More about holocaust cartoon

A Dutch news article about the cartoon I described in this post says,

. . . the AEL [Arab European League] was told it did face prosecution unless it removes a cartoon featuring two men in suits discussing how to boost the number of people killed during the holocaust.

Obviously, the two men in the cartoon -- which is shown above -- were not exactly discussing "how to boost the number of people killed during the holocaust," but were specifically discussing boosting the number of holocaust victims who are classified as Jews. Also, another news article said,
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The cartoon shows two apparently Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons with a sign that says "Auswitch," presumably representing the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.

One pokes a bone with a stick and says "I don't think they're Jews" and the other answers, "We have to get to the six million somehow."

Contrary to the above description of the cartoon, the men are not "apparently Jewish." News articles should be more careful about how they describe a cartoon, particularly a cartoon that is not pictured along with the news article.

The cartoon may be considered a caricature of my long-held contention that a "systematic" Jewish holocaust was impossible because the Nazis had no objective and reliable ways of identifying Jews and non-Jews. Yes, I think that the cartoon exaggerates (I have never contended that none of the Auschwitz victims were Jews) and is offensive to some people -- but cartoons exaggerate and offend for the purposes of attracting attention and/or making a point.

A BBC news article says,

It [the Arab European League] said the decision to prosecute illustrated bias against Muslims.
It said the same standards were not applied to the Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who made a film including cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Last month prosecutors said they would not put the far-right MP on trial for distributing the controversial Danish cartoons, which caused a storm of protest after their publication in 2005.

However, he is still being investigated separately for inciting hatred against Muslims by making statements comparing Islam to Nazism.

Though there is selective prosecution and a double standard in regard to the Dutch prosecutors' treatment of the holocaust cartoon in comparison to the Mohammed cartoons, there is still some equal-opportunity infringement of freedom of expression here because Wilders is still being investigated separately for comparing Islam to Nazism.

The BBC article says,

But Dutch prosecutors said the AEL cartoon was "discriminatory" and "offensive to Jews as a group... because it offends Jews on the basis of their race and/or religion". . . .

"Their race and/or religion"? Judaism is a religion and never a race -- there are black Jews and blond-and-blue-eyed Jews. The notion that Jews are a race is regarded as offensive, as when the UN General Assembly passed a since-rescinded resolution classifying Zionism as "racism."

The prosecutors' distinction between the holocaust cartoon and the Mohammed cartoon is arbitrary and nitpicking. When you insult people's religion, you are insulting them.

The BBC article says,

. . . . The AEL says it does not deny the facts of the Holocaust but posted the cartoon as an "act of civil disobedience".

It said it had agreed to remove it from its site, but reversed that decision to protest over the failure to prosecute Geert Wilders.

"Double standards are being applied," it said in a statement.

To his credit, Ed Brayton has condemned the Dutch government's action against AEL.

I plan to send protests to the Dutch embassy and/or consulates. I will include a protest of the continued investigation of Geert Wilders' comparison of Islam to Nazism. General contact information is here -- there is a Dutch embassy in Washington DC and there are consulates in a few US cities. Some email addresses are here. To be fair, I plan to compliment the Dutch on an area where they are light years ahead of the USA: legal red-light districts.
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