Moral cowardice writ large

It’s often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But what can one say about those who purposefully refuse to learn history’s lessons, as is the case with the City of Toronto’s ban on portions of a traveling Holocaust exhibit that points out the similarities between the things said by Adolf Hitler and those said by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad? Probably the kindest thing one could say about Toronto City Council is that they have lost their moral compass in their wish to curtail “inflammatory” situations.

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Be we aren’t exactly in a kind mood today, as many of those same members of city council have no problem comparing George W. Bush and Stephen Harper to Hitler. The only conclusion that one can draw from these individuals is that they have crossed over to the realm of evil and are in agreement with the musings of Ahmedinajad. We are living in a time when the holocaust is ever more relevant and stating that parts of the exhibit are unacceptable because it may” promote views and ideas which are likely to promote discrimination, contempt and hatred for any persons” as the city’s policy states is a cop-out of mass proportions. If the city really wanted to ensure that no discrimination, contempt or hatred were promoted, they would scotch the entire exhibit, as a case could certainly be made that the exhibit could be prejudicial to Germans, given that they were responsible for the Holocaust. This is another case where truth is sacrificed to the gods of political correctness and multiculturalism, as the true motives behind the city’s refusal to allow the entire exhibit to be shown is to ensure that a few Iranians or the city’s Muslims aren’t offended. This is the clearest case of moral cowardice since Neville Chamberlain stepped off the plane proclaiming, “Peace in our time.” Councillor Michael Feldman displayed a particular form of disingenuousness by asking, “If we display that then what will prevent any display from anyone else?” The answer is quite simple, Mikey: if your moral compass were alive and well, you would know the difference between right and wrong, the difference between good and evil and the difference between the simple truth and racist propaganda. But alas, Toronto council, under the leadership of an effete and ineffectual Mayor has lost its moral bearing, knowing only socialist ideology and constantly weighing their political futures against principled behavior. Anyone who has ever seen footage of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards parading their jaunty goose-step can easily draw the comparison between the current leadership of Iran and the goose-stepping Germans of yesteryear. Under the Iranian theocracy, homosexuals are routinely stoned to death at half time during soccer games and feminists are flogged for demonstrating against the oppression of women. This is not to say that all Iranians are evil. It is to say that the current Iranian regime is evil and the world needs to know just how evil they are, which is why the Holocaust exhibit is such an important teaching device. Obviously the councillors who fear that the exhibit may be offensive to those who subscribe to the tenets preached by Ahmedinajad and his ilk have lost their moral compass. It’s a sad state of affairs that Toronto’s elected representatives would want to protect those who advocate genocide, but it’s also a revelation of just how badly we as a society are failing.