The No-Smoking Holocaust?
Opponents of Germany’s new smoking ban have appalled Jewish leaders by selling more than 1,000 “smokers’ T-shirts” that display a yellow Star of David and suggest that discrimination against nicotine addicts is like Nazi anti-Semitism during the Third Reich.
The controversial T-shirts went on sale on an internet site in the run-up to a smoking ban which came in to force in 10 of Germany’s 16 federal states on New Year’s Day. Its promoters insisted that Germany needed to be woken up to what it described as “disgraceful discrimination against smokers” in bars and restaurants and claimed that its shirts were “the most aggressive smokers’ resistance shirt available”
Photographs of the T-shirts show them displaying a yellow Star of David identical to the Judenstern, or “Jewish star”, that the Nazis forced all Jews to wear in Germany after they were elected to power in 1933. The word “Jude”, or “Jew”, which was inscribed in the centre of the Nazi stars, is replaced by the word raucher, or smoker..
Almost as bad as all the “Bush & Olmert are Creating a New Holocaust” signs I saw last week.
Full story.
I think we need to come up with a Godwin award. I cannot imagine anything that can possibly top this as an example of Godwin’s law.
It’s Germans.
It’s the Holocaust.
It’s a Trivial matter.
And once Abe Foxman takes note of it, any surviving civil discourse will quietly expire.
I think that the campaign is pretty ok basically. I don’t think it’s tasteful, but considering the more and more restricting smoking laws in my country (Finland), it is hardly an exaggeration. The smoking compartments in trains are the size of toilets, with sometimes close to ten people in the smoke. Cars kill people too, why not ban or restrict driving? And I have holocaust survivors in my family so don’t give me any lip on that either.
SOmeone is trying to kill all the smokers? I thought they were doing it to themselves slowly – they get to put a star on for that?
Seriously, it’s about time people stopped trying to up the ante by calling everything a holocaust – there are things that genuinely *should* be compared (Rwanda springs to mind) but oddly enough, things that really ought to be, seem to never be- how much wiggling did the governments do just to get out of calling various actual genocides, “Genocide.”
It seems that when Liberals (Anti Smokers) wish to invoke the Holocaust it is A okay (Marek).
If your memory serves you, some two years ago Jews and Israelis invoked the Holocaust by wearing Orange Stars of David for a matter with many more corrolations to the Holocaust than Smoking Bans: Jewish people were being forcibly evacuated from land they were encouraged to settle by their own government – effectively becoming Judenrein (many are still without permanent residence). Read this:
“To use and display the terms and symbols of the Shoah for political ends is totally unacceptable,” said Avner Shaler, the chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.
“We believe that the events of the Shoah are an unprecedented genocide which represents that total collapse of civilised human values. You cannot put that in a few slogans.
“It’s totally inappropriate to wear the Star of David or concentration camp uniforms,” he added. “For most Israelis it is a taboo.”
Amen. Don’t touch the Holocaust. Especially for a matter so unrelated and trivial (and I am against smoking bans). ESPECIALLY IF YOUR A GERMAN!
“To use and display the terms and symbols of the Shoah for political ends is totally unacceptable,” said Avner Shaler, the chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.
“We believe that the events of the Shoah are an unprecedented genocide which represents that total collapse of civilised human values. You cannot put that in a few slogans.
“It’s totally inappropriate to wear the Star of David or concentration camp uniforms,” he added. “For most Israelis it is a taboo.”
Oops! It is only okay for Liberals! When Jews are being forcibly removed from their homes to enable Hamas to fire kassams into our backyards – then G-d Forbid! its Tabboo!
Personally it was wrong then and it is wrong now. Especially if you are German!
Merliner writes:
It seems that when Liberals (Anti Smokers) wish to invoke the Holocaust it is A okay (Marek).
Did you read the article? The people invoking the Holocaust are smokers, not anti-smokers, and there is no evidence that they are liberal or of any other discernible political orientation, nor is there evidence (from his comment) that Marek is liberal.
Firstly sorry for posting twice, it appeared not to post initially.
BZ – your right I meant the anti smoking BAN.
You are also right – I completely misunderstood the issue.
I agree with you completely.
Sorry Marek.
My bad.
Still dont approve of invoking Holocaust. Especially not by ze Germans.
Invoking the Holocaust here is….shall we say a bit extreme! Arguments ad Hiterium are normally ill-advised unless there is a really clear correspondence.
It is to be appreciated, though, that some people are taking note of the fundamentally fascistic drives underlying the current anti-smoking hysteria.
Merliner emphasized: “ESPECIALLY IF YOUR A GERMAN!”
…and Austrian, and French, and Italian, and Hungarian and Romanian etc.etc.
And for good reasons we all should know. Especially as Jews.