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Forwarded From: Bernard Weinraub <bernmart@earthlink.net> Bernard Weinraub bernmart@earthlink.net Dr. Posluns is making important points in both of his recent posts. To characterize even the most trenchant, bitter criticism of a nation's government, or even of its culture, as anti-(German, or - American, or -Canadian) tells us nothing verifiable, either about the motives of the critic, or about the validity of the criticism. It is an accusation of immorality more than anything else, and its purpose is usually to allow us to dismiss an argument which cannot otherwise be refuted. As to point 4, cited by Posluns below, how could there be any authority for it? Where would one even look for evidence to support the notion that Germans define themselves by nothing other than the desire to complete the work of the Shoah? There is a habit among some intellectuals of making extreme, even outlandish, statements, and challenging those who are shocked by them to prove them wrong. Obviously, the burden of evidence always lies on s/he who advances a generalization, not on those who are skeptical of it. >> Forwarded From: "Michael (Mickey) Posluns, Ph.D." >> <mposluns@accglobal.net> >> >> <<<<< 4. Germany even 60 years after the war is an essentially >> unchanged >> community (Volksgemeinschaft) whose primary aim is to complete the >> mass >> murder on the Jewish people as soon as it gets a chance. [end >> translated >> part] >>>>> >> >> >> I look forward to seeing some authority for this statement. It has >> not >> been my custom to defend Germany culture about which I know very >> little. >> Neither has it been my custom to accuse the present generation of >> Germans, >> holus bolus, of sharing the National Socialist Party ideology. I hope >> those who make this charge will explain it in clear, lucid terms >> that the >> rest of us might follow. >> >> >> -- >> Michael (Mickey) Posluns, Ph.D., >> Native Studies Programme, >> St. Thomas University, >> Fredericton, N.B., >> E3B 5G3. >> >> St. Thomas University: 506-460-0334 >> Fredericton Home: 506-454-5571 >> Toronto: 416-995-8613 >> Pickerel River: 705-857-1095 >> >> 36 Lauder Avenue, >> Toronto, Ontario, >> M6H 3E3 >> >> How can we be sure that the unexamined life is not worth living? >> -- Yocheved Menashe List Editor, H-Antisemitism
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