Kneeling to Feed the Crocodile

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.
—Malayan proverb

If the measure of any work of art is the degree to which it provokes us into facing something about ourselves, then how well it presents us with both the loftier and the baser extremes of our human nature can be used to determine whether it is a masterpiece or a mediocrity. Fewer events in recent history have given us wider latitude to exercise these extremes of our nature than the Holocaust; and fewer works of art have successfully confronted us with mankind’s extremes of conduct in this event than Steven Spielberg’s extraordinary film Schindler's List. Released last week for the first time on DVD, this poignant and compelling film satisfies every requirement, in every way, for it to be rightfully hailed as a modern cinematic masterpiece.

Now, while it is true that the ultimate message one takes from Schindler’s List is uplifting (that even an immoral reprobate can be stirred by conscience into thwarting evil), for me, given the geopolitical realities of the present day, there are other, less savory, messages in it that should be examined: One is the frighteningly thin divide between civility and barbarism. The other is humanity’s seemingly limitless capacity to rationalize our inhumanity with denial.

It is a curious fact of human psychology that people will appease those who seek to do them harm, in the vain hope that the abuser will somehow be mollified by surrender. We all do it at various times in our lives, with family, spouses, bosses, friends; and many never stop. Yet, while denial in dealing with those who love us is often a handicap of character, denial in dealing with those who hate us is often fatal. This is especially true in the case of nations. Winston Churchill, the classic anti-appeaser, said it best: "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

In this regard, whenever my thoughts turn to the Holocaust, I am always struck by a troubling clash of two conflicting emotions: On the one hand, I find it impossible not to be staggered by pity for those who suffered under such sadistic, inhuman brutality. On the other, I am outraged at the contemptuous capitulation of those same people. With incredulity I watch both the Nazi’s cultured and bureaucratic sadism, and their victim's mad psychological scramble to deny this sadism; and their frantic attempts to maintain this state of denial.

And, curiously enough, along with this denial and supplication before the “strong”, there is always the fierce lashing out at, and traitorous condemnation of, those who would stand up to the abusers. Even after the confiscation of their houses and property, and their relocation to the Warsaw Ghetto, the fear of the Nazi’s caused all too many Jews to be angry with those who merely spoke of resistance...never mind their reaction to those bravest souls who actively resisted.

Now, please, this is not in any way a condemnation of Jews; in any population group you will find an easy 40% who would debase themselves from fear of a seemingly unbeatable foe, while turning on those of their own kind who would not. Witness the disgraceful prostrations of the Left during the recent election in Spain. The slogan was a classic example of appeasement: Vote the Party Who Will Not Upset Our Killers.

This wanton cowardice is echoed by the Left in the U.S., Britain, and, sorriest of all, on the bloody streets of Israel herself. After the Pogroms of the past, the horrors of the Holocaust, and the carnage of the continuing Intifada, how any Jew in Israel could imagine that, to their enemies, compromise will not be seen as capitulation, that kindness will not be viewed as weakness, near beggars belief. They are simply repeating the same mistake, living in the same state of denial, as those before them who went quietly from their homes, to the ghettoes, then to the ovens.

Unable to face the truth about themselves, many today who subscribe to and promote the tactics of appeasement will always rationalize and glorify their fear by calling it “pacifism”, “anti-war”, or, laughably, “civilized”. Many will cite the passive resistance of Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther King. But this is simply a misreading of the reason for the successes of their campaigns: the civilized nature of those being resisted. Christian, democratic Britain and America were populated and run by a far different type of people than were Nazi Germany and the Palestinian Authority. And neither government, for all their failings, had explicit designs of genocide.

Schindler’s List is a must see movie, a magnum opus. It is both a memorial and a monument. A constant reminder of the banal savagery that murdered 6 million innocents; and an eternal caution to the higher aspect of our humanity, that the lower aspect of this same humanity is always there, below the surface, slavering, hungry and using our fear against us, ever ready to ascend.

Nie Wieder.