So says Laine at The Liberal Avenger in this piece.
The "they" referred to are Americans, specifically "rightwingers." She references an article about disc jockey Jerry Klein, who stated on his radio show that Muslims should be identified with a crescent-shaped tattoo or a distinctive armband. After his statement, "the phone lines were jammed instantly."
At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.
"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL (http://www.wmal.com/), which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland
"For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.
"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."
I'll admit that people applauding such suggestions is disgusting, but according to Klein's own statements, he had "plenty of callers" on both sides of the issue. In other words, there were "plenty of callers" appalled at the suggestion.
But does that mean Americans "fear Muslins in a way that the Germans feared the Jews in the 30's and 40's"? I don't think so. For one thing, Jews weren't involved in attacks on Germany soil to trigger the widespread discrimination Jews faced long before the Final Solution.
Secondly, we can read for ourselves that there was a long line of anti-Jewish rules and regulations long before Jews were tattooed and sent to death camps.
--On 1 April 1933, Jewish doctors, shops, lawyers and stores were boycotted.
--Six days later, the "Law for the Restoration of the professional Civil Service" was passed, banning Jews employed in government.
--In May 1935, Jews were forbidden to join the Wehrmacht (Army), and in the summer of the same year, anti-Jewish propaganda appeared in Nazi-German shops and restaurants.
--The Nuremberg Racial Purity Laws were passed around the time of the great Nazi rallies at Nuremberg.
--On 15 September 1935 the "Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour" was passed preventing marriage between any Jew and non-Jew.
--At the same time the "Reich Citizenship Law" was passed, and was reinforced in November by a decree, stating that all Jews, even quarter- and half-Jews, were no longer citizens (Reichsbürger) of their own country (their official title became "subject of the state" or Reichsangehöriger). This meant that they had no basic citizens' rights, e.g., to vote.
--In 1936, Jews were banned from all professional jobs, effectively preventing them from exerting any influence in education, politics, higher education and industry.
--In the period 1937-1938, harsh new laws were implemented, and the segregation of Jews from the true German "Aryan" population was started. In particular, Jews were penalized financially for their perceived racial status.
--On 1 March 1938, Government contracts could not be awarded to Jewish businesses.
--On 30 September of the same year, "Aryan" doctors could only treat "Aryan" patients. Provision of medical care to Jews was already hampered by the fact that Jews were banned from being doctors or having any professional jobs.
--On 17 August, Jews had to add "Israel" (males) or "Sarah" (females) to their names, and a large letter "J" was to be imprinted on their passports on 5 October.
--On 15 November Jewish children were banned from going to normal schools.
--By April 1939, nearly all Jewish companies had either collapsed under financial pressure and declining profits, or had been persuaded to sell out to the Nazi-German government.
Is there anything remotely similar being done to Muslims in America? The answer is NO.
While I disagree strongly with anyone, even in jest or for shock value, discussing tattooing Muslims or forcing them to wear identifying clothing, it doesn't in any way compare with Nazi Germany.
It's disgusting and deceitful (to say nothing about insulting to the real victims of the Holocaust) to continually bring up certain images as a way to tar and feather all "rightwingers" as being the same as Nazis.
Laine ends her rant this way:
For every action, there is a reaction. Look at what we are doing to our children, not to mention the future generations of all earthlings. We are raising a generation of scared people. We are raising a generation of hatred generated from that fear. This radio broadcast should have us all angry, no, more than angry. Not because of what Mr. Klein did, but the reactions to it. It’s embarrassing, it’s disturbing, it’s (like it or not!) Nazi Germany mentality.
No, Laine, it isn't. President Bush has repeatedly distinguished between radical Muslims who want to kill us and the vast majority of practioners of the religion of peace. We have teachers instructing children in the five pillars of Islam. We have the Council on American-Islamic Relations out front attacking anyone who states that radical Muslims are only following the Koran. We had Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta forbidding airlines from racially profiling in the wake of September 11. We even have Hollywood films altering screenplays so that fictional villains from well-known books are no longer Muslims.
The only thing left is to make a law forbidding anti-Muslim speech, making Muslims the most protected class in America.
If you can find any parallels between that behavior and what the Germans did in the 1930s, you need to put up or shut up. If anything, the United States has gone far out of its way not to stereotype all Muslims. The real fear mongering comes from every idiot who compares the United States with Nazi Germany.
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