I have been told that on Tuesday Mike Castle spoke at a Holocaust Remembrance event. The Congressman apparently was having a senior moment during his remarks. One of his points was that, thanks to YouTube, the holocaust could never happen again.
No, I’m not kidding.
Let me just say that in Darfur there is a genocide going on right now. Those people don’t get to surf over to YouTube to point out the atrocities that they are subjected to. And even if they did, who is watching? Rep. Castle’s current rating with Darfur Scorecard is a D. My son would be grounded for a marking period if he got a D in his Social Studies class.
I am certain that the collective shock in the room was not about Darfur, but about how ignorant a comment that was. Of course it can happen again. If a US President can circumvent the Constitution, Congress and the Geneva Convention, I have no doubt that a foreign dictator could do as he pleased with his people for quite a while. YouTube is no guarantee of openness and freedom. It does not inoculate us against genocide, nor magically spur us to action. It does not ensure accountability.
There were ordinary people in Nazi Germany who knew what was going on that said nothing. And when the Gestapo came for their neighbor, they gave a Heil Hitler! to the agents and later after they left, they gave a Groß Gott! for it not being them or their children.
Thomas Jefferson once said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Mikes take on it seems to be, ” now that we have the internet, it’s all good.”
I’ll tell you this… I do wish we had the YouTube video of Castle saying it.