Tuesday, October 21, 2008

 

The "General Eisenhower Warned Us" Hoax


I recently received a copy of a hoax chain e-mail with the subject line: "General Eisenhower Warned Us." Below, with some minor edits, is the response I sent to the more than two dozen e-mails addresses listed as having received or sent it before I received it.

The "General Eisenhower Warned Us" message below is a sad example of anti-Muslim fear-mongering. This hoax chain e-mail is based upon an earlier 2007 hoax chain e-mail that said, "Recently, this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum ... " (see Snopes.com). The current version (below) says, "This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred."

This sweeping generalization or stereotype, even, is absurd on its face. It claims: "[The Holocaust] 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred." As a press release for a 2006 scientific poll of UK Muslims noted: "There is no universal, monolithic Muslim opinion - there is as much variety as among non-Muslims." Regarding the holocaust and Muslims, it reported, "2% denied it happened entirely." The same poll found that a plurality of Muslim respondents believe the Holocaust happened "as History teaches".

Moreover, there is no evidence that the UK ever "debated" removing "The Holocaust" from its curriculum. The 2007 report that apparently elicited the Islamophobic frenzy, "Teaching Emotive and Controversial History 3-19," is available online and you can read it yourself. Nowhere in it is there any debate about not teaching about the Nazi holocaust.

The report notes the holocaust is one of several controversial subjects for some students and references on page 15 "a history department in a northern city recently avoided selecting the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] coursework for fear of confronting anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils." The GCSEs apply only to students aged 14 to 16. So, what you have here is one department in one city not selecting one topic for students aged 14-16 because of an unfounded or founded (we do not know which) fear of confronting "anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial" (whatever these mean) among SOME "Muslim pupils." That's all.

When the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynet is their online edition) covered the story in 2007, they reported:

" 'There is no evidence that schools are not teaching the Holocaust.' Orla Delegray of the Dept for Children, Schools and Families said.

" 'We have made clear there are certain, non-negotiable subjects which will be protected in schools and that includes the Holocaust,' she wrote. According to her, the British Education Ministry has even invested millions of pounds this year in subsidizing programs through which British students visit Auschwitz.

" 'The suggestion that the Holocaust is being dropped from the UK national curriculum is entirely false,' said Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust."

As for the bit about "Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' ..." that's a hoax, too. Calling the holocaust a myth is not Iranian state policy. The president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--who is second-in-command after the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei--has been accused in the West of holocaust denial but so has Norman Finkelstein, son of two holocaust survivors and the author of The Holocaust Industry. I've read several of Finkelstein's books, including The Holocaust Industry and he is no holocaust denier.

But to return to Ahmadinejad consider the testimony of Shiraz Dossa: "... Ahmadinejad has not denied the Holocaust or proposed Israel’s liquidation; he has never done so in any of his speeches on the subject (all delivered in Farsi/Persian). As an Iran specialist, I can attest that both accusations are false. U.S. Iran experts such as Juan Cole and UK journalists such as Jonathan Steele have come to the same conclusion."

So, now ask yourself with US troops occupying two predominantly Muslim countries, with Iran in the cross-hairs of Israel and US Neo-cons, and with predominantly Muslim Palestine under the thumb of US-backed Israel, who benefits from spreading lies and distortions that cast Muslims is such a very bad light. Who gets hurt?

If you are a Christian and you passed this "General Eisenhower Warned Us" garbage on to other people or failed to challenge it then shouldn't you ask yourself if you have sinned? Leviticus 19:16 says "You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord." Christians are not under the Law but that is no license to harm our neighbors or spread falsehoods.

According to Jesus: "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles. ... what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person ..." They didn't have keyboards and computer mice in Jesus' day but it seems to me the principle is timeless and not restricted to one form of communication.

Perhaps the most offensive and most revealing part of this hoax is the closing. It says: "God Bless America!"

See also: Turning Muslim Children into Zionists

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:44 am
Subject: Fwd: [Fwd: Fwd: Fw: General Eisenhower Warned Us]

General Eisenhower Warned Us



It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:


'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'

This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.


It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the,6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests


Who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beat, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way!

Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.



This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people! Be a link in the memorial chain and help distribute this around the world.

How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center ...


