A Tennessee school board’s controversial decision to ban a beloved Holocaust novel has many – including the author – fuming.
On January 10th, The McGinn County School Board voted unanimously to ban ‘Maus’ from its eighth grade Holocaust curriculum, arguing that the Pulitzer winner’s frank depictions of the horrors of the Holocaust (in cartoon mouse form) is ‘unnecessary’ to teach history.
The graphic novel, written by Art Spiegelman, tells the true story of Spiegelman’s parents’ experiences as Polish Jews during the Holocaust, including their internment in Auschwitz. It depicts Nazis as cats and Jews as mice.
The ban spurned nationwide outrage and vaulted the 40-year-old graphic novel to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list, with many hoping to check out the novel for themselves - or donate a copy to students in McGinn County.
When it comes to teaching the horrors of war, ethnic cleansing, and religious persecution, is it necessary to show the full breadth of what happened?
Or can we sanitize history and come away with the same message?
Is This Protecting the Children?
“The McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the graphic novel Maus from McMinn County Schools because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide. Taken as a whole, the Board felt this work was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools,” read a public statement from the school board.
The meeting minutes from January 10th show a lively debate amongst school board members, who heard from the very language arts teachers who were using the book to educate students about the holocaust. Before agreeing to ban the text completely, board members discussed possibly censoring the book by blotting out the objectionable words and the cartoon mouse nudity.
Eventually, they landed on a full-blown ban.
“It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff, it is not wise or healthy,” said board member Tony Allman. Board member Mike Cochran concurred.
Pointing to the nudity, swear words, and depiction of suicide, he stated that “we don’t need this stuff to teach kids history. We can teach them history and we can teach them graphic history. We can tell them exactly what happened, but we don’t need all the nakedness and all the other stuff.”
He specifically objected to the use of the word ‘damn’, as well as a depiction of the author’s mother’s suicide. “It starts out with the dad and the son talking about when the dad lost his virginity. It wasn’t explicit but it was in there. You see the naked pictures, you see the razor, the blade where the mom is cutting herself. You see her laying in a pool of her own blood,” he stated.
“It looks like the entire curriculum is developed to normalize sexuality, normalize nudity and normalize vulgar language. If I was trying to indoctrinate somebody’s kids, this is how I would do it.”
Or Is This "Autocracy and Fascism" at Work?
“A harbinger of things to come,” was the reaction of Maus author Art Spiegelman. “This is a red alert. It’s not just: ‘How dare they deny the Holocaust?’ They’ll deny anything.”
In an interview with CNN, Spiegelman expressed his initial confusion over the ban and the school board’s “myopic” focus on brief language and nudity, believing that they’re missing the forest for the trees.
Addressing one of the board’s major complaints – an overhead panel of Spiegelman’s nude mother in a bathtub after having cut her wrists – he stated that “you have to really, like, want to get your sexual kicks by projecting on it.”
But, he believes, this may go beyond simple objections to language and nudity. He believes “it has the breath of autocracy and fascism,” and, noting other recent book bans at schools and libraries across the country, he says this may be part of an attempt to control “what people can learn, what they can understand and think about.”
The ban launched the decades-old book to the top of the bestseller list – “The Complete Maus” in hardcover, as well as the paperback editions of “Maus I” and “Maus II” all hit the Amazon top 10 bestsellers in January.
What do you think? Was the school board right to ban a book that has nudity, suicide, and bad language in it, regardless of context? Can we still get the same message when all the 'naughty' bits are purged?
Or is sanitizing history – particularly the Holocaust – a dangerous road to go down?
96 comments
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Tom
It is clearly censorship!
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William J Comeau
So, let me get this straight. A "cartoon" with nude images that are not graphic in any way (showing the actual private parts) is bad, but sex education with "actual" naked parts is good? Are they too young when their video games, regular graphic novels, movies, videos, and other things they are exposed to on a daily basis show so much more? I think we all know the answer to that question. My opinion is the book should be left in the curriculum "as is" as it will give the students a very clear image of the atrocities that occurred. I don't believe for one second that a description of the events will be as informative or actual then what is revealed in this book. If so, then why are they arguing against the book if they can teach the subject as graphic as the novel? What is next? Shall they ban other novels such as "Of Mice and Men", "Tom Sawyer", "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? I would like to know how many actual students complained about this book. Or is this just another overreaching school board trying to censor our History?
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Minister Deidre
I agree to teaching the full scope of ugly points in history. But can we teach 14 year olds the full truth about the Holocaust without nudity and people lying in pools of blood? They're barely old enough to see PG-13 movies. I feel like they can read about the entire story without seeing the nudity and the graphic pictures of death. When I was that age, we saw the pictures of the emaciated people in the concentration camps, but fully clothed. It still made the impact. To this day, I remember the look of fear in a little girl's eyes in one of the pictures. I also remember us reading the Diary of Anne Frank, and learning that she was our age when she was sent to die, and how that felt. You can have an impact if you teach it the right way.
