My "populist" standing??? Don't be silly, teribus. I don't imagine myself as having any standing here whatsoever. I come to this place because it's an addictive habit of mine, not because I am some kind of big wheel here, I assure you. My frequency of posting is not done in a search for popularity, it's a behavorial addiction. Okay?

I realize the significance of the Holocaust, as you describe it, and I agree with your description. I also realize that Stalin killed more of his own people inside Russia, far more, than Hitler ever did inside his country (and occupied areas), but we don't hear as much about that for some reason. It was another Holocaust. The Armenians suffered a Holocaust by the Turks. The Beothuks in Newfoundland were wiped out to the last man, woman, and child by the white people who arrived from Europe, and so were some other Native tribes. The Tibetans have lost their entire country and its cultural heritage to the Chinese.

The Palestinian youths DO see their situation with the same sense of outrage that you express regarding the Nazi persecution of the Jews. They do. It's obvious. I agree that no one has threatened to wipe out their entire race. Obviously. I agree with you that they would be mistaken to compare their situation to that of Jews in Nazi Germany and say it's equally bad. It's not! But...they have their own distorted perception of reality, just like most people do, and you have to deal with it. They were not born evil, they have been affected by what they heard while growing up. They take it for granted that they are the number One victims around right now! (just like "Ed") That makes them dangerous, just like Ed.

I agree entirely with your perceptions regarding the heinous crimes of Nazi Germany upon the Jews. I do not disagree with you. I agree with you. Read it again. I agree with you. Read it again. I agree with you. Read it again. I agree with you. Read it again.

I never have and never will deny that the Holocaust happened. I know it happened. My father was in the Allied armies in '44-45, teribus, and he witnessed quite a bit in the process of fighting his way across Germany.

The only question is...why does a threat to Jews specifically push your buttons the most, while a threat to Islamic people pushes Osama's buttons the most? When we solve that mystery, and get past the kind of automatic primitive tribal allegiances that most people cling to in deciding who they like and who they don't like on this planet, then we may have peace on Earth.

But that's just too idealistic to be taken seriously, right? So get ready for the next bloodbath in the name of tribe, culture, religion, and all those other strange made-up ideas that people cling to in their search for identity.

I don't believe in any of it. I may enjoy some of it, but I know it's temporary and arbitrary, and not worth killing for.

(As for WWII airplanes I don't specialize in admiring the German ones above all others, and your implication that I do is snide and self-serving. It's a cheap shot. More than that, it's an attempt to paint me as a closet Nazi sympathizer, which I am not. I think the Nazis were an insane and criminal outfit and richly deserved to be utterly defeated. So did Mussolini. So did Tojo. So did Stalin (ironically, since he happened to be on the Allied side). My taste in planes goes like this: I think the best looking one of all is probably the American P-51-D Mustang. Some close runners-up: Kawasaki Hien Ki-61, Bf 109 F, Macchi 202 Folgore, Spitfire, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Me 262. I like pretty well all WWII airplanes in a historical and aesthetic sense. I wouldn't be interested in killing anyone with them, however. It's just history. For similar reasons, I like all the great galleons and wooden ships of the age of sail, and the Roman and Greek galleys of the Classical age in the Mediterranean. If I knew what Carthaginian ships looked like, I'm sure I'd like them too.)

Just because someone says something you don't agree with, teribus, is no justification for implying that he's a Nazi sympathizer, and in doing so you are engaging in precisely the kind of thing I am objecting to in my comments on "Anti-semitism" in this thread. You're branding other people...kind of like making them wear a yellow star, so everyone can see how evil they are. People don't appreciate being branded. Life is just not that simple that you can divide it up into "the good people" and "the bad people" so capriciously. Good people do bad things because they're scared, because they're confused, because they're under extreme pressure, because they think they're defending their country, and because they usually don't know any better or think they simply have no choice.

Besides, if they happen to win a war then THEY write the histories, and everyone talks about what heroes they were for a long time afterward. People are easily led down the garden path by political and religious leaders.