Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 23:51:19 EST
From: andy <2893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Re: "Feminazis" and the "abortion holocaust"
 <1992Nov19.054325.9354@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
 <92324.0237122893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> <1992Nov19.153303.20441@news.nd.edu>

In article <1992Nov19.153303.20441@news.nd.edu>, jocallag@vyasa.helios.nd.edu
(john ocallaghan) says:
>
>In article <92324.0237122893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> andy
><2893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>>The thing is, when the Christian Right uses the term Holocaust to refer to
>>abortion they don't just use the word but they refer specifically and make
>>direct comparison to the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis in World War II
>>thus they are not just using a word but deliberately invoking a historical
>>analogy and for Jews, a painful memory. We are not just talking about words
>>we are talking about incidents in history. As well the word "feminazi" is
>>meant to deliberately evoke the Holocaust by comparing Pro-Choice feminists
>>to Nazis, a flippant and frivolous comparison which I find deeply offensive,
>>as would anyone familiar with the horror of the real Nazis.
>
>Perhaps the difference is that the unborn victims of abortion generally have
>no survivors to tell us of the horrors that are being perpetrated against them
>because the majority of the human society in which they live have decided to
>exclude them from the communion of persons whose life is held to be
>inviolable.
>Peace,
>John
This may be so (I will not debate the good or evil of abortion here) but it is
irrelevant to the Holocaust and is no excuse for appropriating and exploiting
another people's pain and suffering. If you are interested in a sweeping word,
try "inferno", it's dictionary meaning is similar to "holocaust" and it can
be used without exploiting and aggravating the pain and suffering of those
peoples who suffered the Holocaust.

I'll illustrate my concern. Say my child was abducted, brutally raped and
murdered. This would be a deep and horrible pain which I would never be able
to recover from, now say someone comes to my door one day raising money to
help refugees from the horror of Bosnia, people who have gone through
horrible suffering. Now say the person at my door tries to elict my support
by comparing the horror of Bosnia to the murder of my child?

Even if the comparison is a valid one, it is a deeply offensive and hurtful
one to make because the person at my door is reopening deep emotional scars
in order to win support for his cause (which may well be worthy) His ends
may be just, but his method is not only manipulative, it is deeply hurtful and
insensitive.

Now multiply the hurt and pain at the loss of my son by six million or so and
consider that instead of taking a lifetime to deal with my pain, it takes
generations. Then you might understand the chasm of pain and hurt you reopen
and aggravate whenever you use the Holocaust to advance your cause. Even if the
comparison is a worthy one, it is deeply offensive, hurtful, painful and
frankly exploitative of the pain still felt by millions to make that comparison
and indeed use that comparison for your own ends.
>

>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish