A Teachable Moment

More needs to be said about the supposed Nazi salute by high school boys in Wisconsin. The notion that the boys would celebrate going to the prom by making a "Nazi salute" is the kind of absurdity that screams "Only in America." Since there is nothing unique about high school students in Baraboo, we can safely assume that the boys in the picture are similar to boys in every high school in Wisconsin, and indeed the entire U.S. If Baraboo students make "the Nazi salute" to celebrate going to a dance, then everyone makes the Nazi salute.

Of course, this assumes that raising one’s right arm is an automatic salute from one Nazi to another, or in this case, 50-or-so Nazis to Planet Earth. These boys were the football team, the basketball team, the baseball team, the track team, members of student government, volunteer organizations, the band, the school newspaper, the yearbook and likely some kind of computer club. And, according to the very stupid among us, Nazis.

The hubris of Nazi accusers is something that has grown slowly over the past 73 years, the time I have been alive on this planet. When I was young the focus was on the amazing U.S. victory over Germany and Japan in World War II. Technically it was "the Allies," but the dominant force was "American." Gradually the word "holocaust" entered our vocabulary, which then morphed into "The Holocaust."

There has been only one holocaust in human history, according to this narrative, and there will never be another. The Nazi concentration camps and murders of millions of Jews, Gypsies (Roma), disabled people, homosexuals, communists, dissenters and out-groups was reduced to "The Holocaust" of Jews.

The nation of Israel was admitted by the United Nations in 1949, largely due to guilt over the treatment of Jews in World War II. Gypsies didn’t get a country. Homosexuals didn’t get a country. Disabled people didn’t get a country. Communists had a country, the Soviet Union, before World War II, so they at least had somewhere to go.

Because of the displacement and oppression of the previous occupants of most of the land that became Israel, the new nation found itself increasingly unpopular in the world, to say nothing of fighting several wars and being the target of terrorism.

For a complexity of reasons the main backer of Israel has been the U.S. government, with about $6 billion annually being given in direct aid, and many billions in military aid over the years being granted. Diplomatic support has been equally important, enabling unchecked mistreatment and killing of Palestinians. It hasn’t mattered who is president or who has the majority in Congress, support for Israel is as predictable as the sun rising every morning.

In order to keep this support unquestioned, relentless effort has to be made to keep the American people compliant. Anyone who criticizes Israel is branded an "anti-Semite." Though the term "Semite" actually refers to almost all of the ethnicities of the Mideast and North Africa, it has been appropriated to apply to Jews only, as a way of adding an intellectual sophistication to the notion of hatred of Jews. "Jew-hater" sounds kind of crude, but "anti-Semite" carries a level of abstraction that elevates the accuser.

One of the interesting ironies of the anti Semite epithet is how easily it is used by "liberals" and/or "leftists," who would more often be critical of Israel. This is likely due in part to the fear of being called anti-Semitic themselves. Another reason is that many "leftists" and "liberals" are Jews.

Given this context, we are all vulnerable to being called anti-Semites. There is real hatred of Jews in this country, and worldwide. The attack on the synagogue in Pittsburgh last November is an example of how real this hatred can be. It wasn’t the first time, and won’t be the last. It is understandable that there would be paranoia about hostility toward those of Jewish ancestry or religion.

In this maelstrom comes a "viral" picture of high school boys posing for a prom picture. Baraboo is about 30 miles northwest of Madison, Wisconsin - a town bursting with "leftists" on the high-horse, what I call the posturing "left," or whingeing "left." The geographic spread of this cohort extends for about commuting distance to Madison, which includes Baraboo. Combine this cohort with Madison’s local TV news - what I call “airhead news,” and you have a perfect mix for scapegoating innocent teenage boys.

As was reported in the New York Times (all the news that's fit to print), the superintendent of the Baraboo School District decided not to punish the boys, for technical reasons. This bureaucratic passivity implied guilt, but gave the bureaucrat a way to have it both ways. Punishing the boys would likely result in the superintendent looking for a new job. Saying they were innocent would invite scrutiny from airhead news, meaningless though it may be.

So far only one parent has stood up for the boys. Then came threats. Idle threats they bluff with scorn, suicide remarks are torn…(Dylan, “It’s Alright Ma, I’m only Bleeding”). As time passes more people are likely to speak up, realizing that this hysteria is an attack on their children, and ultimately on themselves. If anyone can accuse your children of being Nazis, then everyone can be accused of anything under the sun.

So, as the posturers have been saying, this is a "teachable moment" (meme, cliché). Just what is teachable is the question. According to the posturers, the teachability is what they have to teach, that hate is bad (duh). What is really teachable, though, is the vulnerability we all have in a mass society to manipulation by concentrated messaging on the Internet, television, newspapers, radio, and any medium where the many can be influenced by the few. With the right messaging, anyone can become president. Or governor. Or a Nazi.
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Here's a song. Here's another. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Beatles. Original version. Another from The Beatles. The Corner Girls. The Beatles again. Original version, by the Top Notes. Chuck Berry. Bill Haley and His Comets. Elvis Presley. Jerry Lee Lewis. Bobby Freeman. The Gentrys. The Drifters. Leo Sayer. The Contours, Otis Redding. Another scene from the same movie. The Stroll. The Bristol Stomp. Wah-Watusi.  El Watusi. Wooly Bully. Chris Montez. Tommy James and the Shondells. The Cotton-eyed Joe. Billy Bland. Chubby Checker. Johnny Otis. Archie Bell and the Drells. Dee Dee Sharp. Orleans. Leonard Cohen. David Bowie. The Kinks. The Time Warp. The Monster Mash. Abba. Martha and the Vandellas. Little Eva. Johnny Cash. Jerry Garcia. Same song, clearer sound. Kacey Musgraves. Peter Tosh. The Who. More from The Who. Here's song for the Baraboo students (and their parents). Here's a song for the presumed teachers of the teachable moment. Alternate version. Cat Stevens. Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner. Julie Andrews. El Tango de Roxanne.  Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The Grateful Dead.

I apparently am not the only dissenter to the hysteria over the prom photo. Here's another view, from the Investor's Business Daily. More typical is this, from USA Today. Some background on the silliness can be found here. A view from a veteran of the liberation of the death camps can be seen here.

The mayor of Baraboo showed himself to be a true politician,  buying in to the narrative of the Nazi salute.

Here's the editorial about the Baraboo picture from Madison's airhead TV news editorialist. He can be depended on for meaningless editorials every weeknight.

Local TV news isn't the only airhead news. Salon has a suggestion for network TV news organizations.

Here's an example of national network media malfeasance.