During the Holocaust, racist propaganda distributed by Joseph Goebbels and others portrayed all Jews as greedy money hoarders. They were identified in the propaganda by certain physical characteristics such as large noses. One poster accused Jews, Democrats, Marxists, Jesuits and Free Masons of ruining the economy.
I was eerily reminded of this poster during Ann Coulter's speech at the MSE Symposium last Thursday night.
Apparently, World War Two is a topic Coulter feels defines the moral and foreign policies of Germany and France. She made several references to the Holocaust throughout her talk which included: "France is opposed to liberating Iraq. Liberating Nazi concentration camps wasn't high on their priority list either," and "I'm not sure I grasped the argument of why we need Germany's moral authority," implying that the German government was still the same racist dictatorship that persecuted the Jews and many others.
She even went as far as to label one of her critics a Nazi supporter when he called her a Fascist and yelled at her to stop criticizing France and Germany.
It would seem from these comments that Coulter strongly condemns Germany and Frances' actions to their own people during World War Two, and specifically their actions regarding the gassing of millions of Jews and others. Consequently, one might assume from her comments that Coulter is against the persecuting and discriminating of a country's citizens for their religion or race.
However, her subsequent comments proved otherwise. In a statement reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda mentioned above, Coulter spoke of how the liberals in the US opposed to the war are traitors and should be sent to Guantanomo Bay. According to the human rights organization Amnesty International, those detained at Guantanomo Bay "have been held for well over a year in conditions the totality of which may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of international law ... Most are held in tiny cells for up to 24 hours a day ... "
Coulter suggested that all dissenters to the Government should be displaced from their homes and sent to live in a camp in which they will have to live under inhumane conditions ... does this ring a bell yet?
She also mentioned the importance of racial profiling in preventing future terrorist attacks against America. Coulter focused on how airport security should target "swarthy" and "Muslim" men for searches at airports because they are the most likely terrorists. This is disturbing in two ways: First, because she generalizes that people of a certain religion, in this case Islam, the world's largest religion, all have a similar "swarthy" appearance. And secondly, because she encourages airport security to treat those with a "swarthy" or "middle eastern" appearance differently from all others.
In addition, Coulter is quoted in the National Review Online on September 13, 2001 as saying "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." This statement seems to imply that Christianity is a superior religion to Islam and that the US has the right to invade other countries to spread its own ideology.
Coulter's insistence on stereotyping all terrorists as being of a certain religion and race is extremely reminiscent of Goebbel's anti-Jewish propaganda. Her anti-liberal comments stink of Goebbel's hate filled statements regarding all those who opposed the Nazi regime. Having visited concentration camps in Poland including Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka and seen firsthand the results of extreme racial stereotyping, it is offensive and hypocritical that Ann Coulter use the Holocaust as an instrument through which to bash the governments of Germany and France. Who is she to insult the morality of Germany and France during World War II when she herself seems to be espousing similar, if less extreme, ideology?
Malka Jampol is a sophomore from Waban, Mass.
