That darned Genocide!

[bobquasit]

I'm sorry, I realize that I must be boring the pants off of most of the non-Armenians on my flist (that's most of you; come to think of it, one of the very few Armenians on my flist dumped me without warning or explanation last year).

I'm going to be obsessed with this topic for a while, as I will be every year at this time in particular.

I pre-asked this question for Gene Robinson at the Washington Post. I don't expect that he'll respond.

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Hi, Gene, I enjoy your column.

Since President Obama seems to be backing away from recognizing the Armenian Genocide (mustn't offend the Turks), I was wondering what else he might find convenient to deny. Germany would love to have the Holocaust removed from the history books, wouldn't they? And it was a long time ago...people should just get over it.

Heck, the American South would LOVE to have the whole history of slavery wiped off the records! And it's not like anyone is still alive who was actually enslaved back then. Shouldn't we just leave it all up to the historians? Let's look forward, not back!

Sorry to sound so bitter, but I'm the descendent of Genocide survivors. We lost many family members in what the Turks claim was a million or so unfortunate accidents. The last few survivors are dying now, with the US government still cooperating with the deniers.

I'm finding it particularly hard to take this from President Obama, given his previous clear statements on the topic. Any thoughts?

Comments

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Every country has things that they did, that they're ashamed of. With the US, it was slavery. Yes, genocide is a hurt filled thing. But there comes a time for healing. A time for mending fences. A time for crying, and a time for greiving.

Should Obama have gone into Germany and berated them for the Jewish massacre? Germany already has memorials because of what happend, and I think with Turkey, he's taking the path of closeness to open better negotiations so that the healing and apologizing can begin. Some people, like countries, can be so ashamed of what they've done, that they've tried to bury it and forget it, instead of exposing it and saying "no more".

It's like a form of denial that they really didn't do that. And possibly, because of the immensity of it, could not fathom the fact that their country could do such a heinous act.

[dianochka5.livejournal.com]

But there's a huge difference. Germany isn't denying the Holocaust and isn't teaching the complete opposite in schools.
Obama didn't have to do that in Germany, because Germans are not denying the Holocaust.

[dianochka5.livejournal.com]

Well, you do have at least 1 Armenian friend on your list :)
and I know exactly how you feel. I've been posting lately about the same subject and couldn't resist and wrote a response to a CNN piece. You can check it out on my LJ.