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Minister Deidre
I agree to teaching the full scope of ugly points in history. But can we teach 14 year olds the full truth about the Holocaust without nudity and people lying in pools of blood? They're barely old enough to see PG-13 movies. I feel like they can read about the entire story without seeing the nudity and the graphic pictures of death. When I was that age, we saw the pictures of the emaciated people in the concentration camps, but fully clothed. It still made the impact. To this day, I remember the look of fear in a little girl's eyes in one of the pictures. I also remember us reading the Diary of Anne Frank, and learning that she was our age when she was sent to die, and how that felt. You can have an impact if you teach it the right way.
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Alice Anderson
I do not believe it is protecting the children. It's hiding the truth. It is a part of history and should be told. School curriculum has changed since I was in school. The old history should still be taught.
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Alexandra
I believe that with all dramatic events I history, the most important thing is that people , especially children, learn how to identify dangerous political and social patterns of inciting fear, exclusion, violation of constitutional rights, censorship and the need of a strong civil society using a critical mind, empathy and strong intuition: Just showing dramatic details of a genocide or tragic event in society is just not enough.
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Father Frederick
Censorship takes many forms. Sometimes in the removal of text, other times with the addition of text. And in adding the focus, meanings, or subject matter can be convoluted so the readers of history take in a whole new thought. In short, any altering of original words which change context is censoring of historical record.
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Carrie Angel
Never shall we forget the mistakes mankind has made..If we do not show and teach our children the mistakes and right from wrong then they will be condemned to repeat them..
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Johan Nilsson
Even in the dephts of despair,a person can soar to heights of greatness. Feel the love.
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Lisa Rose Morton
Not only was the. McMinnville school board denying the Holocaust, but denying murder by evil people, denying suicide by people with severe PTSD fom witnessing such horrid events. Denying nudity (a surprise they have children) I am sure their children watch the news with them seeing mass murders in schools and everywhere. They have probably heard that more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide than the number of soldiers who have died in that war from PTSD. Not to mention what many 8th graders sometimes do in their spare time...nude magazines with people instead of nude mice. Or bullying other kids unmercifuly online or with gossip. Perhaps parents could see how very much there is to learn about evil behavior from an innocent book about true events...
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David A Griffith
John D Partin. You contradict yourself by stating, "...and don't follow the Bible anymore than you do, except some twisted "interpretation" of it." Earlier you stated they don't follow the Bible and here you write they do follow the Bible. Whether it is twisted or not is open to interpretation and they are still following the Bible.
As for the comments about Christians being evil. We make our comments based on what we see and hear. The noises group of Christians are the ones that seem to hate a lot more than love, the idea of evil is surely applied to those people. I know there are good Christians, but until they speak up and confront the evils Christians that is what I know so that is what I say to others. Christianity is a religion of hate.
What religious group is burins the books, Christians. What religious group wants to get rid of all non-white people from the USA, Christians. What religious group is a major backer of former President Trump and his bigoted ways, Christians. And I can go on.
Dr Griffith
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John D. Partin
David A. Griffith, a twisted interpretation of the Bible or any other book to suit oneself isn't actually the reality of that book or following that book because people can't twist any book to suit themselves and still be talking about that book or really following it. If somebody twisted Mein Kampf in their deluded "interpretation" into a "pro-Jewish book that advocated loving and helping Jews, and condemning all violence against and killing of Jews" or The Communist Manifesto into "a pro-Capitalist book that denounced Communism" or any other book into saying the exact opposite of what it actually says, even you would see and admit that they had misinterpreted and twisted that book to suit himself or herself. Likewise, the Bible's essential and heart message of love and forgiveness can't be misinterpreted and twisted into "a message of hate" to suit anyone's agenda and prejudices without their also proving that they have misunderstood, misinterpreted, and twisted the Bible. Nobody in the Bible or outside of it speaks for God if he doesn't agree with God, and God couldn't be telling people to love one another as I have loved you and do unto others as you would have others do unto you and by this will all men know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another, and then turn right around and tell them to go out and kill other people or torture them or persecute them. That is a contradiction! So, since the true teaching about God in the Bible says that "God is love" and telling people to kill, torture, or persecute other people isn't love, all honest people can tell that those hateful teachings in the Bible didn't come from God, but only from men putting their words into God's mouth in order to "make God agree with them" and "justify" and "sanctify" themselves and get people to agree with them, while the dishonest people (which I hope isn't you!) will go on saying that "God is saying anything that is put into His mouth"! Nobody is Christian just by calling theirself "Christian", but only by agreeing with Jesus' definition of what a Christian is and doing what Jesus said to do, which is loving one another, not burning books or burning people or supporting incompetent and rotten-hearted "leaders" such as Trumpelstiltskin or, in any other way, making up "Christianity" to suit himself!! Anyone can say "I'm a Christian" or "I believe in God", since words alone are easily said and cheap, without corresponding actions to accompany those words and back them up. Actions still speak much louder than words!! If you seriously believe that anyone is "Christian" just because they say that they are without their showing the love that a true Christian shows and the fruits of repentance and godliness, I have some "prime Florida real estate" and a bridge that I would like very much to interest you in, since anyone who would fall for that would fall for anything at all and is very gullible!! Jesus himself said that people aren't His followers in reality just by saying that they are. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and do many wonderful works in your name?' Then, I will tell them, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you". And "The road to destruction is broad, and many there are that travel down it, but the road to life is narrow, and few there are who find it". The road to life couldn't be only found by a few and narrow if everyone calling himself a "Christian" actually were one, since there are billions of people making that claim, which isn't a small group, and the road to destruction couldn't be broad and many traveling down it without a great multitude of people calling themselves "Christians" being among those many people on that road! Jesus also said "Judge not by the appearance, but judge a righteous judgment" or Don't judge a book by it's cover or people just by what they say about themselves, but judge righteously and insist on correspondence between their alleged "faith in Christianity" and what they actually do!! I hope that you won't continue to let hatred of all Christians for the actions of those false "Christians", since you admit that there are good Christians, make you go on condemning Christianity as a "religion of hate", which is bigotry, or blind you to the truth and love, and that this has cleared this matter up for you!! We do try to fight against hateful "Christians", but even Jesus didn't have much success with the hateful and rotten-hearted religious leaders and people of His time. Evil people always talk louder and act out more than good people. God bless you and keep you!!
