----- Original Message ----- From: "joanna bujes" <joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 10:02 AM Subject: Re: US Guilt
> I know you're just trying to account for a ridiculous position. But the
> question remains "Why do Americans feel guilty about Auschwitz?" Why, when
> they do not feel guilty about far worse things for which they bear far
more
> direct responsibility?
Because many of them disagree with you that they bear "direct responsibility" for "far worse things."
> My answer is that the guilt (assuming there's any)
> has been drummed into them through repeated exposure to the zionist
version
> of WWII: the only people who were involved in the Holocaust were jews;
No doubt the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust is afforded a special place in the thoughts of most Americans.
> the US went in to liberate them;
I presume even most of the unwashed masses are clever enough to recognize that it was Pearl Harbor that precipitated direct US involvement in WWII.
> the sufferings of the jews were unique in
> human history;
The suffering of every person or group is unique in human history. The task is to show people that the similarities are more important than the differences.
> arabs hate jews and they must be made to pay for this.
Well, the narrative of the perpetually besieged Jews being attacked by Palestinian terrorists, as flawed as it is, is one that many Americans find compelling.
> This may account for the alleged American guilt about the jews.
> But alleged or not, it is not the guilt that drives the policy but the
other way
> around.
Do you think this assertion is based on some sort of brute fact?
-- Luke
> Joanna