To the Editor:
I am writing in regards to the "Take Action Against Racism Bigotry Injustice" poster used to advertise the rally in front of Parkhurst this past Friday. I am deeply disturbed with the usage of the Swastika emblem over an outline of the United States. The Swastika, as everyone knows, was the rallying emblem under Nazi Germany, which waged an aggressive war, created a complete state of terror and fear, and of course carried out the Holocaust.
Let us compare this, as the author of the poster seems to, with events that have occurred at Dartmouth recently. One person threw mud at a window. Another wrote and subsequently highlighted ethnic obscenities on a person's door. And some fraternity brothers in a private home read a sexist poem. All of these are disturbing and should be handled appropriately.
But can we, any of us, in good faith, compare Dartmouth (or the US) to Nazi Germany in the way that the author of this poster has? Misuse of the Holocaust term and all the images accompanying it have been prevalent among groups seeking to liken their status to those of the Jews who were facing methodical, brutal, and in every sense literal extermination.
Certainly groups using the Holocaust this way are able to evoke a loaded, powerful response. But that gives them no right to do so. Every time the Holocaust is used this way, it cheapens its meaning, transforming it into a cliche, and does a grave injustice to the Jews that died, those that are still living, and anyone who has any respect for historical truth.
Neither the US nor Dartmouth is under attack from Nazism in anyway that is comparable to Hitler Germany. No group or person is justified in likening themselves to the experiences faced by the Jews. Anyone who thinks otherwise had better go to the Holocaust museum in D.C. or read some of the memoirs written by Holocaust survivors. Those who persist in using such imagery merely reveal their ignorance and lack of any sense of historical perspective. Please stop perpetuating the unfair comparison, and stop cheapening the Holocaust to a sound byte.