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David A Griffith
John D Partin. You contradict yourself by stating, "...and don't follow the Bible anymore than you do, except some twisted "interpretation" of it." Earlier you stated they don't follow the Bible and here you write they do follow the Bible. Whether it is twisted or not is open to interpretation and they are still following the Bible.
As for the comments about Christians being evil. We make our comments based on what we see and hear. The noises group of Christians are the ones that seem to hate a lot more than love, the idea of evil is surely applied to those people. I know there are good Christians, but until they speak up and confront the evils Christians that is what I know so that is what I say to others. Christianity is a religion of hate.
What religious group is burins the books, Christians. What religious group wants to get rid of all non-white people from the USA, Christians. What religious group is a major backer of former President Trump and his bigoted ways, Christians. And I can go on.
Dr Griffith
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Siusan O'Rourke
Im not a book banner but I am a parent and I do think there should always be a "governor" in place when presenting material to children that is age appropriate. I think the free for all on what our kids see and read and watch is contributing to alot of the issues we see as they grow into young adults. I grew up in the 60s in Brooklyn. I had neighbors that had number tattoos.. I learned early what those numbers meant.. I was given a cope Ann Frank to read in school and I can remember the horror of it. I dont know if you need to Graphically put our children in the moment of war atrocities to teach them the horror of it.
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Darren Richard Slaviero
Tearing down statues, banning/burning books, etc. I don't know what exactly is going on in this post 2020 world we are all experiencing, but as long as any of us as individuals stand idly by and allow people keep erasing our history with destruction and censorship then we will be damning ourselves with the crime of robbing the next generation. Robbing them of the tools they will need from the lessons that we have learned but failed to teach them to successfully navigate through their own life, down their own positive and rewarding existence. How will your children have intelligent, righteous and powerful minds, if your too afraid to open yours?
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George Pitagorsky
The ban of Maus is yet another instance of ignorance at work. An attempt at hiding children from the evils of the past, whether the Holocaust or the horror of slavery, instead of using those horros to teach love,
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Cindy
This is absolute censorship. This is why we have the Nuremburg Code and this history should not be changed or censored as other history has been. This is a very grave time in history with many valuable lessons. Censoring this is pretending it didn't happen and is another step in making crimes against humanity "OK". Enough censorship! "Freedom of Speech" doesn't have "if and buts".
"Freedom, properly experienced by free citizens, is not meted out by bureaucrats in increments as a conditional reward for compliance. That's what prison is."
'author unknown'
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Cathy Jo Lilienthal
Why is nudity a bad thing? Do they not know the violence that kids view on their screens? War and its inherent atrocities should be taught not glorified as patrioric... IMHO
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Amber Fry
How the heck do you teach history if you keep banning things that explain certain points in history? Definitely Autocracy and Fascism at work. If not stopped, book banning and book burning leads to people burning. This is stepping away from the greatness this country could still achieve.
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Stephanie A Willey
Banning books, burning books, persecuting defined social classes (gays, trans, blacks, Jews ...), is the historically fundamental act of Dominionism and Fascism.
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Gwendolyn Siobhan Patton
They didn't ban the book. They took it off their required reading list. It's still in their library and students can check it out and read it all they want. They just aren't making the book part of any class assignments or required reading.
Before you start screaming about book banning, maybe take a bit to verify that the book actually was banned? I've checked, and what I'm seeing is that the book was "removed from the curriculum". That means only that it isn't being used in any class assignments or required reading. It's still in their library!
