More Thoughts on Bombing Auschwitz

I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before (though I can't seem to find the actual post since apparently I'm a blithering idiot today), but here's a new iteration: "Politicians, Historians, and the Holocaust."

Meet "the Body Counter"

Everybody knows that infamous statement by Stalin that one death is a tragedy but a million is a statistic.  Via Pseudo-Polymath is this link to Foreign Policy's profile of statistician Patrick Ball.

Quote of the Day: On a French Bill

Quote:

"I suppose it'll add some spice to history exams though. Get the wrong answer and you not only fail: you get carted off to jail as well."

Some un-studious undergrads of my acquaintance should be quaking in their books, ha!  The quote refers to a new French bill that, if made law, would criminalize denying that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians in 1915-6.  (For what it's worth, I think this bill and others like it are a bad idea in principle.)  Anyway, the bill is currently stalled because of questions of constitutionality, and Turkish EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış flatly denied the charges of genocide and dared the French to go arrest him. Oh, my. 

North Korea: The Murderous Regime

No surprise at all.  

History Lesson: Mao's Great Leap Forward ... Into the Abyss

Well, well, well.  The New York Times publishes "Mao's Great Leap to Famine," an editorial about the horrors Mao caused.  Excerpts here. Be sure to see the commentary by Instapundit.  Read the whole thing -- both Insta-Prof and the NYT piece.  The sheer evil perpetrated by Mao and Chinese Communism must not continue to be whitewashed by leftist apologists.  As for the pathetic excuse about "good intentions," I could not care less about "intentions."  I care about results.  The "Great Leap Forward" caused some 45 million deaths.  Some workers' paradise, that.  Chew on that historical fact, you modern neo-Commie utopian morons.

RELATED POSTS: here and here, and read this book.

Quote of the Day: Academic Freedom and Holocaust Denial

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently had a bit about a professor of English literature who claims that the Holocaust is a hoax. (I know, I know.  *Sigh.*  This and other similar types of crackpot conspiracy theorists drive me crazy.)  The reader comments are of varying quality, but I rather like this anonymous one (#36):

Academic freedom protects academics' ability to conduct research, ask questions, form conclusions, and espouse opinions without fear of political or other reprisals. It does not, in my understanding, give anyone license to deny historical fact for the sake of drawing attention to themselves, or for the promotion of irrational, unjust, and fundamentally dangerous ideologies. The historical existence of the Holocaust is not a matter of opinion. 

No, it's not. It's a matter of fact.  We're all entitled to our own opinions, but not to our own facts.  On a related note, take a look at Rachel Lucas's account of her visit to Auschwitz if you've not had a chance to do so.

The Khmer Rouge and Communism's Killing Fields

Read this and then this.  The four remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge have been indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity.  Indeed.  The butcher's bill for their murderous regime at last count was 1.5 million.

Ave atque Vale: Marek Edelman (1919?-2009)

The last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has died in Poland. This obituary quotes Vaclav Havel's praise of Edelman as "an example of a true Pole, the authentic personification of all that is best in Poland."

The 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in occupied Poland was the largest act of resistance by European Jews against the Nazis during the Holocaust. (Don't confuse it with the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.)

Here's a quote from Edelman reflecting on his participation: "It was easier to die fighting than in a gas chamber."

Confronting History: Rachel Lucas Visits Auschwitz

One of my favorite bloggers, Rachel Lucas, recently visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. Don't miss her post (with photos). It is a powerful and sobering read. Blurb:

Someone told me a few months ago that Auschwitz would be a life-changer for me, and they were right, but I would like to emphasize that it is a good change. In the six weeks since I was there, the majority of my previous petty concerns have stopped mattering to me, completely. I just stopped caring about a lot of things that were truly pointless. It has been a very surprising and welcome change. My experience of life is different, in a good way. Something about that day in that place made me realize that if I don’t enjoy and appreciate every single moment of my charmed and comfortable life, then I am an unforgivable a**.

I don’t say that lightly. It is a real thing. All of us who are able to write or read blogs, we have it easy by any measure and we are fools if we don’t actively appreciate every single morsel of freedom and plenty that we have.

Indeed.

Israel at 60, plus Nerd Analysis on 1948 by Benny Morris

The nation of Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

As Mark Steyn reminds us, various publications are filling pages and spilling ink by rather wolfishly wondering if Israel can survive.

Here is a quote, though, that expresses one of my thoughts:

It’s darkly ironic that Israel was the first state to be created by the United Nations and ever since has endured a unique and sustained campaign of attempted delegitimisation. For the dictatorships and sclerotic monarchies that rule much of the Arab world, criticism of Israel is the best diversion from examining their own dismal human rights records.

Hm. Look, I'm not saying that Israel is perfect -- it is far from it, and indeed it's riddled with problems and contradictions. (One headline even uses the phrase "a Jekyll and Hyde nation.") Still, I dare say part of that is because it's constantly riddled with bullets and rockets from people determined to destroy it outright. Anyway, at the risk of receiving angry comments, I note Israel's 60th birthday and trust that it will have many more.

Meanwhile, here's some new nerd analysis by well-known and occasionally controversial Israeli historian Benny Morris, who has a new book on the events of 1948 (from Yale University Press). Morris, by the way, is one of those academics who's been both loved and hated in the political sphere: adored by some on the Left, abhorred by some on the Right. In this, his latest publication, Morris seems to have finally realized that the war in 1948 was not only a territorial dispute, but also about an attempt to annihilate the Jews.