I found out my friend is a Holocaust truther

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,
Recently I went out with some friends I hadn’t seen in years, one of whom turned the conversation to religion and eventually the Holocaust. It turns out he believes that the Holocaust never happened. I was embarrassed that someone I went to school with all my life could believe such a thing. He further claimed that God was black and racist against whites and therefore we should hate whites, too. (He is neither white nor black.) I told him I couldn’t continue to discuss his beliefs, as they were completely wrong, but he persisted, and eventually I told him that until he can bring the Bible and show me where God commands people to be racist, I wouldn’t have this conversation. He called my bluff and said he’d bring it over. I grew up Catholic but now consider myself agnostic, so his arguments about God didn’t bother me that much. But because all I could think during our conversation was, “How dumb are you?,” it made me wonder if I was the one being intolerant. Am I? Now what do I do when he brings me the Bible?

—Holocaust Hoaxer

banana468

You don't let him bring you the Bible because you say that you refuse to associate with an asshat. 

OurWildKingdom

I can relate. I went to school with a lot of people who have beliefs that I find morally reprehensible.

As someone whose family was affected by the Holocaust (my maternal uncle had to be hidden from the Nazis for the first five years of his life due to a cleft lip and palate, and my maternal grandfather starved to death while fighting on the Eastern Front), I don't think LW is being intolerant. LW is in the right to be outraged.

ETA: Not even getting into the whole "God is a racist" thing. LW needs to cut this guy off, fast.

scrunchythief

If she's intolerant, then I'm an outright bigot.  That conversation wouldn't have gone past me demanding an apology for denying the Holocaust and if that wasn't received, I would've left.  

monkeysip

I'm pretty tolerant of beliefs I really don't agree with, even among my friends.  But denying the holocaust?  You're not just offensive, you're an idiot.  I just couldn't even.  I don't have time for people like that in my life.

VarunaTT

I wouldn't be embarrassed, I'd be pissed.  And, since it sounds like they weren't that close, the relationship would go back to being non-existent, so no need for the Bible sharing.  

monkeysip

This is kind of a tangent, but I once had a student cite a holocaust denial blog as a source in a research paper.  She wasn't denying the holocaust, and she didn't even realize what the blog was (typical student--just googling without looking at sources).  But I about died.

kimmiinthemitten

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

*Barbie*

there's more than 4 friends in the world.

TrixieJess

kimmiinthemitten said:

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

Agreed. I wouldn't be seeing that person again.

Have you read the book the movie is loosely based on? It's very good. General Dallaire, who wrote it, is very critical of the UN and the peacekeeping process. It also forshadows a lot of what is going on in Africa politically.

kimmiinthemitten

TrixieJess said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

Agreed. I wouldn't be seeing that person again.

Have you read the book the movie is loosely based on? It's very good. General Dallaire, who wrote it, is very critical of the UN and the peacekeeping process. It also forshadows a lot of what is going on in Africa politically.

Hell no!  I was basically like this for weeks after that movie. 

TrixieJess

kimmiinthemitten said:

TrixieJess said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

Agreed. I wouldn't be seeing that person again.

Have you read the book the movie is loosely based on? It's very good. General Dallaire, who wrote it, is very critical of the UN and the peacekeeping process. It also forshadows a lot of what is going on in Africa politically.

Hell no!  I was basically like this for weeks after that movie. 

The book will too. I also recommend looking up any of the talks General Dallaire has done on the subject as well as his work with Child Soldiers. He has done some good work since, but also had some rough times. He has worked tirelessly for PTSD recognition among the vets that come back from combat and trying to get our government to increase their benefits.

kimmiinthemitten

TrixieJess said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

Agreed. I wouldn't be seeing that person again.

Have you read the book the movie is loosely based on? It's very good. General Dallaire, who wrote it, is very critical of the UN and the peacekeeping process. It also forshadows a lot of what is going on in Africa politically.

FI asked if you know the title. He leaves for China Thursday and is looking for books to read. 

TrixieJess

kimmiinthemitten said:

TrixieJess said:

kimmiinthemitten said:

A parent of one of FI's students didn't believe that Hotel Rwanda was based on actual events and thought it was just a really sad movie.

Ignorance is alive.  I'd be losing that friends number again real quick.

Agreed. I wouldn't be seeing that person again.

Have you read the book the movie is loosely based on? It's very good. General Dallaire, who wrote it, is very critical of the UN and the peacekeeping process. It also forshadows a lot of what is going on in Africa politically.

FI asked if you know the title. He leaves for China Thursday and is looking for books to read. 

"Shake Hands with the Devil" Romeo Dallaire. 

crowsgirl15

Holocaust Truthers fascinate me. So, in your estimation, all my family that was killed in concentration camps just...stopped talking to everyone and disappeared? This wasn't that long ago. There are people who remember that time (though less and less each year)...how. HOW?! It's fascinating.

TrixieJess

crowsgirl15 said:

Holocaust Truthers fascinate me. So, in your estimation, all my family that was killed in concentration camps just...stopped talking to everyone and disappeared? This wasn't that long ago. There are people who remember that time (though less and less each year)...how. HOW?! It's fascinating.

Sadly, there will always be people who deny the truth. It's atrocious, and they make my skin crawl. 

I'm sorry for your family. I grew up with a large Jewish population, and therefore amongst many families with survivors. It's horrifying to hear some of the stories from their accounts of the war. 

ILoveBeachMusic

I don't understand how people can deny the Holocaust! Do they really think Germany would set up fake concentration camp museums? That certainly wouldn't be putting their country in a positive light! Several years ago, I visited Dachau (outside of Munich). It was a sobering experience to say the least. I don't think anyone could/would make up such atrocities.

Vivandiere8

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I don't understand how people can deny the Holocaust! Do they really think Germany would set up fake concentration camp museums? That certainly wouldn't be putting their country in a positive light! Several years ago, I visited Dachau (outside of Munich). It was a sobering experience to say the least. I don't think anyone could/would make up such atrocities.

This is such a good point! Why would Germany set up fake concentration camps at the end of the war... and then later turn them into museums?

As a historian it does make me want to sit down with some Holocaust deniers and just calmly... see if we can go through the facts and try to talk sense into them? It's even more bizarre then people who claim dinosaurs never existed and that they are all a hoax (yes there are people who believe that). Dinosaurs vanished before people could make eyewitness records so there is that... but the Holocaust? So strange... 

NavyBlue143

My "friend", who is a denier of sorts, believes it all actually happened, but it wasn't a Nazi idea, it was a Western conspiracy to justify the creation of Israel and create the defense contract behemoth.