Deborah Lipstadt, who was famously sued by Holocaust denier David Irving for libel (and won), weighs in on the recent Holocaust denial assignment in the Rialto school district. It is a strong piece and well worth reading. I agree with her that, in many ways, the fact that the school officials seem clueless comes across as being somehow worse than malice.
Though I personally wonder how clueless these officials really were, I find it fascinating and frightening that they are still presiding over the school district. Fascinating as someone who tries to see the world thtough the prism of a social scientist and frightening as a Jew who is worried about the future.
After all, this is not the only scandal swirling around these days. Recently, Mozilla CEO Eich was caught making a private donation to an organization that opposes gay marriage and was forced to resign from his post. Just a few weeks ago, David Sterling said some really stupid and offensive things in a private conversation and was almost immediately banned from the NBA for life. Just today, the Beverly Hills council convened to decide on whether to divest from a hotel owned by the Sultan of Brunei because Sharia Law was imposed in his home country and homosexuality has become outlawed.
Not that far from Beverly Hills, an entire school district thought it was a good idea to ask 2,000 8th graders to discuss whether Anne Frank's diary was a forgery and whether the Holocaust actually happened or was just a sinister ploy by the Jews to gain sympathy and money. When challenged about this assignment, the interim school district superintendant Mohammad Z. Islam and district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri defended the assignment for developing "critical thinking skills," before they ultimately backed down!
Ask yourselves what would have happened if the assignment were to: "Discuss whether slavery ever existed in America or whether it is just a ploy by African Americans to achieve political ends." or to "Discuss whether Native Americans suffered a genocide..." or even to "Discuss whether homosexuals should be kept away from small children" etc.
Where is the outrage? The fact that basically nothing has happened and the media response has pretty much been along the lines of "Oh the things people say!" tells me a lot about where we are today.
Meanwhile, the Rialto school district met in closed session today. While there were, "no public action items on the agenda" the board discussed “anticipated litigation” and a “threat to public services or facilities”. Clearly, they have internalized the great wrong that was done here and have their (CYA) priorities straight. Indeed, based on this session, one might even say that they are the "victims" here.
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