Partisan journalism
Was it merely coincidence that the Democrat (4/27, p. 1) chose the secretary of the Democratic Party chairperson to honor as "secretary of the year"? Could the fact that the Democrat's publisher is a former county Democratic chairperson, still active in partisan politics, have influenced the selection? , Callicoon, NY, 05-04-1990
Your caption failed to note that there are hundreds of working secretaries in the county who could just as well have had their pictures featured at the top of the front page.
This is journalism?
CARMEN & TOM RUE
Monticello
The Sullivan County Democrat
Other holocausts
In a leter headed "A misuse of the word 'holocaust'" (8/25), Bebe Holtzman of Monticello was right to the extent of correcting so-called right-to-lifers' abuse of the English language in support of their particular patriarchal/political objectives. , Middletown, NY, 09-12-1990
However, to claim that the only holocause or genocide ever to have occurred was the crims perpetrated by the Nazis is equally fallacious. There are few examples in human history with which to compare Hitler's destructive scope, but such examples exist.
Other massive crimes against humanity have included nearly successful genocides of the native peoples of America and western Europe.
Vast tribes of native Americans were systematically wiped off the face of this continent by my own white ancestors (if not personally then by assent). Whole families were massacred by the U.S. government and by lawless vigilantes, without fear of any law. There can be no excusing this, and to deny it would be like a modern German denying what occurred at Auschwitz. If this is not genocide, then the word has no meaning.
Another example of a holocaust is that which has come to be known as the Spanish Inquisition. In the comtemporary pagan community, these dark ages are recalled as the Burning Times, when witches and Christian heretics were hanged or burned at the stake with equal frenzy. Modern counts place the number of those accused as witches, who were painfully executed in the name of Jesus, at nine million. The purpose of the Inquisition was to root out, torture and put to death those who worshipped the ancient goddesses and godes who pre-dated Yahweh and put them to death. Hitler's evil was but an echo of this.
"Holocause" is defined in an 1857 edition of Webster's dictionary: "A burnt sacrifice or offering, the wole of which was consumed by fire; a species of sacrifice in use among the Jews and some pagan nations." The word describes the butchery of the the nine million witches and others killed during the Christianization of Europe as accurately as it does the six million Jews slaughtered by Hitler.
The numbers are not what is particularly significant. The intent in all three instances was to murder entire people or religions. Fortunately, in none of these instances were the forces of drakness entirely successful.
Perhaps a Zionist reader or two may suspect me of anti-Semitism. If so, their ethnocentric tunnel vision prevents them from understanding. Some of my own Jewish ancestors immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the century, only to be killed defending their homeland. The legs of my great-great grandmother were blown off by a British bomb; she found her resting place in a grave outside Damascus. By their own fortune and good luck, Jewish members of my family found themselves either in America or Palestine during Hitler's indumbency and were safe from the gases. I am not denying the holocause, simply placing it in proper perspective.
Such crimes have happened before in the world. Human nature is such that it is capable of sinking to foul depths, even as we are equally capable of great service and sacrifice.
It is up to those of us who remain to do all in our power to ensure a holocaust never happens again. We can do this only by not forgetting those who have gone before.
THOMAS S. RUE
Monticello
The Times Herald-Record
03-24-1998
