What luck for rulers that men do not think.
Adolf Hitler
Many Canadians, including Werner Schmidt, MP for Okanagan Centre (B.C.), did a double take when local Jewish community leader Anita Nadler reacted to the above quote
Which appeared in Schmidt’s constituency newsletter. According to his local executive assistant, the quote was meant to serve as a warning that citizens must monitor politicians.
How very unfortunate Nadler didn’t grasp the meaning. In a paranoid reaction, she misconstrued the original intent of the quote and sent sparks flying across the nation.
Things like this widen the communication gap growing between the Jewish Congress and those considered outside their fold. The thought occurs that this particular organization has done more to quell freedom of speech in this country than any other. A case in point is the word “holocaust,” which Webseter’s dictionary defines as, “a large scale sacrifice or destruction, esp. of life… “Perhaps many don’t know that Jews tend to exclude that word from the Gentile language while claiming it for their own. They even had the gall to chastise the Pope for using it in reference to abortion.
So far as the Jewish community goes, there are certain rules of which many are unaware. For instance, we must never forget the evil that Hitler initiated and yet he should never be quoted. And, although Hitler may have been a madman, never mention the fact he did not act alone. We must remember the Holocaust in respect to Jewish lives, but never mention the seven million lives lost in the Ukraine under Josef Stalin. In the larger view of things, it seems it is indeed time to speak out and erron the side of good rather than being intimidated into silence.
Now while reviewing the big picture, another incident comes to mind. Recently, we were touched by the death of Sue Rodriguez. But, the Vancouver Sun went a little too far when they suggested that “criminal charges would insult Sue Rodriguez.” Not only that, but in their editorial, they suggested that “right to life groups not attempt to pursue a private prosecution, they should make their case to their Members of Parliament, nto the courts. “considering Svend Robinson’s part in the entire affair, that seems like a gross understatement.
Not only that, but in their editorial, they suggested that “right to life groups not attempt to pursue a private prosecution – they should make their case to their Members of Parliament, not the courts. “Considering Svend Robinson’s part in the entire affair, that seems like a gross understatement.
Nevertheless, as the Vancouver Sun’s Trevor Lautens said that “’the life not worth living’.. was the buzzphrase in some German medical circles in the 1920s. It was applied to the disabled and the chronically sick who were pronounced – by the doctors – to have lives ‘not worth living.’”
So, now from one end of life to the other, quality of life comes into question. Since when did quality of life become more important than life itself? If someone is not worthy of being born at the start of the circle, why should someone not be eliminated in the end.” Remember when abortion was legalized, few believed that this freedom of destruction would ever lead to euthanasia.
Whatever the consequences, it seems that daily life in our consumer society is becoming ever more expendable. Who, in some weak moment has not thought the horrible consequences of “ending it all?” How many times in a desperate situation has some kind human being not put things in perspective? But now we have certain MPs beating others to the punch, exploiting a very sad situation.
We will be told the world is overpopulated, life is full of stress and environmental awareness supersedes any creator imaginable. But life at the other end of the scale is as vitally important as life at the beginning. Think of the repercussions, when someone supposedly outlives one’s usefulness or when one’s life is no longer valued.
We must never forget another time in history when life was expendable, when everyday usefulness was the criteria for existence. Remember when “unwanted” carried sn onerous tone. As Lautens stated: “Those were the days not of Hitler’s Nazis but of the Weimar Republic: The Nazis merely expropriated the idea into their repulsive ideology. As Patrick Derr, associate professor of philosophy at Clark University in Massachusetts dryly told the Pro-Life Society of B.C. in a 1988 speech” The Nazis didn’t need to teach the doctors how to kill. It was the doctors who taught the Nazis how to kill.”’
Everyday our society comes closer to legalizing euthanasia. The more one thinks about it the more it seems to resemble another time in history. Suddenly, euthanasia is starting to sound more and more like “extermination.” If that offends some, so be it. Nevertheless, it is time that we started bypassing the “politically correct” to stand up for the “ultimately correct.”
