Judged to be politically incorrect?
Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims – DailyMail.co.uk: what are these guys thinking?
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades – where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem – because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.
The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history ‘as a vehicle for promoting political correctness’.
A school found itself ‘strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict-and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination’.
Why do anti-Semites deny the holocaust, anyway? Don’t they think it was a good thing? Why cover it up? Why not promote it?
Serious question, BTW.
If the UK keeps this up they’re going to be a Muslin state before long.
Well, France is full of Muslim apologists. The results of Muslim appeasement was the riots that happened in France two years ago. Even today there are places where the french police will not go. I guess the same PC decease from the far left has spread all over Europe, however, this article doesn’t limit itself to Muslims, Christians are also doing their part to spread ignorance.
There was a very specific reason why Gen. Eisenhower ordered cameras to go into the concentration camps upon discovery: to prevent people from ever denying the Nazi crimes.
Censorship by the weak will only breed ignorance. Let’s stop fearing the possibility that the truth, indeed, hurts.
“James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington… John Adams. We’ve long resisted asking you for guidance. Perhaps we have feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality which we so, so revere is not entirely our own. Perhaps we’ve feared an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we’ve come to understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we’ve been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding… that who we are *is* who we were. We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, ourselves. Give us the courage to do what is right. And if it means [war], then let it come.”
– Amistad
Fear of offense is the one of the worst fears that we have. When we become afraid of offending other people, we lose ourselves…and in this case, our history as a species.
God, I hate revisionist history…
Millions of people died and hundreds of thousands of people hid their identity to avoid persecution by Nazi Germany. People were traumatized by this to such an extent that they never took back their original identity.
Now these schools, to avoid, offending a few children due to religious reasons, are glossing over one of the most important events in European history.
With intellectual people bringing up points they disagree with willm promote discussion and dialogue, as pointed out by shadowbird. Without the ability to converse and debate how can humanity as a whole progress?
Those children are in Europe, not the middle east, they must understand the land they are living in.
>> Well, France is full of Muslim apologists.
“Muslim apologists” … what a phrase!
I guess I’m a “Muslim apologist” in that I know and understand that the vast majority of Muslims are good, decent people.
Heck… isn’t GW Bush a “Muslim apologist” when he said,
The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.
When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that’s made brothers and sisters out of every race — out of every race.
America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country.
http://tinyurl.com/jga4k
“lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques”
Surely this is the reason why schools MUST teach this stuff.
If the mosques are spreading lies and propaganda, then the schools should do their bit to rectify the balance – by teaching the truth.
I don’t see how plain facts can be found to be offensive. No matter how you try to spin it, the holocaust is undeniably well documented. Moreover, nobody blames the Muslims for it – we blame Adolf Hitler, a native of central Europe, raised as Catholic who later promoted his own, twisted interpretation of Protestantism (according to Wikipedia).
#5 – I fully agree! It seems many are quick to TAKE offense, even where none was intended. The appropriate response should instead be to engage in discussion to clarify a different position.
I can certainly assert my position that the earth is flat without being offended that you think otherwise, right?
9, I am offended that you think the earth is flat. But that’s my problem, isn’t it? 😉
Some history is absolutely offensive, which is exactly why it is part of the lessons. For example, Germany forbids teaching that the holocaust did not happen for this very reason. Japan hasn’t completely dealt with their WWII offensiveness, but the gummint–at least–doesn’t deny it happened.
The more I read and think about this, some Muslims need to wake up and enter the 21st century. (I am assuming that lots of them believe WWII was real…)
All this “politically correct” madness drives me sick. We’re more worried about not offending than having the truth just as it is, even if makes no sense in being seen as offensive.
It is just plain madness.
3 – …the same PC decease from the far left
Wait. What? Leaving aside whatever you meant by “decease,” let’s see – Xtians on the right, Muslims on the right, together opposing the teaching of well documented historical fact… Oh, I see what you mean. Yup, definitely the fault of lefties advocating good manners.
Why does Turkey still deny the Armenian Genocide? There are of course a number of answers to this, but truth is truth.
The US continues to placate to the genocide deniers in Turkey because they don’t want to offend them. First it was during the cold war, and now the war on terror. Oh by the way, if you offend Turkishness in Turkey you get thrown in jail (or shot by a citizen like Hrant Dink was).
Good point Geezer
Yeah, let’s not offend the Muslims who MIGHT deny the holocaust, but let’s completely offend ALL Jews. That is a rational decision.
