It’s understandable that people focus on the most egregious event in a category and ignore historical precedents. Pain narrows our concentration.
As a fellow Jew, I venture to remind Dr. Ravitch *62 that many of our co-religionists still think the Nazi atrocity was the only holocaust. In fact, the Armenian holocaust preceded it and there’s good evidence that Germany used it as a model. They also used the anti-miscegenation laws of Virginia as a model in their promotion of eugenics, a self-aggrandizing movement if ever there was one.
Political correctness often waves a revolutionary banner, seeking retribution while claiming “the first revolution is in your mind” with Copernicus being cited as an example. However, the mindset it promotes is more like Ptolemy’s vision: at the center of the universe are humans, specifically MY identity group; then allied identity groups are arrayed in concentric circles according to how closely their intersectionality supports MY agenda.
The challenge of our times is to see history clearly and then transcend it. No descendants — of victims or of perpetrators — should be penalized.
Unfortunately, the fiery awakening of the past in recent years is blinding us to carnage occurring in the present, namely perpetual warfare promoted by each of our 21st-century presidents. Incessant media coverage of domestic politics seems like bread and circuses, distracting attention from overseas deaths that are happening at this very moment.