This is the other side of the club from the CRT issue. In that case, the schools said that CRT was "not part of the curriculum". But it was still being taught unofficially. It wasn't the subject of a specific unit or assignment, but was still part of the methodology used to teach OTHER assignments. Something being part of the curriculum is an "official" use. That thing still can be present, just not explicitly taught as a classroom assignment or lesson plan.
In the case of Maus, it isn't in the curriculum, but kids are not being denied the book. It's in the school library, and they can read it electively.
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Cathy Jo Lilienthal
Thank you for the clarification.
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Rev John
“Libraries should be open to all-except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.” John F. Kennedy, Oct. 29, 1960
PS the great library of Alexandria was burned by Christian fanatics not Any Roman Emporer
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Angelica Maria Garcia
All they did was bring more attention to the book. No kids and adults will buy the electronic version or go to Barnes and noble or Amazon and buy it. Bet if they would have left it on the shelf- it probably wouldn’t have gotten as much attention as it did. Banning anything with the internet and um our own hard earned money to buy it if we want- is just ignorance and wishful thinking. Not to mention a waste of tax payer money- seriously we don’t have bigger problems then a book?
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Angela Maria Gaviria
The correct spelling is than...NOT then. I guess you need to read more books then.
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Paul Seldes
to not teach the lessons of the holocaust only keeps hate alive. I learned about the holocaust in grade school. We had teachers, store owners, neighbors, and friend's grandparents that bore the concentration camp numbers on their arms. It was a living lesson. We need to keep being repulsed by such acts. NEVER FORGET.
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Colin Charles Tierney
Don't they realize what is available to these kids through their computers and phones?
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Rev Ned
First books, then people.
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Eric James Hudnall
I've read it and have a copy. If your kid is getting off on the "naughty" picture and swear words in this book you got a lot bigger problems with your kid than access to this book. The world can be a mean place, but we can't fix it if we don't know where it's broken.
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AnnaMarie Ingrassia
it is an atrocity for them to ban ANY book. I haven't heard them ban Mien Kopf. History will repeat itself as long as the older generations dumb their children and grandchildren down. ALL history is knowledge...it is what theoretically sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Our grandparents and parents fought against this fascism, liberated what victims were left alive during the ww2 holocaust ...and WON that war. Now, it is raising its ugly head again and should be put back to sleep before it can really burn. Parents are very confused today...they want schools to teach their kids everything there is to learn. Their roll as parents fall short. THEY are supposed to also teach their children. Fundamentals of survival, family, morals, kindness, compassion, empathy, etc... and these people claim to be "christians". They have all the marks and sounds of the Anti-Christ.
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Echo
It's uncomfortable history. Should it be taught to young children, probably not. But to 7th graders, sure. Maturity levels have risen and are able to learn of our not so sugary history.
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Storm Anthoni Shapley
It is time we raise our heads and walk with the light. We can no longer be passive or complacent during these times. The devil and his allies are a foot. Our passiveness will only be seen as complicity. We must preach unity, truth and correct these evils. We must be shepherds. All chains can be broken. We must love as Jesus loved as a father loves their sons and daughters. Rise my brothers and sisters. Defend the faith!!!
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Carl G Foley
We can talk about supposed races all day long, no matter what skin tone we have, no matter what hair type we have we are of One race the human race created by the almighty God. Categorically there are three races in the world mongoloid of the Asian realm noted by facial and genetic differences number two negroid noted by differences in genetic coating skin tone hair textures and number three Caucasoid noted by hair textures and colors different versions of skin tone also but there is only one human race brought into being by God. Now there are plenty of ethnic groups deemed by their places of different countries of where they're from after they came to be. but you don't say the Catholic race because Catholicism is a religion, Buddhism religion, Hinduism religion, Judaism religion, Protestants religion, Episcopalians religion. the problem is we put too many labels on everything the way we want them to be not the way God meant them to be, We are One the human race. One of the greatest freedoms granted to us by God was free will what we do with it is totally up to us. whether we use it for good or evil it is on man's shoulders. Too many times we blame God for everything that goes wrong, when all we have to do is say I'm here bring it on you have blessed me and I can carry on anything I am strong with you without you I am weak and undeserving. God never abandons us no matter what, we abandon him. All too many times man turns away from the truth, they hide their heads in the sand because they think, if they don't see they don't hear it didn't exist. The major problem is every time we disagree with something, we rewrite something just like the Bible has been rewritten hundreds of times to suit each new king each new version each new group go back to the Mesopotamian and the Babylonian era go back to the Hebrew Bible the early Greek bible one of the first translations from Hebrew and you will find a Bible far different from the 1611 King James version. But people do need to read the passage in Revelations do not add to nor take from these words written, but as usual man alters everything to suit himself he doesn't like a word so he changes it he doesn't like a phrase so he changes it everyone needs to take a step back and visit with God don't visit with false prophets don't visit with somebody on a television making millions driving the best flying the best cruising in the past living in the past gathering funds so that he can support his expensive lifestyles pick up a Bible and read it for yourself the older the better contact someone of a different faith sit down have coffee with them discuss the differences learn their religion as they learn yours compare the two different versions of God's word learn for yourself quit taking everything for granted just because some printing company put it in writing because some English king said this is what I want my people to read, it will enlighten you and maybe you just might wake up and learn a few things about free will.