'NEVER HAPPENED'


...because it offends some Muslim in the U.S. ???

Do not just delete this message; it will take only a minute to pass this along.
FREEDOM ISN'T FREE...SOMEONE HAD TO PAY FOR IT
If you can read this...thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English...thank a veteran.

God Bless America !

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Comments:
Thank you for posting that! I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed many of your sources and arguments to reply all to the same email when I received it. THANK YOU!
 
You are quite welcome and thanks for letting me know that you appreciated the post and found it helpful.
 
I do not know if the email regarding, "Eisenhower Warned Us About This", is true or false. I do know that some of our U.S. history is being rewritten to suit some one’s belief rather than the truth. It only takes one complaint against a Christmas carol to have it removed from a school Christmas program. It only took one to remove prayer from schools. Roe v Wade brought about a major decision with out there being someone in the plaintiff seat. We are given a lot of false information, but that fact is war is hell on earth. And the innocent are the ones who suffer the most. The way people criticize and pass judgment on the ones involved, on a human level (not the government) without understanding, make it difficult to get the truth out. I personally believe in the Holocaust because of survivors I have spoken with. This has nothing to do with the Muslims. It does hit a hot spot when it is considered a hate crime to teach the Bible, but not a hate crime to teach that the Christians should be hushed and banned from their beliefs.
 
Perhaps it originates with this article from 2007, where in fact UK teachers were individually dropping holocaust studies in deference to Muslim interests.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-445979/Teachers-drop-Holocaust-avoid-offending-Muslims.html
 
In fact, Blazing Cat Fur, the Daily Mail article you cite misrepresents the findings of the report, Teaching Emotive and Controversial History 3-19, it cites as its source. If you had been careful or honest enough to actually look at the report you would have found that the Daily Mail reporter was wrong and it is plainly incorrect to state, based upon the Daily Mail article, that "UK teachers were individually dropping holocaust studies in deference to Muslim interests."
 
The email may be a hoax, but is this newspaper article from England on this very topic a lie?

Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-445979/Teachers-drop-Holocaust-avoid-offending-Muslims.html
 
Sundey, the title of the Daily Mail article you cite, its lead paragraph, and main premise are patently false. Read the Teaching Emotive and Controversial History 3-19 report yourself, there is a link to it in the body of the post. See also the followup post on this blog: Turning Muslim Kids into Zionists.
 
only 2% think the Holocaust never happened? Way to Cherry Pick from that UK poll.

How about where the polling found:

only 29% of Muslims thought that the holocaust occured

are they just uneducated? or racist?
 
Anonymous,

The e-mail hoax that prompted this post claimed falsely "This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred." So, the 2% figure is the most relevant. In any case, readers are free to do what you did and see what the other figures say and that's exactly why I provided the links.

As to your question, maybe the 53% of British Muslim respondents who fell in the I haven't heard of the Holocaust/No Opinion/Don't Know categories are just sick and tired of having "The Holocaust" shoved down their throats while Jews carry out a genocide in Palestine against a predominantly Muslim population. Maybe they just agreed with the 22% of Americans who, according to a 2005 poll by the American Jewish Committee, Strongly Agree/Agree that Jews are exploiting "The Holocaust" and they wanted to subtly tell the backers of the "Holocaust Industry" to shove it by refusing kneel before the altar of Jewish victimhood. Who knows? You certainly don't.
 
Since 622AD, Islam has had an agenda, based on the tenants of its holy book, the Qu'ran to convert,conquer, or kill the entire non-Muslim world. Their very sacred texts are anti-Semitic.

Look at the results of Muslim immigration in country after country. Just look and see. It is not a peaceful belief system. Take away all the conflicts in the world where Muslims are involved, and the world is a relatively peaceful place, not 100%, but comparatively speaking. Why is it racist, or xenophobic, or bigoted to see the facts for what they are when the fabric of society is at stake. When immigrants do not integrate there is always unrest, and it does not take a significant number to cause it. Take off the rose colored glasses and see history and the world for what they are. That teacher who dropped the Holocaust may very well have been threatened and had no support from a spineless administration. It gets tiresome being called a bigot, but, after I paid attention and did a bit of research without prejudice, I woke up. There's always hope that someone else might, too
 
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