Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is at the center of a national controversy due to the state’s new curriculum guidelines, which have drawn criticism for their portrayal of African-American enslaved individuals in the pre-Civil War South. The guidelines suggest that students should learn that these enslaved persons “developed skills” that could be “applied for their personal benefit.”
During an appearance on the Fox News show “The Five,” former “Red Eye” host Greg Gutfeld stepped forward to defend the governor by making a comparison involving the Holocaust. Gutfeld cited Viktor Frankl’s renowned work, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” to argue that survival in concentration camps required individuals to possess skills and be useful to stay alive. He remarked, “You had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills… utility kept you alive.”
The White House promptly responded to Gutfeld’s comments, expressing strong disapproval. Spokesperson Andrew Bates issued a statement denouncing the network for allowing such remarks on air and failing to condemn them, labeling the remarks an “obscenity.”
While the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum acknowledged that Gutfeld’s comparison was not entirely off the mark, they advocated for a more nuanced approach when discussing the Holocaust. In a measured response, the museum highlighted that while some Jews might have used their skills or usefulness to increase their chances of survival during the Holocaust, it is crucial to contextualize such statements appropriately and understand the complex history of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
The state museum added a tweet to address the issue: “While it is true that some Jews may have used their skills or usefulness to increase their chances of survival during the Holocaust, it is essential to contextualize this statement properly and understand that it does not represent the complex history of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany.”
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11 Responses
A bunch of nothing. Shame on ywn (yawn) for peddling in this garbage.
To the left, any comment made by a member of the right is racist and antisemitic no matter how benign the comment, and conversely any comment made by the left is ok no matter how horrible.
I think the comparison gutfeld makes is incorrect as he compares the skills learned by slaves during their enslavement to benefit themselves and others in their post slavery lives to skills Jews had before or learned during the holocaust in order to keep themselves alive.
Regardless though nothing he says is anti-Semitic just like nothing in the Florida curriculum is racist.
I really don’t understand their point, both in regard to slavery and in regard to the Holocaust. It may be true that Jews who were rabbis or bankers learnt how to become balcksmiths in the camps. Why does that matter? People learn about the Holocaust and slavery to learn about the extraordinary evil and bad things done to the victims, as well as the resilience shown by them. But this sounds like a dangerous opinion that slavery was beneficial because it “civilized” people. To bring people across the ocean like cattle, whip them mercilessly, seperate them and their families, abuse the wom
I really don’t understand their point, both in regard to slavery and in regard to the Holocaust. It may be true that Jews who were rabbis or bankers learnt how to become balcksmiths in the camps. Why does that matter? People learn about the Holocaust and slavery to learn about the extraordinary evil and bad things done to the victims, as well as the resilience shown by them. But this sounds like a dangerous opinion that slavery was beneficial because it “civilized” people. To bring people across the ocean like cattle, whip them mercilessly, seperate them and their families, abuse the women slaves, watch to slaves fight to the death for enjoyment, and many many other bad things, but we focus on the fact thay they may have been tought to cook in a white home? Also, many of the slaves were not taught these things and were then forced to work as sharecroppers for their former masters because they had no other choice.
Great statement by the museum!
Greg is a good guy. Comparing anything to the holocaust is walking on a mine. He shldve not made this analogy but again, hes human. He erred. But stop screaming fowl and taking people out of context.
Whoopie Goldbergs words were disgraceful.
He was trying to prove a point that fell flat.
This story is a non-starter. He merely quoted Victor Frankel, a holocaust survivor himself.
There is nothing offensive about a simple fact. Noone was building a narrative around it.
Only irreligious Jews and gentiles get faux-fended by this stuff.
Dan The:
The point is a simple distinction between”Skills were learned”, and “People benefited”
All anyone suggested was the simple fact that skills and tools were developed.
Neither Florida curriculum nor Gutfeld were suggesting more than that.
The left is selling a false narrative that people are happy with the circumstances.
It happens to be true that Jews who either had skills or pretended to have skills that the Nazis were looking for, had a better chance of survival, at least in the short term. Later on, some of the survivors were able to utilize the learned skills that they picked up for their benefit in their new lives. Does that mean that one could say that they benefitted from their horrible experiences? I somehow doubt that these traumatized people who lost their families, communities, positions, property as well as treasured possession, were thrilled to have new (generally low-level, albeit useful) skills in place of their past whole world. Anyway, he was quoting Viktor Frankl, a survivor himself.
My grandparents avoided the ghettos & camps by doing exactly the opposite of what the governments asked them. These survival skills and the even greater ones prisoners learned in the camps must me recognized and learned from at age appropriate age levels, so history does not repeat itself.
Keep the shoah out of contemporary political dialogue and metaphors. Full stop. What is so difficult.