Dare to Compare: Americanizing the Holocaust 

by Lilian Friedburg

This article discusses those who compare the treatment of the American Natives to the Holocaust of the Jews. Friedburg discusses the fact that those who try to make this comparison are often shunned in the intellectual world. She discusses the fact that those that make the treatment of the American Indians sound innocent and understandable, those that say they it was a regrettable but necessary consequence of the rising of the next great country, are published and popularized. Those that try to do the some with the holocaust however, are met with scorn and loathing. Those scholars that try to create an explanation for the way the Nazi soldiers acted, and make them out as good men just following orders, face a brick wall of vehemence. he then shows that America is, to put it simply, in denial. She show that we not only killed more innocent people that the Nazis did, we also killed a greater percentage. We even used the same language to excuse ourselves. In both cases, those being exterminated were made out to be less than human. They were smeared and down talked until they became a race that must be destroyed to make space for the better race. The only real difference between the two situations is that we were successful, which is why the United States is not seen under the shadow of genocide. Ours was erased by historians. It was explained away, made understandable, and warped to the point that hardly anyone knows what actually happened. 

This article is perfect for my paper because it is exactly what I wil be talking about. Not only does it reveal many of the facts that are hardly heard, back them up in a scholarly way, and show similarities between the two genocides, it also leads me to many new sources. Since it spends much of its time debunking common false beliefs, I will use this article to help me predict many counter-arguments to my paper, and answer them before they are brought up.

Argument

Lacie seems to believe that as citizens of the United States, we pay the government in taxes to keep us safe. We pay those in power to give huge companies regulations to prevent them from becoming corrupt. Even with these safeguards in place however, the food industry has become corrupt. Sanitation has been tossed out the window for the extra buck. Nearly the entire system has been taken over by four companies who control everything. They control the farmers that produce the food, and thus they control what is produced, how it is produced, and who produces it. It is extremely disappointing to see that even after all the tax payer's dollars have gone to the government, these companies are getting away with what they are doing. These few people in power are simple business men, and are in it simply for the money. The animals that they have power over are treated cruelly, and hygiene is not respected in the least. Everything is done to make these CEOs the next quick buck. The animals are even being changed. Cows, which were originally grass grazers, have evolved to eat only corn. The entire system is set up to make the few people in power a lot of money. There is no other point to it. The taxpayer's dollar should have gone to fixing these loopholes in the system. The government has a responsibility to fix this.

As citizens of the United States of America, I do indeed believe that we pay taxes to the government in order to keep us safe. The government however, can only do so much to protect us from ourselves. Much of what is done in the food industry is necessary. The treatment of the animals keeps the cost down as more space is more money. Raising the animals at their normal rate takes more time, and as we all know time is money. Raising the animals to be their intended size would require more animals and provide less meat, which would as a result cost more. The taxpayer has brought this upon himself. The government can only do so much to control these companies, part of that responsibility lies with the people. By constantly buying the cheaper foods, the people have supported the companies that produce their food in the cheapest way possible. The government has done nothing wrong, the companies have only been supported, and thus all the responsibility lies on the citizen, the taxpayer. We don't have much variety in companies because we have supported and built up these companies that are in power. We have put them on the pedestals that they are standing on. They didn't go there by themselves, we encouraged them.

To compromise this issue, we all must make compromises. Perhaps yes the government ought to keep a tighter watch on sanitation and on animal cruelty policies. We as the buyers must keep a watch on what we are buying. We can not simply buy whatever is cheapest. Perhaps we ought to track the companies that we buy from.

The Holocaust of the Chickens

Goosebumps crawled up my spine as the corpses of chickens rolled before my eyes, dangling by their legs from grim looking hooks. I realize that they are just chickens, but I am currently studying the holocaust of the Jews, as well the annihilation of the American Indians, and I couldn't help but see the similarities flashing before my eyes. Yes I understand that they are just animals, and the levels of evil in question here are on entirely different scales. But nonetheless there seem to be undeniable parallels, the greatest of which seems to me to be the veiling of the truth. I always wondered why some people are vegetarians
because of animals cruelty. I've always heard these vague stories of how animals are mistreated, or raised in an unhealthy way, but never on the scale of what I saw in this documentary. Honestly it scares me. It scares me that people are so cruel, and it scares me that I might die if I keep eating what I'm eating. The truth is completely masked. Behind the pretty mask of these enormous food corporations hides a vicious yet sneaky beast. This beast hides the disgusting things it does, just as Hitler hid his actions from many and was not exposed until later, and just as most Americans are still not aware of the plight of the American Indians. Again allow me to emphasize that I realize that these two stories are completely different, but the similarities that they do hold terrify me. The highly mechanized way in which everything is done is the same in all three cases.These animals are not raised anymore, they are "grown." They are produced. They are born simply to be slaughtered in an inhumane way. They are grown as fast and as fat as they can be, pumped full of hormones, and then they are killed. We eat them. The thought of eating those little squawking animals inhabiting the dark houses, or the cows on those enormous cattle farms disgusts me.

Paper Proposal

Claim: 

The treatment of the Native Americans by the White Man mirrors the infamous Holocaust of the Jews in innumerable, terrifying ways. This did not happen by accident however. Few people know that Hitler actually designed much of his final solution around the treatment of the Native Americans, and that his success was dwarfed by the United States horrifying conquest.

