Kentucky legislature votes to misinform students about the Holocaust

[BigBadWlf]

I know a southern state putting politics ahead of the educational welfare of children….what are the odds?

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/NEWS0101/804160933

The Department of Education of the state of Kentucky wrote curriculum materials on the Nazi Holocaust for use in the state’s public schools beginning next year. The curriculum contained factual information about the holocaust and the effects it had on all the people involved in.

The Kentucky Senate did not approve of this level of honesty. The Kentucky Senate voted to remove the fact that hundreds of thousands of gay men were killed in Nazi death camps

“The Senate deleted a clause in the House version that cited other people the Nazis deemed "undesirable" because of their "race, nationality, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political ideology."

 

[Bombila]

All right, I'm beginning to get this sick suspicion that David Icke is right: the US at least is governed by Scaly Lizard People whose Agenda Towards Humanity is Not Good. (I know, not enough capital letters, but stuff like the OP is gonna help me get there.)

 

[wanderingone]

Not to detract from the stupidity of the notion that including all of the victims is somehow a red flag but...
I'm so confused, why in the heck does teaching history require a bill to be voted on? Do students in Kentucky not learn about the holocaust already? I recall elementary, middle and high school lessons on the holocaust, with an option to take an entire semester elective on the topic in high school.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

HOW IS THAT RELIGIOUS? We should not teach that the Jews were killed. We might offend some Jew. In fact, let's not teach the holocaust at all, because we might offend a German student or a Neo-Nazi student. Actually, let's just NOT teach history, because heaven forbid we OFFEND someone.

 

[SimpleDon]

HOW IS THAT RELIGIOUS? We should not teach that the Jews were killed. We might offend some Jew. In fact, let's not teach the holocaust at all, because we might offend a German student or a Neo-Nazi student. Actually, let's just NOT teach history, because heaven forbid we OFFEND someone.

The implication is not that the State Senate is afraid of offending gays, but that somehow their homophobia was in some way the reason to exclude gays from the list. I am not exactly sure what scared the State Senate. Surely not just the mere mention of gays?

 

[Ryal Kane]

Odd but hardly surprising. Plenty of states seem to teach sex education with known lies.

 

[Wednesday]

 

[The Nihilist]

I know a southern state putting politics ahead of the educational welfare of children….what are the odds?

What? Do you think kids who don't know all the groups killed in the Holocaust will have trouble finding jobs?

 

[cheese007]

Have we really sunk this low? Have we really gotten to the point of lying about the HOLOCAUST to support petty prejudices?

 

[SimpleDon]

Have we really sunk this low? Have we really gotten to the point of lying about the HOLOCAUST to support petty prejudices?

I am confused. Even if they are homophobic what do they gain by excluding gays from the list of those killed in the holocaust? It is lying by exclusion, not a good way to handle history.

 

[Wednesday]

Did I read it right? :o

 

[BigBadWlf]

Have we really sunk this low? Have we really gotten to the point of lying about the HOLOCAUST to support petty prejudices?

Is nothing new, sadly Christian groups like NARTH, the 700 Club. Traditional Values Coalition and the Family Research Council have been lying about the holocaust for years to accomplish just that


“What Hitler began to build against the Jews is now being built against people of faith who believe the Scriptures are valid for today and their injunctions against certain sexual behaviors is correct,' he said. Several years ago, homosexual activists disrupted a similar conference of his in Sacramento, he said, 'but I didn't have the finances to get a lawyer. For a long time we were the target of their wrath. Now other people are surfacing against them, thank God. If you don't agree with [homosexual activists], they use Gestapo tactics to stop you.” Rev. Lou Sheldon, president of the Traditional Values Coalition

"many of those people involved in Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals, the two things seem to go together, it is a pathology it is a sickness." - Pat Robertson

“there was far more brutality, torture, and murder committed against innocent people by Nazi deviants and homosexuals than there ever was against homosexuals” Scott Lively - NARTH

"A trip to the Holocaust memorial would be fine unless a teacher includes homosexuals among the list of the six million Jews, Gypsies, dissenters and social outcasts murdered by the Nazis in their death camps," Tom Lang

 

[ebia]

Why on earth would have you want polititians writing curriculum materials in the first place?

 

[SallyNow]

I am disgusted that a bunch of government officials in Kentucky would edit history in such a way. Have they not learned history themselves? Editing history to fit a political agenda is what often leads to much greater evils, even when it is done with good intentions. I doubt the Kentucky Senate is actually trying to something bad; they are probably just trying to stop parents from complaining about homosexuality beings discussed in the classroom, or from worrying homosexual students (or both). But if the next generation does not learn the real history(and sadly, many people in my generation and even in the Gen X and Baby Boom generations do not know history anyways, and yet are teaching to their children) we may be doomed to repeat it.

It only took a paltry third of the population to vote for the Nazi party for it to rise to power, stop all democratic processes, and then create one of the most horrible genocides in the past centurty (and if you need to ask what I mean by 'one of the worst' then you probably need a history lesson yourself). And why? Because Hitler promised a better economy and a better livelyhood. And one of his favorite tactics? Blame the so-called "outsiders" in society.

 

[lawtonfogle]

What? Do you think kids who don't know all the groups killed in the Holocaust will have trouble finding jobs?

Maybe, depends upon the field. But even if not, one day during a talk at work, they could be made to be stupid.

Plus, what does using the knowledge have to about being taught it.

If I don't need chemistry, why take it?
If I don't need biology, why take it?
If I don't need X, why take it?

 

[trunks2k]

I am confused. Even if they are homophobic what do they gain by excluding gays from the list of those killed in the holocaust?

The most immediate thing I could think of, if homophobia is really their motivation behind this, is that including homosexuals in the list of those killed in the holocaust makes them more sympathetic.

 

[sidhe]

My Kentucky story...

My sister was a children's librarian in Louisville, and I went to visit. Louisville is MARVELOUS! Liberal, forward thinking...fantastic place. Very cultured, thinking of naming a street after Hunter S. Thompson.

Anyway, I was at the zoo, enthralled by the polite, intelligent people I was meeting, and was listening to a father explain to their child the basics of evolution at the chimpanzee exhibit...when the banjo playing kid from Deliverance walks up with his spawn, points at the chimp, and says...

"Boy, that there's a monkey."

...and then jerks the kid back up the hill by the arm.

Then it struck me...that while Louisville may be fantastic, it's still in Kentucky.

That, and the discussion of "tar fars" in the legislature when my bro-in-law was filming the legislative section..."tar fars" are a serious problem...both truck "tar fars" and car "tar fars."

Needless to say, I'm not surprised that this happened in KY, but I hope that the representatives from the Louisville area are crying themselves to sleep over this.

 

[Morcova]

Why is anybody surprised? This is what the chrisitan right has been working for, what did you think the whole idea of "Teaching the controversy" would stop with biology?

 

[TexasSky]

I guess its fortunate that they teach the Holocaust at all.

Statistics are showing that more and more high school graduates and college students are taught absolutely nothing about the holocaust. There is also an increase in holocaust denial.

 

[trunks2k]

That, and the discussion of "tar fars" in the legislature when my bro-in-law was filming the legislative section..."tar fars" are a serious problem...both truck "tar fars" and car "tar fars."

Ok, I don't get it. what the heck is a "tar far"? I've tried saying it aloud and it doesn't sound like anything to me.