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William J Lewis
Banning a Pulitzer Prise Novel just shows how far out of ltouch with reality those folks, and for that matter anyone that agrees with the ban, are out of touch with reality. If your faith is so weak as to be threatened by any book, You have no faith at all anyway.
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Linda Jean Paul
I think 14 year olds can handle drawings of mice who are not wearing clothes. The mice are not even anatomically correct. The folks on that Tenessee school board, in my opinion, are either stupid or feigning concern "for the children." Kids at 14 are old enough to see actual pictures of the Holocaust.
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Gary Richard Noce
It's worse than censorship, it's blatant bigotry and hate. Stop the hate stop the lies.
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Dorothy E. Cogswell
It's not only censorship it's nazism
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Renita Rae Marshall
Children have access to the internet - but books are the problem!?!?
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Helen Claire -Estelle Nance
IRONICALLY the Nat.Soc.Party /NAZI pulled its Racial social blueprint and playbook from the U.S.A..... t
they studied our Black Codes ...!! and ....Jim Crow laws ..!! and found them helpful and applied and adapted many /most Apartheid/JIMCROW laws...!!!
however, they found [ miscegenation laws-Laws] TOO RESTRICTIVE / and /or ridiculous as many Jewish people were [Married] into many German families...!!!!!
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Ilmenheru Terikson
Actually Germany was following the same tactics all of western Europe had been practicing on the world for centuries( and not so ironically the exact same thing the Hebrew faith celebrates Moses and his followers doing to those who worshiped the Golden Calf). The only reason it seems so much worse under the Nazi is they did it to their fellow Europeans and did so with all the advantages of modern industrialization to make mass murder reach all new heights.
If you want better detailed info check out the channel Chill Goblin on youtube. He has some great content on the topic.
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Helen Claire -Estelle Nance
Read how the Nazi sent observers to study the JIM CROW LAWS... look it up!!!!!! its accessible!!!!
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Truebluebethy
??? Ilmenheru Terikson It is heresy to say that the "ONLY reason it seems so much worse under the Nazi is they did...so with all the advantages of modern industrialization to make mass murder reach all new heights." If the golden calf is more than proverb, then what happened was God's work, not human torture against another human.
I would also like to point out that that I am saddened by the vulgar statements I read on this site. People who are supposed to be both spiritual and religious representatives of our community, stoop to slander one another with pithy, lower self commentary. Please take a adultlike, responsible approach to your interactions vs. the slanderous tones I read.
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Reverend Gary
The Bible tells us that,
“a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
Stand back, all of you, and take a look at the divisiveness all these blogs on U L C are creating! Is this even remotely what we are about? Do any of your want to be remembered by the divisiveness, the anger, the hate you help create at the direction of the leader of U L C?
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Ilmenheru Terikson
Gary, quit being such a Gary! The ULC is not an insular evangelical white nationalist church like you seem to be looking for. The bible is just a book, and one that is only followed by those who are in fact the most evil of humankind. You are the evil that needs to be removed from society and civilization.
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John D. Partin
Ilmenheru Terikson, when did Bible followers become "the most evil of humankind" and "need to be removed from society and civilization", and take that title and need away from the Nazis and the Communists, who have together killed, oppressed, and tortured many more millions of people than any Christians ever even thought about doing? Most other people and I have always thought that those guys were the most evil of humankind and need to be removed from society and civilization. And they weren't Bible followers. So when did a few atrocities, comparatively, committed by a few Christians overwhelm all of these far greater number of atrocities and make those far greater evil doers "lose their title"? Serial killers, pedophiles, white slavers, and white racists and lynchers of black people and burners and bombers of black churches and excluders of black people from restaurants (except in black sections) and hotels were and are certainly far more evil people than Christians are, and don't follow the Bible anymore than you do, except some twisted "interpretation" of it. So, on what do you base your claim that "Christians and Bible followers are the most evil people"? Also, all Christian churches aren't evangelical and certainly not white nationalist, but are welcoming to and supportive of all people. So, what do you base that claim of "evangelical and white nationalist" to characterize Christian churches on?
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Jamie Erickson56
Keith, Lionheart is addressing the subject.
Ilmenheru Terikson you are too harsh. People who follow the bible are not the most evil. Please rethink your thoughts before you post.
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Mark Hannon
There really is a whole lot of ugly in history. My father didn't show me the photos he took from his service in WWII. I found them in the scrapbook I got when my mother gave it to me a few years after he died. He was there when camps were opened. I'm still a little shocked to see them.
I think we should be thankful that our children live to adulthood because that was a rarity in the not so distant past.
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AnnaMarie Ingrassia
God bless you father and his valor and memory. What he fought against and what he fought to preserve is precisely what I try to enlighten people of. History , unfortunately, dies quicker than we know. It is not even a century and many have been trying to bury the Holocaust for decades already...some even have an adamant belief that it is all made up. Your grandfather has my undying gratitude.
