love drives out hate.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience of this moment and my essay. It is deeply gratifying to hear it made a real difference to you. And I am humbled and inspired by your generous words of support.
Thank you for this. I clicked through from here to HONY's Rwandan series, an incredibly difficult read. What you are doing by sharing these well-reasoned, caring, wise, and respectful musings is so important to the world as it is these days. I am grateful for you.
Thank you so much. I am grateful for your support. I see us moving into an incredibly difficult time and we must help each other rise to the moment with our best self. Love can win over hate, but it happens one softening heart and opening mind at a time. What goes around will come around. We can do this.