Klarinet Archive - Posting 000130.txt from 1998/10

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Wagner
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 18:06:58 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote:

<<<One can simply say, "I don't really believe it" and to that there is
nothing I can do. The presentation of evidence, mountains of it,
is simply not enough for some. It is too unbelievable to the late
20th century intellect so it gets dismissed as being beyond belief.
"People would not act that way" really means "I don't understand how
people did act that way.">>>

There are people who believe that the holocaust did not happen--that it us a
hoax all made up by the (Jewish-controlled) liberal-establishment Media as a
means to propagate support for the evil state of Israel. These people write
books, have internet sites, and think of themselves as enlightened
intellectuals.

In modern American society, we yawn at them (along with the other wing nuts)
because, in general, they are not perceived as politically powerful and
therefore dangerous. Other than damaging the odd federal office building,
this is true, for us, today.

Lest anyone think that such silly ideas can't captivate the political arena,
I urge you to consult your history books. The holocaust was *not* a unique
occurrence. From way before the time that Christians were (big) cat food,
through the crusades, the inaptly-named Hundred Years War (it was longer),
the defenestration of Prague, the entire history of Ireland, Armenia/Turkey
and today in Somalia, the human race has been happily killing each other off
for ethnic and religious differences.

What is scary about the holocaust is that it happened in a modern, Western
society that one would hope would be above such stuff. It wasn't. One
reason it wasn't was the tremendously effective propaganda machine in place
in Nazi Germany. (As marketers go, Himmler was better than Steve Ballmer).
One of the most effective advertisements for genocide--whether written for
that purpose or not--was the music of our good friend Dick Wagner.

I used to feel bad for Dick that his music was misused in this way. Now
that Mr. Leeson has opened my eyes, I realize that is was perhaps not
"misused" at all--that, like a handgun that kills someone you love, it did
exactly what it was designed to do. What makes the whole thing really
stinky is that yesterday's overt references become today's subtle ones.

Now, I hope we are able to strip away the bullshit from Wagner's music and
save the beautiful parts. For example: my wife and I used Elsa's Procession
in our wedding simply because it was such a beautiful tune. I am now not so
happy about doing that--I'm not sure that Wagner should ever be played in a
church. I do know that when I teach my son music, the subject of Wagner
will be brought up much later and much differently.

Dan has propagated much thought--as Martha says, "this is a good thing."

kjf

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