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Nicholas J Page
The Jewish community are always being bullied By black or white people.Watch the. Film Schindler's list.We all need to know the facts what happened to these poor people in Auswich a very moving movie.Also I don't think that children of today are not shielded from nudity or swearing it's part of modern day life.Hitler who was born in Austria hated the Jews and persecuted them for what reason It's just like modern terrorism they don't care who the kids ll Men,Women, Children
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Daniel Gray
they are not denying the holocaust they are just saying that it should be treated more respectfully then comparing Jews to rats. And isnt it funny how when some people dont get their way, they cry Fascism. Unless they have actually fought against a facist government like our people did in WW2 and Korea and Vietnam and the Middle East, then they need to keep their mouths shut as unless you have dealt with these kinds of government your childish insults are just that. So whats next are they going to whine and cry about having to have their diapers changed?
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John D. Partin
CHL, doesn't your "Jewish friend" (yourself!) much more intensely want to know if Mein Kampf has been banned, since any genocide that Israelites wrongly conducted against other people, against the will of God, in the Old Testament pales to insignificance compared to the six million Jews and millions of other people that the Nazis killed?!! Or if The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital have been banned, since they led to the Soviet Union, which killed many more millions of people than the Nazis did? If you are against a book because it mentions or leads to genocide and want it banned, why not be against these books, and want them banned, instead of only laser focusing on the Bible and forgetting about the genocide, misery, and destruction caused by these other books and giving them a pass?!!
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Any ULC clergy person, who doesn’t remember what Orwell’s 1984 was all about; and knows little or nothing about Chamberlain at Munich, must be a MAGA’er.
The less one knows, about anything that happens out of one’s tribe (AKA, church) the greater the likelihood that one is attracted to fascism (as per the current makeup of the GOP’s leadership)
The Christian concept of the Christian Heaven, has a White Christian Nationalist God, and his son (who’s also a White nationalist fascist) and a Holy Ghost (ditto, God and Jesus) ruling Heaven in a dictatorial fashion, practicing Communistic/socialism, and only angels having guns to deal with any Trump style efforts to remove the Christian God from his throne in Heaven.
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Lionheart
The church seems to love white. Catholic leadership seem to love white and gold. Possibly the richest church on earth. I’m sure their god is very pleased with them. Mormon Temples are white. Religious candles are white. Jesus (if he was real) is often depicted wearing white. The Bible references a “white light”, but then again, how could it be a dark light 🤭. I wonder if the god(s) favour white? If gods, and creation are real, should they have made black snow 🤔. Just some stupid comments to “lighten” our day. 🤗
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Sally Jeanne Altobello
Only the white man made God and Jesus white. I've been to Nazareth, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and, trust me, Jesus was brown, neither white nor black, but definitely dark complected. The only white people in Israel are white people who immigrated there.
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Lionheart
But when you went to those places did you by any chance happen to get a sneaky peak at any God to determine if it was not only real, but black, white, or brown?
If it exists, could it be blue like Lord Krishna? 🤪
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Alicia Szot
The TDS is strong in you. Congratulations on finding a way to bring up Trump and MAGA for something that has nothing to do with him or his supporters.
See help for your obsessive hate.
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Tom Thackrey
The good news is that this stupid ban has renewed interest in Maus. It's sales are up, people are talking about it, kids are reading it. Not the effect the school board had in mind.
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ether_ore
It never is. This type of thing NEVER works as intended. You would think people would learn.
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Alan Meunier
"Streisand Effect"
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Animal Farm….
The school board objects to kids seeing naked cartoon bodies? I would sure like to know how these kids are taught sex education?
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David Arthur Lewis
FYI - "Sex Ed" has not been taught in the US since the '90s. That's why there are so many abortions and single moms. Nowadays they teach "Health and Wellness" and the promotion of abstinence replaces education. (retired teacher here).
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@David Arthur Lewis
Interesting...What state are you in? I'm in California where we have AB 329. The law requires all students in grades seven through twelve receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education at least once in middle school and once in high school.I've seen research on the abstinence program and from what I've seen the abstinence programs result in far more pregnancies if compared to not teaching abstinence.
Where you taught, do the students apply what they learned?
Compare that to what goes on in Europe where high school kids have co-ed sleep overs all the time. And with all of that sex, they have a lower unexpected pregnancy rate.
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Alicia Szot
But it IS necessary to teach THIS PARTICULAR history! It was a disgusting point in history, yet some people still "glorify" the Nazi regime. White supremacists still think it's OK to hate based solely on the color of one's skin. Anti-Semites still think it's OK to hate based on religion/race. This has got to stop!
While we're at it, we need someone to write a graphic novel (I refuse to call something like "Maus" a "comic") about the horrors of slavery! So many people look at Gone With the Wind and think "Well....slavery wasn't so bad! They're living pretty well here." The least our schools can do is show Roots, which gives a much better understanding of what slavery was like. Learn from it.