                                Support:

I will draw connections between each extermination, showing the surreal similarities between the two. I will compare and contrast each step of both stories, and I will research Hitler's writings, as well as the writings of our own countries, and I hope (actually for the sake of humanity I hope I don't, but for the sake of my paper I hope) to find even more similarities. I will also look into the fact that Hitler actually said that he was panning to mirror the extermination of the Native Americans.

                     Warrant: 

It seems to me that this topic has either not been researched enough, or that research has not been publicized enough. It is absolutely essential that everyone know the truth of thee matters, both because history has a habit of repeating itself, and because it is their history. If my hypothesis proves true, our entire country is built on a foundation of the bones from a holocaust even more devastating than the Shoah.

Dear Mr. President

Dear President Obama,

I realize that you are quite a busy man, especially at this point in your campaign, and I sincerely thank you for your time spent reading this letter. I do not want to take to much of that time however, so I will get right to the point. I am sure that you are fully aware that the United States of America is in somewhat of an economical crisis. This crisis, as I am sure you well know, was caused by the burst of the banking bubble in 2008. Well, that is the apparent cause, but I watched this documentary for my class a few days ago, and it showed how in actuality a long series of events dating back all the way to the seventies has led to this point. The film is called Inside Job, you should check it out. But I am sure you are already quite aware of everything it has to say.

To be quite honest with you, the film infuriated me, and almost made me ashamed to be an American. To hear these awful stories of rich bankers and politicians making terrible decisions for the country in order to make the next quick buck so that they can enjoy another yacht, rent a Lamborghini, and entertain a $1,000 prostitute makes me sick to the stomach. And to see that these men walked out of it, there own personal fortune bulging at the seams while the rest of the country struggles to make ends meet, makes me want to break things.The systematic corruption of the United States has gotten so bad. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. And so I ask you Mr. President, what do you plan to do about it?

Why should I vote for you, Mr. Obama? What have you done to fix this issue? I do not see much. What do you plan to do? Why do you deserve another for years? And I do not want to hear why I should not vote for Romney, I do not want to hear how he will just irritate the problem. I do not want to hear any more about Bain Capitol. I want to hear about you Mr. President. I am done with this smear campaign. Not to say that you are the only one guilty of this, all politicians are. But with all due respect sir, where is the Change you campaigned under four years ago? Was that just the catchy campaign slogan that all of the conservatives at my school said it was? Or is there something more to you? Can we still Hope? Can we still chant 'Yes we can?' Show me that you are different, Mr. Obama. Get rid of the smear campaign, stop telling me why Romney would make a terrible president, and tell me exactly what you intend to do to fix the economy that I am about to be born into as a fledgeling adult. Only then will you earn my vote.

Thank you again for your time. With Hope,

-Joshua Huetter

P.S. This song was originally directed at President Bush. Please explain to me how it does not apply to you as well.

I Think I Just Got Sick

The most recent documentary I watched for class, Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, quite simply infuriated me. Although I could spot the bias, although I was distracted by Matt Damon's voice, and although I understand absolutely nothing about the economy or banking, I was simply appalled by the fact that the economic crisis of 2008 was caused by people who profited from it. Allow me to expand.

Cocaine stimulates the same part of the brain that certain games do. The prize in these games is money. Scary, huh?

 I did spot the bias in this film. The music was obviously quite intentional, sometime formidable and sometimes sarcastic. The voice of the narrater, although it obviously tried to sound neutral, was quite loaded. Damon used loaded words and word phrases that subconsciously swayed the viewer to agree with him. This was actually funny for me in particular though, because I could not get past the fact that Matt Damon was narrating. The whole time I was watching, the Bourne series kept popping into my head, and I was just waiting for Jason Bourne to start running around and killing these bankers. I even started hoping he would.

These wealthy bankers were said to rent Lamborghinis simply to impress the prostitutes they had for they night. No one should have that kind of money, especially if it is earned a the loss of others.

Although I could spot the bias, and although I saw from the beginning that this was a strongly liberal leaning film, it made me angry. It made me angry, but not at one particular political party, but rather these bankers. It simply disgusts me that people could sit around and get rich on the backs of the average man. No, not get rich, rather become obscenely, disgustingly loaded by tearing down the population and putting the entire economy of the United States at risk, and thus putting the economy of the world at risk. The corruption, the selfishness, the shortsightedness required to do something like this simply makes me sick. End of story. 

Throughout the whole film, I could not get the above song out of my head. It should have been used as the constant background song for the whole film.

Obstructed by the Screen

This film intrigued my sense of fascination with nature, it drew me in with its chanting sound track. I was almost enchanted, hypnotized. I loved the way time montages of lapses and slow motion reel followed each other, showing the similarities between very dissimilar physical objects. The clouds followed by waves, for example, simply blew my mind. The two things looked so similar when moving at the same rate. The country view, the nature shots, and the filming technique, all drew me in at first. As the movie progressed however, I must admit that I became bored. If I had been in these places in real life I could have stayed there for all of eternity and never wanted anything else, but the fact that it was all on a screen began to bother me. I wanted to be there. I wanted to see it for myself, unobstructed by the computer screen. This thought dug itself deeper and deeper and eventually I am sorry to say that I lost interest. It was a beautiful film, don't misunderstand me. It just was not my type. I'm quite the nature guy in real life, but I like it exactly like that, namely in real life. Even though I could clearly see the story and the meaning behind this film, as it travelled gradually from nature to man, displaying our life out of balance, it just was not a documentary, if you can call it that, for me. I was quite disappointed, not with the quality of the film, but rather with my interest in it. I wish I was the kind of person who could sit there in fascination through the whole film, but sadly I am not.