Talking of Holocausts...

"The study of the Holocaust will become compulsory for all NSW school students in years 9 and 10 after a lobbying campaign by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies prompted the state government to include it in the syllabus. The chief executive of the board, Vic Alhadeff, confirmed he lobbied the Board of Studies and Department of Education for the change up until a month ago and commended them for the decision... Greens NSW MP John Kaye said the Holocaust is rightly an essential part of the state syllabus but should be taught in the context of the other 20th-century genocides." (Study of Holocaust mandated for schools, Anna Patty, Sydney Morning Herald, 8/12/12)

John Kaye is correct, of course.

But, while Zionist lobbyists like Vic Alhadeff may prattle on about the Holocaust being "a warning to every generation about the potential for evil, especially as a consequence of racial hatred, and about the inherent evil of totalitarian regimes," you can be sure that a stand-alone treatment, hopefully with an 'If only there'd been an Israel back then' spin, is the desired outcome. Certainly, any curriculum support material devised by the NSW Board of Deputies is bound to be problematic, as my 28/10/11 post Israel 101 for Cops indicates.

I wonder too if Alhadeff (and those politicians and bureaucrats who've finally* succumbed to his charms) fully appreciates the me-too logic inherent in pushing the (Jewish) Holocaust on the great unwashed. Will his learning curve, I wonder, be as steep as that of Maurice Messer's?

Maurice Messer? In case you've never met him, Maurice is the fictional chairman of the board of Holocaust Connections, Inc. in Tova Reich's wonderful 2007 satire My Holocaust:

"Unfazed , Pushkin Jones exposed his glistening teeth in a grin. 'Brother Maurice,' he declared, 'we of the United Holocausts rainbow coalition of all Holocausts, personal and global, have come here today to offer ourselves as your allies in your noble battle... against the travesty and disgrace of Holocaust denial. I am referring now to the denial of all Holocausts other than the Jewish Holocaust. We shall combat this kind of Holocaust denial unto death. I am speaking of the denial of the African-American Holocaust, for example, which I have the distinct honor and privilege of representing today, claiming our forty-acres-and-a-mule just reparations for the depredations of slavery. I am speaking, to cite yet other examples, of the denial of the Holocausts of my two chiefs of staff - Sister Honey's Women's Holocaust reflecting the confluence of fascism and misogyny, both dead-ending in violence, and the Native American Holocaust of Brother Foggy Bottom here, and, by extension, the Holocausts of all aboriginal and indigenous peoples everywhere, brutally uprooted by conquerors and colonialists and imperialists from their native soils since time immemorial, with special recognition due to the Palestinian Holocaust, a direct side effect of the monopoly by the marketers of memory of your Jewish Holocaust... This of course does not mean we exclude other Holocausts,' Jones elaborated. 'The Children's Holocaust, the Gay and Lesbian Holocaust, the Christian Holocaust, the Muslim Holocaust, the Tibetan Holocaust, and so on and so forth, all are gathered up equally under our great Holocaust tent... Nor should we neglect to make mention of the other Holocausts... past, present, and future, of nations too numerous to list, from Cambodia to Chechnya, from Russia to Rwanda, from Kosovo to Kurdistan, from Armenia to East Timor, plus Ecological and Environmental Holocausts, the impending Nuclear Holocaust, the Herbal Holocaust targeting marijuana and other fruits and vegetables, the Endangered Species Holocausts of plants and animals from bluegrass to baby seals, from bladderpods to lesser long-nosed bats, plus the personal and private Holocausts of our brothers and sisters everywhere on this earth, from Brother Kwame in the Oppenheimer diamond mines of South Africa to Sister Katya in the brothels of Tel Aviv, from Brother Unborn Fetus tossed in a Dumpster in Los Angeles County to Sister Granny set adrift on an iceberg to starve to death in the Eskimo sea, and on and on in an ancient and endless cycle of sorrow and woe. We are all survivors - cancer survivors, AIDS survivors, sexual abuse survivors, alcoholism survivors, mental illness survivors, circumcision survivors, menstruation survivors, propaganda survivors, et cetera et cetera. Move over, Brother Maurice, the neighborhood is changing, you are not alone, and you are not unique. No longer can you sit there on the ground like a tribe of Jeremiahs girded in sackcloth, covered in ashes, crying out in lamentation, Behold and see, if there be any pain like unto my pain! Your monopoly has been busted, Brother Maurice, your Holy-cause is history. We reject the hierarchy and caste system of Holocausts. All Holocausts are equal in the eye of God. No one Holocaust is superior to another, no one Holocaust is deserving of special treatment or recognition. All Holocausts are unique." (pp 243-245)

And I can just hear Vic down the track a bit:

"'Brother Pusher,' Maurice began, attempting to inject a diplomatic polish into his voice, 'I hear you, I feel your pain, I know where you're coming from, believe me. I myself started a very successful business from mine own, Holocaust Connections, Inc., mit a similar idea - sharing the moral capital from the Holocaust. But between you and me, you're barking up the wrong fire hydrant this time. The Jewish Holocaust is bigger from both of us. It's the super Holocaust, the state-sponsored systematic extermination from the Jewish people for the 'crime' of existing by the most advanced and civilized nation on earth - that's the scientific definition. There was nothing like it before or after and there never will be. Nothing can compete. You should quit while you're still ahead, you got a lost cause. Believe me, I understand how you feel. Everybody likes to think their Holocaust is the best, everybody likes to think their Holocaust is unique, but face it, the Jewish Holocaust is the most unique. So let me give you a little piece of advice from an old man who has seen a thing or two in his time, okay? Give up this crazy, childish narishkeit what you're doing, and come express yourself constructively by joining me in mine business. I'll make you a senior vice president mit complete control from the African-American Holocaust portfolio. What do you say, Pushka? Is it a deal?'" (pp 246-247)

Stay tuned.

[*See my earlier posts on this matter: Sam Lipski's National Curriculum (12/4/10) and Holocaust Studies Make the Grade (28/12/10).]