He wrote that the justifications for Israel’s war in Gaza became “difficult to defend” and that “whatever the justification you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not.” The post received an outpouring of support with hundreds of likes and comments in just a few hours. …
In his letter, Mann also says that he’s the descendant of European Jews and “was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment.”
“When it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing — my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany — where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated. I’m haunted by the knowledge that I failed those principles,” Mann wrote.
Mann went on to say that he held off sharing the reason for his resignation because he was afraid of violating professional norms and disappointing officers that he respects.
You are not contradicting me.
Being Jewish for this matter is important as 1) motivation to learn how it really was, 2) being a part of that group and thus subject for that “you are a wrong Jew” thing.
It’s especially common for ethnic Germans to say #2, both because of #1 and of some reversal fallacy I guess (a reversal seems more fresh and somehow stronger and truer than the first thought on something, there’s a reason “subverting expectations” is such an overused thing in stories).
I’m sorry, but most people just don’t think like that. The common story with Turks finding out they have some Armenian roots is with them turning away from genocide denial immediately after that. Because first they were in one group and then the latter.
Ethnicity doesn’t matter, but identity does. If one is not autistic or very conscious of their actions.
Which contradicts the part about ethnicity not mattering.
But yes, interpreting family history like this and not like “now a Jewish state has the right to kill anybody they want to and calling it evil is antisemitism” is something I would expect from a person to become an army officer for the right reasons.
I too am sorry that most people don’t think like that :(
I would say that etnicity should not matter intelectually, but when it anchors one’s identity (which is not always the case, and not just for the autist or very conscious of their actions but also for those who grew up in a situation were their etnicity was treated as irrelevant) it definitelly matters to most at an emotional level and hence will inform some of their motivations.
That said, whilst I try to understand what motivates others and hence can understand how some people feel on account of their etnicity and thus act driven by those feelings, I will still try to judge them on their actions alone, not any less negativelly when they do “bad” things or any less positivelly when they do “good” ones (as in this case), even if their etnicity explains their feelings and hence motivations for those actions: plenty of people will for example at some point in their lives feel that they hate somebody and want them dead, but most people don’t actually go ahead and kill the other person and plenty of people will endure the feeling of being “one of the bad guys” and not put their careers on the block like this gentleman did.
I grew in Russia, so haven’t experienced such situations very often. It’s either a lot of chauvinism or don’t ask, don’t tell.
Still, people make identities out of fandoms, even out of fashion which comes and goes in a month.