We need to show the horrors so that things like the Holocaust and slavery never happen again! I don't think 8th grade is too young to learn about these things. Kids are 13 and are still forming their opinions on things. This is the perfect time to show how wrong this was.
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Diane Minna LaFave
Perhaps churches should teach about it and our American history about Black slavery and any other Peoples that have been put in slavery or slaughtered . This should be done with what's age appropriate . Education is good . It makes us aware of what can happen to us now. How we must protect ourselves and others from atrocities . Why we must stand up to get and keep our Freedom [ our Constitution and Bill of Rights ] . Don't live in fear but in Righteousness . Don't " go along to get along". The Jews did that not realizing what was to come . Education can open may minds. Be Godly Warriors !! And remember, GOD wins !!
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Cowboy
Churches should also teach about what really happened to our Native Americans. I agree with you on teaching our children about all these so that we might not repeat history.
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Jacob Ray Gunter
It seems like this is part of the trend of slowly, but surely erasing our history. It started with the best of intentions perhaps, but it’s a far cry from that now.
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Ealdormon Piparskeggr Robinson
My direct paternal great grandfather was born in a Lithuanian shtetl, in the town of Butrimonys. He was sent to America with a maternal side 1st cousin to join family at age 14 in 1886.
Very few of the family left the home village over the next 5 - 6 decades.
Every Jew in Butrimonys was murdered during WW2 by SS death squads and Lithuanian collaborators. It is one of the few such events where one of the Jews was able to write an account, and get it out to be preserved.
In response to this banning of "Maus," I ordered a copy.
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Rev Mark D
Toldja about Tennessee.
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Helen Claire -Estelle Nance
ARESSTED DEVELOPMENT SONG' IT WAS ALL DREAM ABT TENNESSEE'..........
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rebadams7
My question would be, is this simply being restricted from the junior high curriculum but available to the high school curriculum? Because something is not appropriate in one grade it might be extremely appropriate in another. As a precocious reader I had to have permission to read up several grades but I never felt it was censorship simply because those things were slated for a higher grade level. With the consent of my teachers and my parents I had no problem accessing the higher level books
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Robert James Ruhnke
I remember being in 2nd and 3rd grade when a speaker came to our elementary school talked to us about the Holocaust. He had gone and visited the remains of the death camps. This was in the mid 90’s. I think there ways to address atrocities whilst being age appropriate. I was in 6th grade when the towers fell, no teacher shielded us from the television. I live in a small town and thinking back am not surprised this occurred. We weren’t expected to be adults at that age, but nor were we shielded from the horrors of the world.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
It is totally stupid in my opinion to ban the book. But I have not seen i t or read it. I don't read comic book novels, that included "The Walking Dead". So, I can't really say since I truly have not read it. But, I think the truth should he told es explicitly as it happened.
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Sally Jeanne Altobello
I have, and have read, Maus I and Maus II. It was written bc the Art Spiegelman's father didn't want to talk about the Holocaust and the author found the story necessary when talking to his dad. It is NOT a comic book written for one's entertainment. It is a non-fiction book, a man's story; it is what happened to him in the concentration camps; it's just written in a different style. The Nazis are depicted as cats and the Jews, mice. (Get it?) It is also a Pulitzer Prize winner. You should read it.
Secondly, I did go to college and became a teacher. In our college classes, we were taught to NEVER give our students our personal opinions but rather let them discover and discuss different sides to each issue so that they could LEARN FOR THEMSELVES what and how they interpreted the issue. There was no indoctrination. If you found indoctrination to be the case in the college you attended, perhaps you attended the wrong one.
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Belmontst25
If the stories are true and given to 8th grade and above those young people need to know history as part of the world's history
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Clay Serenbetz
In modern times, Nazis were big on burning books. So was Ceasar, who burned invaluable historical sources at the library in Alexandria in 48 AD. Since parents want to determine whether their kids are vaccinated or wear masks, then they can also take responsibility for which books that their kids read. Any government interference in parental oversight is a undue restraint on freedom of speech. Finally, without knowledge, their children will face obstacles in life, starting with admission to college when their district is redlined by colleges because its students lack essential knowledge for the free exchange of ideas in college level studies. Do parents really want to hold their children back?
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Really. Free exchange of ideas in college. When did you go to college. Free exchange my ass. Today college is indoctrination, not free exchange of ideas.
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Clay Serenbetz
You are wrong. Did you go to college or University. If so, which one? Do you know that of which you speak?
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Helen Claire -Estelle Nance
First they came for my neighbor and then they came for me.......1st it was CRT..which was a badly veiled assault on Black history.. ..under the guise of CRT [ a law school Post Graduate course] ...earlier is was Latino history... then ....Holocaust studies .... and who will be next....!!
