The story we mentioned yesterday, about Holocaust mockery at Reed College, is so much more fascinating than it has the right to be, according to this account in Inside Higher Ed. Sounds like some kids out west are going to be taking a very short march off a long institutional pier! So, what happened is that editors at tiny Reed humor paper Pamphlette wrote something that made fun of an article in Reed's main student paper. Problem is, it was about gassing Jews.
The Reed kids wrote:
In what is being called a "tragic, but all too predictable" event, the staff of The Leaphlette, a student humor publication at Lewis and Clark College, have been accused of rounding up and gassing all of the Jews on their Portland, OR campus. "There were warning signs," said Lewis and Clark president Thomas J. Habberstashery. "About a month ago they published a satirical article making light of the Holocaust."So actually, yes, this is something called... "parody"! The "serious paper" on campus wrote what sounds like a fairly dingbatty article that claimed parody hurts-it "argued that satirical Holocaust denial enables real genocide"-so the "humor paper" did the obvious thing.
Though the only really funny line, to me, is that in the Pamphlette article, they wrote that some students "have claimed that the incident highlights the need for a multicultural resource center or a women's studies department or something at Lewis and Clark." Heh. That is rich.
On the flip side? The woman from the Greater Portland Hillel gets off a good line too about the Reed kids: "it's cool to be postmodern and think that racism and sexism are gone, and that Reed is such a safe space so you can make any jokes you want and not think about it."
And it is unfortunate also that they set their Holocaust thingie at Lewis and Clark, which was just dealing with a bad infestation of bathroom swastikas. Which the kids at Reed didn't know. Because they don't read each others' newspapers. Right. I would have to say: lesson learned! No one ever reads your newspaper, until you write something terrible about the Holocaust.
MEMORANDUM
FROM: PINCH
TO: KELLER
Billy--
Reading around the internet today when it hit me: No one ever reads your newspaper, until you write something terrible about the Holocaust.
Just the thing to turn those circ numbers around, right? As a great man once said, "Flood the Zone!"
the sad thing is that this is only half a joke.
Also, please: FLOOD THE ZION, no? (ANYONE?)
*postmodern crickets*
The parting of the Red Zone?
Antisemitism is good for quick returns on page views, but it's a bad long term investment. Not that metaphors of trade and finance have anything to do with it.
Antisemitism renders you morally bankrupt.
The best part? This is the girl who championed the whole shit-storm: http://rsa-secular.blogspot.com/2006/11/meet-officers-leslie-zukor_21.html
I love your shift the blame mentality. Since I simply spoke up and said that I find The Pamphlette's "satire" to be tasteless, you make the issue about me. Well, I will stand up in defense of my ancestors who were gassed in the Holocaust.
Grow up. Spend Friday actually helping people, instead of writing blatantly offensive trash at the expense of Jews. The Pamphlette ought to take responsibility for its actions - actions that have ignited the real firestorm.
Oh, and that reference to enabling genocide - it's wasn't my claim. It's from the International Association of Genocide scholars, a group that has a lot more credibility than The Pamphlette.
Doesn't make it any less ridiculous.
"it's cool to be postmodern and think that racism and sexism are gone, and that Reed is such a safe space so you can make any jokes you want and not think about it."
See also: the entire internet.