Not Everyone Believes the Holocaust Happened

 

When we are discussing the Iranians or others in the Middle East, I understand their dismissing the Holocaust as a real event. It goes with the territory, so-to-speak.

But when I heard that a Boca Raton, FL principal wrote in a 2018 email to a parent that “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened,” my jaw dropped.

It appears that Laton Latson, principal at Spanish River High School, was determined to fulfill his understanding of “political correctness” to deal with the situation: the state has mandated since 1994 that the a Holocaust curriculum be taught, but Latson received pushback from some parents; a controversy about the teaching of the Holocaust curriculum at his school had developed. It looks like his idea of soft-pedaling the situation was by writing he needed to be “neutral” about the topic.

Mr. Latson has been moved from his position of principal to another position in the District, and at this writing, a petition to dismiss the principal was set up at change.org and had more than 6,000 signatures.

In addition, several organizations have offered providing additional education and training:

Several Jewish organizations are planning to offer additional Holocaust education to Spanish River and its teachers, including the Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services, which assists 400 Holocaust survivors in the Boca Raton area, said Danielle Hartman, chief executive officer.

‘We are planning on reaching out to Principal Latson to offer a Holocaust sensitivity training for the faculty and administration and to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never forgotten and never minimized,’ Hartman said.

More than 10,000 survivors are estimated to live in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, the second largest concentration in the United States after New York.

 

* * *

 

I’m surprised at my own reaction to this situation: I’m ambivalent about how it’s being handled.

 

  • I think the man was foolish to write what he wrote, and should be counseled on how to address conflicts from students and parents regarding the teaching of the Holocaust; maybe he could even have been suspended for a period. But losing his job?

 

  • Is the Holocaust curriculum adequate and age-appropriate? Does it explain to teachers and students the reasons it is taught in the Florida schools?

 

  • I appreciate that organizations want to be sure that the curriculum is appropriate, but is Holocaust sensitivity training for the teachers and administrators necessary, because of Latson’s bad judgment? (The Jewish organizations “offered” the training, didn’t demand it.)

 

At a time when we keep seeing anti-Semitic activities everywhere, and with Boca Raton having a large Jewish community, I can understand why this situation caused such a stir. But how much of the curriculum should be spent on Holocaust education? Should parents be allowed to pull their children from class when the Holocaust is taught, for whatever reason? I also wonder if the District and local organizations’ responses will be helpful to the school and community.

A description of the Florida curriculum is here .

What are your thoughts?

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  1. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Charles Mark (View Comment):
    From my Western European perspective, I see the Holocaust,which is a huge justification for Zionism, having become a significant irritant to the Pro-Palestinian movement (which comprises just about the entire left). 

    It’s certainly a subject which seems to result in both propagandised history and alternative facts based on how people feel.

    So it is rare to not hear a “what about?” comment about other victims of the Nazis or other genocides. Of course these should be acknowledged at all times but the clear purpose of the whataboutery is to diminish the Holocaust of the Jewish people. 

    From The Irish Times Opinion Piece Six-step guide to ‘justifying atrocities’, step number 2:

    What about . . .? What about 800 years of oppression? What about Hamas’s charter? What about Cromwell? What about the Holocaust? What about the H-Blocks? What about the rockets? It is true, of course, that logic dictates that revulsion at one atrocity should apply to all others…But your job is not about logic – it’s about emotion and distraction. What-aboutery generates passionate indignation and, more importantly, means that you don’t have to actually address what you’ve done. This, remember, is your primary task – to fill the airwaves or the newspapers with everything except an actual engagement with the atrocities.

    The author is writing from a different position than yours, but the basic argument should hold.

    • #61
  2. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    I have difficulty imagining humanitarian groups arming mercenaries,

    That isn’t what happened. The Hutu crossed the border, pretended to be refugees and used the camps as a base of operations. The murder rate in the surrounding area skyrocketed. The humanitarian groups came to the realization that the people lining up for food in the morning were committing murder in the day then returning for an evening meal.

    They weren’t being armed. They were being supported with food and shelter.

    The humanitarian groups realized it, eventually. Then rationalized that the person in line might be a murderer, but they also needed to be fed.

    Another example of people making excuses to enable continued genocide.

    • #62
  3. Yehoshua Ben-Eliyahu Inactive
    Yehoshua Ben-Eliyahu
    @YehoshuaBenEliyahu

    Instugator (View Comment):
    The humanitarian groups

    Ironically (predictably?) these so-called humanitarian, anti-genocide groups are invariably leftist and anti-Israel.

    • #63
  4. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Yehoshua Ben-Eliyahu (View Comment):

    Instugator (View Comment):
    The humanitarian groups

    Ironically (predictably?) these so-called humanitarian, anti-genocide groups are invariably leftist and anti-Israel.

    Funny that. Must be some kind of cosmic coincidence. Or it proves that naivety and ignorance really is a killer combination.

    • #64
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Instugator (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    I have difficulty imagining humanitarian groups arming mercenaries,

    That isn’t what happened. The Hutu crossed the border, pretended to be refugees and used the camps as a base of operations. The murder rate in the surrounding area skyrocketed. The humanitarian groups came to the realization that the people lining up for food in the morning were committing murder in the day then returning for an evening meal.

    They weren’t being armed. They were being supported with food and shelter.

    The humanitarian groups realized it, eventually. Then rationalized that the person in line might be a murderer, but they also needed to be fed.

    Another example of people making excuses to enable continued genocide.

    Sorry, I wasn’t clear, @instugator. I was referring to a future where @gumbymark suggested the U.S. leave the UN and how the funds could be used through humanitarian agencies. I wasn’t referring to the past.

    • #65
  6. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    Sorry, I wasn’t clear, @instugator. I was referring to a future where @gumbymark suggested the U.S. leave the UN and how the funds could be used through humanitarian agencies. I wasn’t referring to the past.

    No worries. Talking past each other.

    • #66
  7. Charles Mark Member
    Charles Mark
    @CharlesMark

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Charles Mark (View Comment):
    From my Western European perspective, I see the Holocaust,which is a huge justification for Zionism, having become a significant irritant to the Pro-Palestinian movement (which comprises just about the entire left).

    It’s certainly a subject which seems to result in both propagandised history and alternative facts based on how people feel.

    So it is rare to not hear a “what about?” comment about other victims of the Nazis or other genocides. Of course these should be acknowledged at all times but the clear purpose of the whataboutery is to diminish the Holocaust of the Jewish people.

    From The Irish Times Opinion Piece Six-step guide to ‘justifying atrocities’, step number 2:

    What about . . .? What about 800 years of oppression? What about Hamas’s charter? What about Cromwell? What about the Holocaust? What about the H-Blocks? What about the rockets? It is true, of course, that logic dictates that revulsion at one atrocity should apply to all others…But your job is not about logic – it’s about emotion and distraction. What-aboutery generates passionate indignation and, more importantly, means that you don’t have to actually address what you’ve done. This, remember, is your primary task – to fill the airwaves or the newspapers with everything except an actual engagement with the atrocities.

    The author is writing from a different position than yours, but the basic argument should hold.

    The author of that paragraph, Fintan O’Toole, is always on the opposite side to me. Anyway, the quote makes my point- I don’t believe any right-thinking person could equate the Holocaust to any of the other issues mentioned, but O’Toole does so for rhetorical reasons. 

    Incidentally, and from an Irish perspective, I would put the Great Famine of the 1840s far ahead of any of   O’Toole’s examples, but nowhere near the Holocaust. 

    • #67
  8. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Mark, I don’t believe he’s equating them, he’s talking about whataboutery, which you had also mentioned.  Peace.  

    • #68
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