Thursday, October 19, 2006

This Explains A Lot

Clayton Cramer presents a theory of why the Bush=Hitler meme is so commonplace today. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be based on complete ignorance of history- and what evils Hitler actually perpetuated.

Students are arriving at college with almost no knowledge of history. She found out from her students today that in Meridian school district, their world history class devoted one paragraph to the Nazi concentration camps. In Boise school district, if her students are to be believed, the subject didn't come up.

What little her students know about concentration camps comes from watching Schindler's List. While a fine film, this describes a rare and unusually fortunate outcome of the Holocaust. The disturbing films of the liberation of the concentration camps? Her traditional age students have apparently not seen them. Their knowledge is woefully inadequate. It would appear that Hitler's greatest crime, at least from the statements made by students, was aggressive war about the Soviet Union. (And now you can understand Bush=Hitler!)

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