The Nazis were racist, but they used the term in a somewhat different way than it is used contemporarily. Up to the earlier part of the 20th century, some people still used race the way we use 'ethnicity', so the race of Frenchmen, the race of jews, the race of Englishmen, the race of Slavs. — Bitter Crank
Well put. I think you are right about that. If there was a blonde haired blue eyed ethnic German who was adopted and raised by Jews since infancy, and refused to convert from Judaism, my bet is that the Nazis would not let him slide and would have killed him.
The holocaust is the example par excellence of inhumanity, and goes downhill from there. — Bitter Crank
Yes, I know about the very large numbers of people killed by Stalin, and during the famine of the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward. There are some differences between the Nazi plan for Jews and Slavs, and the actions directed by Stalin. The same comparing Hitler or Stalin with Mao: the differences make little difference. There are millions of dead, whether caused by efficient planning, paranoia, or colossal, malignant incompetence. — Bitter Crank
And you probably know that because the role of the unions is so small is the reason just why so often firing can happen without any justification or for the most unimportant issues.The other side of that coin is that one can be fired without any justification -- unless one is working under an agreement, like a union contract. (You probably already know this.). — Bitter Crank
Recently Whoopi said the Holocaust wasn't about race, it was about man's inhumanity towards man. — Ree Zen
Well said.Saying that the Holocaust was not about racism, but man's inhumanity to man, is a relatively 'weak' statement, but not false. The Nazis were racist, but they used the term in a somewhat different way than it is used contemporarily. Up to the earlier part of the 20th century, some people still used race the way we use 'ethnicity', so the race of Frenchmen, the race of jews, the race of Englishmen, the race of Slavs. The term 'race' also distinguished between Africans, Asians, Europeans, and Indigenous Americans, which is its primary meaning now.
The holocaust is the example par excellence of inhumanity, and goes downhill from there.
What makes Whoopi Goldberg's statement relatively weak, is that 'man's inhumanity to man' is used to describe everything from really, really rude behavior to acts which are an abomination (like the holocaust was). — Bitter Crank
Saying that the Holocaust was not about racism, but man's inhumanity to man, is a relatively 'weak' statement, but not false. — Bitter Crank
As I see it, racism and inhumanity go hand in hand. Normally, only the first implies the second, not vice versa. However, I believe that the meaning of "racism" may be extended to include any antagonism in which one person considers the other one inferior, for a lot of reasons besides race, and treats him/her in an inhuman way. Which fits your belief that "racism is born out of a type of inhumanity towards another".I think the Holocaust had elements of both racism and inhumanity — Ree Zen
Gosh. That's not how his name is spelled, is it? — Ciceronianus
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