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Lionheart
Do we know if they also banned that book that referenced two daughters having sex with their dad, daughters that got their dad drunk to have sex with him, slavery, infanticide, and genocide? You know the one….the Bible. Just asking for a Jewish friend of mine.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Stick to the subject, not bring up another book. This is the problem of so many stupid Americans. Never stick to the subject
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Lionheart
Sorry Keith, I can see I shouldn’t have made reference to another comic with worse stories. 🙄
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John D. Partin
CHL, doesn't your "Jewish friend" (yourself!) much more intensely want to know if Mein Kampf has been banned, since any genocide that Israelites wrongly conducted against other people, against the will of God, in the Old Testament pales to insignificance compared to the six million Jews and millions of other people that the Nazis killed?!! Or if The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital have been banned, since they led to the Soviet Union, which killed many more millions of people than the Nazis did? If you are against a book because it mentions or leads to genocide and want it banned, why not be against these books, and want them banned, instead of only laser focusing on the Bible and forgetting about the genocide, misery, and destruction caused by these other books and giving them a pass?!!
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Prior to the Hebrew God, arranging (VIA, the Holy Ghost; with a little help from the Virgin Mary) to give birth to his one and only son, the Hebrew God was black — but because his son Jesus, was going to start a new religion — (Christianity) — the Hebrew God decided he’d become a Christian too, and in order to clearly separate the old Hebrew God, from the new Christian God, the new Christian God turned himself into a White guy.
Which is why, Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost, are all white.
Interestingly, the MAGA’ers, the GOP, and the KKK, all figured this out, and voted for Trump, so that Trump could bring “freedom of religion” to the USA.
A White Christian God, with only one son(who’s white) and a Holy Ghost (who’s also white) requires such freedom.
Those unable to accept this reality, are likely to be agents of Lucifer,
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Cheryl Pettijohn
Sorry William, Jesus wasn't white. Everyone I know knows this. I am a southern American white woman in her 60's. The Bible states clearly Jesus' race.
Do ignorant people deny this, of course. It's interesting your projecting what God decided to do, as if you alone know God's mind. And your prejudices are clear.
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Sally Jeanne Altobello
Guys, get over yourselves! Lionheart is just giving an example. The issue is do we revert to McCarthyism or Hitlerism by banning books bc someone is uncomfortable with it? Do we ban books that teach about truths bc we're uncomfortable with the truth? I hear talk about banning fairy tales bc they are full of lies. Well, they also teach kids, without preaching, that they have strengths and ingenuity and compassion. Can't let kids believe in Santa Clause bc he's a lie. Can't let kids dress up for Halloween bc that's paganism. Oh STOP! None of us have been injured in any way bc we "believed" in these things or had fun with them. Nor have we been harmed by learning truths. The Holocaust happened. Slavery happened. Apartheid happened--and happens still. How do we, as a world society, change what's wrong with this world if we keep hiding our heads in the sand, acting as though we are offended. Education took a turn to "critical thinking" for children in the early elementary grades. What? That only applies to math? Why not history?
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Vickie S. Rommel
Well said!
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Lionheart
Do we even know if Jesus was real, let alone white? Reading something that someone said back in the day doesn't make anything true. We have that problem even today with today's news in print. How much of todays news is factually true? To use your "The Bible states very clearly......" argument is like saying "CNN states very clearly.....", or Fox News states very clearly......"
We still don't have any testable evidence that your god, or any god, exists. Even all these supposed omnipotent beings that people like to believe in don't seem to be able to prove they exist.
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Jean Bakula
This banning of books that are true representations of history are truly scary. American children aren't getting the same quality of education that baby boomers were getting in their formative years. Everything is so dumbed down as it is. I hear news announcers calling something "Orwellian" as if they are so intelligent, when we read it in 8th grade. And it's the R party banning everything, then saying the D's are autocrats and socialists and communists. I don't even talk to some people anymore to avoid arguments. What next after book burnings? Witch trials?
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Lionheart
Suppressing of information is a terrible thing isn't it? Facebook, Twitter, CNN et al. Let's hope journalists can truly become journalists and not hide information to suit their own agenda, and let the people decide what is true or not.
Notice how CNN love to jump on the slightest thing about Trump, but crickets about Hillary, Biden, Pelosi et al. I'm not saying Trump is right, far from it, just pointing out the disparity.
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John P Maher
HEY DUSENBERRY ??? W T F ???
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Chris
These people don't want anyone to learn from history because they are determined to repeat it.
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James Riggle-Johnson
I believe some of them actually want to repeat it.
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Cheryl Pettijohn
I'd love to say your are exaggerating, but I am afraid you are not.
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Sally Jeanne Altobello
Or are afraid of losing their "superiority."
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Gwendolyn Lord
Head in the sand nonsense. Ignorant fear mongering suppression of truth.Pretend everything is unicorns ******** rainbows.
It's useless talking to you, but this is for other people who are still open to receiving and accepting evidence of God's existence. Design and synchronization in the universe are impossible without Somebody to design and synchronize them, the same as down here on Earth. That is how we know that there is a God. Also, by prayers' being answered, which can't happen without Somebody to answer them, the same as requests here on Earth don't get answered without someone's answering them. Just logically following suit proves that there is a God.