Thursday, March 28, 2024 -
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Ignorance in the service of self-aggrandizement

The first-term congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, observes: “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.”

To Rep. Greene, a vaccine logo is equivalent to a badge ostensibly marking a person for discrimination, enforced impoverishment and professional ruin, but actually marking a person for eventual murder. Greene defiles the memory of the six million innocent Jewish murder victims. Greene trivializes the Holocaust. By cheapening public discourse in this way, Greene makes it all the easier for opponents of Israel to toss around the “genocide” word.

The kindest thing one can say for Greene’s kind of discourse is that it is reckless. The likelier possibility: ignorance in the service of self-aggrandizement.

We regret giving Greene the attention she craves to point out the malice, intentional or not, in her remarks. Greene places her critics between a rock and a hard place. To criticize her is to draw further attention to her remark and to her. She revels in this. To remain silent and let her remark stand, however, is to risk the possibility that this kind of “thinking” catches on.

It apparently did. A Tennessee hat store advertised a yellow Star of David that read “Not vaccinated.” Outrage followed. Stetson responded by pulling any further delivery of its hats to the store. At least the storeowner apologized and pulled the yellow star patches.

We’re not aware of any similar apology from Rep. Greene.

Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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