Some people aspire to greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. Having had it thrust upon him without his leave, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has carried greatness with the grace of a Nelson Mandela. My admiration for the man knows no bounds…. Read More ›
Shoah
WHAT IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY?
In this paper I attempt to rescue the notion of a crime against humanity from the charge that it is either redundant or else a pseudo-concept. I argue that crimes against humanity are gross violations of basic human rights when… Read More ›
GENOCIDE 101
(Note: This is the first in a series of two entries. The second will be on the meaning, if any, of cultural genocide.) Genocide is not a success term. If it were there wouldn’t be any victims left to complain… Read More ›
IN MEMORIUM
Today, January 27, marks the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps at Auschwitz. There weren’t a whole lot of people left there to be liberated. And of those who were there aren’t a whole lot still alive… Read More ›
JEWS, THE SHOAH, AND IDENTITY POLITICS (July 18, 2017)
There’s not a whole lot that’s special about us Jews. Yes, we do celebrate Easter by drinking the blood of a Christian baby, preferably one still wet from the baptismal fount. But other than that we’re pretty much like everyone… Read More ›
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
Let me give you a heads up. Whatever you’re most sensitive about, I’m probably going to be insensitive to it. This is regrettable, by which is meant it’s able to be regretted, but apparently not by me. Here I offer just… Read More ›
IN DEFENSE OF BERNARD VALCOURT
At the risk of sounding racist … oh what the hell, I can just play my J-card – ex-Tory MP Bernard Valcourt was dead right to object to the MMIWG enquiry calling the murder of indigenous women “the Canadian genocide”…. Read More ›
ISRAEL’S NEW NATION STATE LAW
Eighty-three years after the National Socialist government of Germany passed the Nuremberg Race Laws in 1935, the Zionist government of Israel has decided to follow suit. It wasn’t inevitable, but perhaps predictable. Eighty-three years is a long time to hope… Read More ›
THINGS THAT DON’T BEAR THINKING ABOUT
There are certain thought experiments that ought not to be performed. Here’s one: Does the visceral reaction we all have about the Shoah – and by ‘all’ I mean we Jews and you Gentiles alike – have a best-before date?… Read More ›
MONIKA’S MOM AND PIUS XII
Monika Schaefer, a Jasper, Alberta woman, and daughter of post-war German immigrants, is currently in a German prison awaiting trial for Holocaust denial, a criminal offense in that and several other European countries, though not in Canada. The charge was… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 