These schools must be in the vicinity of BBC…
#12
Your right about the Right.
It’s as I keep saying… the rise of militancy and religious radicalism is because of the rise of conservatism . The more conservatives in a religion, the more radicals.
The biggest problem in the world today is not religion in-general… it’s conservative religion.
#13
Also, you should avoid reminding the muslims that TURKEY USED TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION UNTIL THE MUSLIMS CONQUERED IT.
#16
Yup, it’s usually the conservatives who blame others for all the woes they bring upon themselves.
Those who win write the histories and it is often hard to get at the truth.
Some of those who win are honest when they write and others are not.
There is no doubt that the holocaust existed. It is but a symptom of deeper hatred that is rampant in the world.
The Indians of the United States were truly mistreated as well as the blacks.
Many of the ideas that Hitler adopted can be traced back to white supremacists.
Minorities, although not treated as badly in the United States as they once were, still suffer forms of discrimination in subtle ways and some in not so subtle ways.
Many Americans have deep misconceptions about Arab Muslims and misidentify them with Iranian Muslims as “camel jocks.”
I live in the state of Kansas and the motto here sometimes could be “turn your clocks back fifty years.”
To paraphrase George Santanya, those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
There is much harsh mistreatment of minorities in Muslim countries and many of the governments in those countries promote a 15th century mindset.
There is no mistake that there is a clash of civilization: one of reasonable men and women as opposed to superstition and increasing immorality in the world.
#17.
“Also, you should avoid reminding the muslims that TURKEY USED TO BE A CHRISTIAN NATION UNTIL THE MUSLIMS CONQUERED IT.”
Since when was the Ottoman Empire considered a Christian nation…
Since when is England’s political correctness a “conservative” trait? Did I miss a frigging meeting? The spin you people will put on something just to find a way to attack conservatives is *astounding*. The issue here is not that some vocal Muslims (not all, but some) are upset about children being taught the truth of the Holocaust – that would be like crying about water being wet.
The problem is BRITISH SCHOOLTEACHERS ARE GOING ALONG WITH IT OUT OF A MISGUIDED SENSE OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. Which is a decidedly liberal, progressive trait – NOT a conservative one.
20 – I don’t know how it is in the U.K., but in the U.S. it wouldn’t happen out of “political correctness” (whatever the hell that is). It would happen out of fear – of harrassment by parents, of lawsuits, of causing complaints and getting hauled on the carpet by budget-obsessed administrators, you name it. But not “correctness.”
21 – If people see religious conservatives as identical to political conservatives, then yes, that would be a mistake. It might be more accurate to label them fundamentalists, but that’s not quite right either. Jehovah’s Witnesses are fundamentalists but are not only against war, they won’t even express political opinions.
“Religious extremists” probably works best. But like it or not, what the extremists want has a lot more in common with the extremists of politics (right and left) than with with honest conservatives, liberals, or libertarians.
#19
For more info go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
Wait, aren’t there “Holocaust denial” laws on the books in Europe? Basically you can be procesecuted for publically stating the Holocaust didn’t happen. Would this decision fall in there somewhere????
#24….Just Some Dude…..Only a few countries in Europe have **Holocaust Denial Laws**….2 for sure are Germany and Austria. Most of the others don’t have them.
The EU has many harrassment laws and it may fall under one of those.
Britain(especially England) has an undercurrant of anti-jewishness going back several hundred years. But it’s still very much present today(the BBC is a good example of it), so this dosen’t surprise me, in fact I would bet the teachers are reacting more to their anti-jewishness than out of political correctness. It was very prominent in my University, among the Don’s as well as the students.
DVORAK.ORG/BLOG: will you guys please stop using the Dailymail as a news source?? this story is complete and utter garbage!!!! I challenge you to find this story on ANY reputable UK news source. Yes, some Muslim groups in Britain like to deny the holocaust, but in no way is it being “dropped” from the history books. do you just want your readers to froth at the mouth for entertainment value or what?
As Mr Smith said –
Gasparrini seems hooked on “The Forger’s Gazette”. The only British newspaper to support Herr Hitler in the 1930s: The Daily Mail.
Uh, you didn’t know that? Look it up in Wikipedia: a century of anti-semitism thanks to the Mail.
Gasparrini, please try reading something else for your troll-bait.
the dailymail put words into our mouth [muslims] no one in the UK has said such a thing.