A new book, The Third Reich and the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses, examines American academics’ response to the rise of Nazism, specifically noting that many “maintained amicable relations with the Third Reich” until after (sometimes well after) Kristallnacht, in 1938.
Over at The Volokh Conspiracy, David Bernstein makes a provocative point about that subject:
While Germany from 1933 through 1938 treated Jews very badly, it wasn’t until Kristallnacht that one could say that Germany was more vicious in its treatment of minorities than, say, Mississippi. American universities certainly weren’t boycotting Mississippi, so it strikes me as an obvious issue of hindsight bias to argue that American universities that were exceedingly tolerant of domestic racism should be specifically excoriated for paying little attention to foreign anti-Semitism, just because in historical retrospect we know that German anti-Semitism led to the Holocaust.
Without getting into an argument about whether one or the other was “more vicious,” I’d say that Bernstein doesn’t go far enough here. Many Americans put the German racism of the mid-1930s in a different category than the American racism of the same era not because of hindsight bias, but also because they don’t fully grasp, or haven’t fully come to terms with, just how brutal and horrific our country’s 20th century racial legacy actually is.
(I should note, by the way, that I’m not vouching for the rest of Bernstein’s post. I strongly disagree with parts of his arguments about Spanish fascism and American Stalinism, but that’s another topic for another time.)
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June 21, 2009 at 10:47 am
David
Most Americans don’t even realized the 21st century discrimination is still wielded against minorities in more subtle ways but nonetheless with ultimately vicious and horrific outcomes. Many understand that the KKK spews hatred, even though they have a right to exist. We can discount or ignore or say our minds against their beliefs and propaganda. We look and feel honorable for doing so.
However, fundamentalist religious groups spew the same kind of hate but under cover of “religious righteousness” and God. Per the 1st Bush Administration, there are an alarming number of gay and straight youth that successfully commit suicide each year (in percentages that outnumber averages). They are bullied is outreaching ways by church doctrine that reduces gays, bisexuals, and the numerous curious to demons banished to hell. And they engage in more overt public domain activities to constantly assault gays in denying them equal rights and peaceful lives. Curiously gays pay taxes but the church does not .. therefor, they should remain silent on these issues outside of their 4 walls. But, we know that they don’t, quite the opposite.
So you don’t have to look to Mississippi’s past to find vile and unchecked discrimination to match that of the increasing popularity of the Nazi movement. You can look at the fundamentalist church on your nearby street corner in Anytown, USA. They do enough societal harm to last us for eternity.
Why is it more “sexy” to publish and talk about Nazis and avoid the horrors of religion. We know that ignoring discrimination in one area only gives tacit approval in others … lending to a “cafeteria-style” approach to picking and choosing your own discrimnations to follow. Until we tackle discrimination in a more complete way, we will always give it permission to exist and propagate.