Tuesday, February 21, 2006

I am withdrawing from serving as a "judge" in Holocaust cartoon contest

I made a mistake.

When I first learned of the Isralie cartoon contest I saw it as a ironic or sardonic [never sure which is which] way of responding to the absurdly antisemitic Iranian contest.

Things however have become more serious with Arab and Muslim news outlets announcing their intention to run the cartoons.

I thought of the whole thing as a spoof. I was wrong.

It reminded me of the joke from Nazi times. One Berlin Jew meets another. He is carrying Der Sturmer. The first Jew is shocked.

"You read that Nazi antisemitic paper??!!"

"Of course. If I read the Jewish press I only see all the trouble we are in and the horrible things happening to us. If I read Der Sturmer I see how powerful we are. How we run the world. What strength we have."

So I thought of this. But I was wrong. This is being used by others for wrong purposes. I urge the organizers to cancel the contest.

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