What is "the" right way to challenge historical revisionism in popular media?
Unwavering politeness with consistent clear evidence to support our case.
Skillful and strategic approaches.
Group and individual responses.
Great politeness, sensitivity and empathy.
Polite assertiveness.
Careful, measured thought.
Hoisting offenders with their own petard.
Challenging unfounded assertions and myths.
Condemning racism and bigotry.
Scorn.
Reductio ad absurdum.
Humour.
All of the above (though not necessarily in a single communication).
Even derision and sarcasm can be effective if wielded with a deft hand.
The worst approach to challenging historical revisionism is not challenging it at all.
Again, kudos to all here who sent responses to the BBC's latest debacle. None of you need lessons from me or anyone else about what is the best way or the worst way to react - the point is that you reacted.
Any frustration about this ongoing battle has my empathy. I have been challenging media misrepresentations since the 1980s,
privately and publicly, and have often felt near despair that the tide could ever be turned. Sometimes I was disheartened because there seemed to be so few other voices. But it is clear that there are many people demanding accuracy today, as we see with the BBC example on this forum. It is also my perception that the tide is starting to slow down if not yet recede. There is still much work to be done, but it seems to me that our message is heard and is having an effect.
I concur that we should not?"seek to create a league table of suffering by nation or by historical events." Such tables have been promoted by some others for years, but we should seek an inclusive approach rather than promoting new and competing exclusivity. All people are human beings, all suffer
when they are tortured and all are equally dead when murdered by tyrants of whatever stripe.?
That's why I often point out the broad dangers of revisionism and avoid asking for an apology specifically to the Polish community for misrepresentations. The offense is against history and humanity, not "just" Polish people.
I also agree that, "We should rather be supportive of and helpful towards Jewish and other groups who seek to ensure the world remembers their grievous loss. This is not only humane and compassionate but strategically the best approach."
Dividing people by ethnicity, race, religion, etc. was a Nazi method that deserves to be repudiated utterly. I don't understand how anyone hopes to fight discrimination by discriminating. There is no such thing as "reverse discrimination," only discrimination.
Jewish writers and commentators have been magnificently successful in sensitizing the wider community to such issues and can teach us a lot. They are indeed our allies in common cause. I frequently quote prominent Jewish sources that have eloquently denounced expressions such as "Polish death camps." I also use the "substitution" method to quickly make others recognize defamatory remarks
or "jokes". When invited to read "Jewish" where "Polish" appears they usually see the bigotry instantly.
Bottom line: let's not waste our precious energy telling others how they used the wrong method to fight media misrepresentations. Rather than being constructive, such criticism risks silencing these precious few at a time that the cause can use all the help it can get. Short of destructive approaches such as bigotry, name-calling and ad hominem attacks, doing something, anything, is always better than doing nothing.
John Halucha
Sault Ste Marie, Canada
