Once again we have multiple winners of this oh-so-“coveted” prize. They are linked as much by coincidence of timing as by substance and personalities. You’ll see what I mean. As a reminder, this is something I award, to someone or an organization whose depravity is such as to defy easy description. It is inspired by the Armenian saying, “He’s so shameless, if you spit in his face, he’d think it’s rain.”
Let’s start with the repeat winner, Abe Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. You’ll remember his opposition to passage of Congressional Genocide resolutions, and his statement about the Armenian experience being “tantamount” to genocide. In the context of the brouhaha over the placement of a mosque in Manhattan that is “too close” to the site of the downed world Trade Center, he was quoted in the New York Times thus:
“Survivors of the Holocaust are entitled to feelings that are irrational,” he said. Referring to the loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, he said, “Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.”
Really? So where exactly is the line drawn, and by whom, as to what constitutes “modifiedly” acceptable under hypocrite Foxman’s guideline above? So would the anguish of a Palestinian whose dad was brutally murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces entitle him to go out and suicide-bomb a schoolbusfull of Jewish kids? How about a Kurd whose village was submerged by Turkey’s dam-building binge, motivated as much by energy needs as by anti-Kurdism, is he entitled to set off bombs in plazas in Constantinople? What about the Irishman blowing up a British constabulary in Northern Ireland? You get the picture. But shameless Foxman probably won’t because, you see, the Holocaust is “unique.” This thesis of the exceptionality of the Jewish Holocaust poisons Foxman and others, including the next two winners of SpitRain IV (SRIV).
The LA Times published two telling pieces that earned their authors SRIV. On June 29, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center decanted his “Holocaust: a huge word made small.” On July 30, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance, blathered, “The Oliver Stone danger.” Remember, the institution these men represent is the one that, for all intents and purposes, refuses to represent the Armenian Genocide properly in their Museum of (in)Tolerance despite two decades of efforts following up on initial understandings that they would.. They too seem to come from the “Holocaust is unique” school of thought.
Hier whines that the term “Holocaust” is being over/ab-used. Perhaps he should crack open a dictionary to discover the word “holocaust” predates its use to describe the Jewish Genocide. Cooper criticizes Oliver Stone for “contextualizing” Nazi and other evils. Perhaps he should consider the lack of consistent and appropriate presentation of the Armenian Genocide in Museum of Tolerance and the fact that in 1992 his institution invited the then-premier denialist, Stanford Shaw (now dead) to speak! These two seem oblivious to how poetic justice is! They (and their ilk in the right wing of the Jewish community) continually minimize the gravity of other genocides relative to the Jewish one. Now, it’s happening to them, and imagine! They don’t like it. Maybe someday they’ll wake up to the foolishness of their ways. But please, for those readers who have anti-jewish sentiments, don’t use this as fodder for your errant ideas.
And finally, SRIV goes to all the anti-mosque kooks, whether in NY or Temecula, bringing us full circle and making this a fully bicoastal winning. While Foxman was waxing absurd, contending some people had a right to be irrational and bigoted, a little less than a two dozen such people were protesting the proposed building of a mosque in Temecula. (LA Times July 31, p, AA3 “Facing off over Temecula mosque”, please note the online version has a different title, should you search for it). Before you start thinking, “Yeah, this is a Christian country”, and rooting for the bad guys just because our most recent, and worst tormentors, the Turks, happened to be Moslems, think about these: the Byzantines were Christians and they screwed us over; same with the Allies in WWI; and, when the Armenian Diocese wanted to build its cathedral in Burbank, similar, though less toxic opposition had to be overcome. What convinced me the anti-mosque Temeculans were kooky was a picture in which a woman held a sign that read “ALLAH NOT HERE”. Now, while I could be wrong, I’m willing to bet that she’s a religious woman. How could she contend that God (Allah) is not present? I thought S/He was omnipresent? This speaks to the utter ignorance and/or fear mongering and or irrationality of some people, and is the basis for my award.
Thanks to all those who made SRIV possible. Please keep those entries coming. Sooner or later, paragons of shamelessness will earn a SpitRain.
Garen Yegparian
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