Check the Opinion page of the Washington Post or as some affectionately call it, "The Compost" and you'll find Richard Cohen expressing his outrage at the denial of the Holocaust by Society of Saint Pius X bishop Williamson. With justified sarcasm Cohen points idiocy and malevolence of Williamson's assertions by positing irrefutable evidence that should silence any Holocaust denier. It is, therefore, saddening that the same Cohen displays unpardonable ignorance while referring to the Catholic Church. His using Williamson and blatantly incorrect facts as a springboard to attack the Pope seem to demonstrate that Cohen is brain dead to his own promotion of the politically correct bigotry of anti-Catholicism. If only Cohen would learn from the evil of politically correct anti-Semitism of the Nazi regime, perhaps he would open his own eyes to see that his own words put him in the camp of anti-Catholic bigots.Dithering Before A DenierBy Richard Cohen
Tuesday, February 10, 2009;
Washinton Post Page A17 Shush. Do not call. Do not e-mail. I am on pins and needles.
The newly reinstated Roman Catholic bishop [A bad and disingenuous start. Cohen hasn't done his homework and this allows him to begin his anti-Catholic rant almost implying a conspiracy. Of course, anti-Catholic bigots love this stuff, but a for a man who claims outrage at anti-Semitism, this is inexcusable. A man of good would have done research to learn that lifting an excommunication does not "reinstate" someone from whom the penalty was lifted. For example, Pope Paul VI, who signed Nostra Aetate, lifted the excommunication on the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1967. That did not mean the Patriarch of Constantinople was "reinstated," nor that Pope Paul VI agreed with the Patriarch's public or private statements. Now, Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication on the four bishops of the Society who were illicitly ordained in 1988. Nevertheless, these bishops are still suspended. Because of the Church's doctrine about Holy Orders, they are validly ordained, but still irregular. They have no jurisdiction and no right to function or pass themselves off as legitimate Catholic bishops.] who has been ordered by the pope to recant his statements denying the Holocaust now concedes that "many honest and intelligent people" disagree with him, so he's going to look into the matter and see if he has been wrong. With virtually unbearable anticipation, I await his findings.
Bishop Richard Williamson, installed in the schismatic Society of St. Pius X and
invited back into the church [Imprecise language. Bigots and scoundrels like imprecision.] by Pope Benedict XVI just last month,
[on January 25th] said his examination of the evidence will have its limits. "I will not go to Auschwitz," he told the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel via e-mail. No matter. People with his mind-set have already been there.
Still, he could go to Treblinka, also in Poland, or any of the other Polish camps -- Sobibor, Belzec, Majdanek. In Germany, Austria and elsewhere he could visit Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenburg, Mauthausen, Ravensbrueck or the many subsidiary camps -- a trek that could take him across Europe and into the cold reality of historic horror.
Holocaust denial suggests a mind perforated by anti-Semitism,
a bigotry so extreme that it blinds the bigot [Exactly! But, would that Cohen reflected on his own bigotry.] to mounds of shoes and hair and eyeglasses, all of these exhibited at various Holocaust museums. To be a denier, it is necessary to believe that all the survivors -- Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel and all the others -- staggered out of the camps, got together and agreed to fabricate a story.
You have to believe that historians did something similar -- and so, too, did the people who lived downwind from the crematoriums, and even the train engineers who took countless Jews unto the camps and brought none out. Where are the 54,000 Greek Jews of Salonika? Where did those people go? "We dig a grave in the breezes," Paul Celan wrote in his Holocaust poem "Death Fugue." Ah, yes, that's where they are.
[Let's not forget the 5 million non-Jews who were also murdered in addition to the 6 million Jews by the Nazis. Williamson should be censured by public opinion for disrespecting them too.]Williamson's lawyer confirmed the authenticity of the e-mails to Der Spiegel. It is possible, though, that the pope has not yet seen the article. He sees so little.
Astoundingly, the pope says he was unaware that Williamson is a Holocaust denier. He did not know that Williamson said that only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II and that none were gassed.
[From reports, Williamson spouted this drivel a month ago in an interview on Swedish television. But, ASTOUNDINGLY, since Williamson's denial was obviously so well-known - at least to Cohen, one wonders why COHEN DID NOT WRITE to the Pope. Did Cohen even publish something about the Williamson interview in the Post?] Williamson said that he once reviewed the physical evidence. This, of course, is the telltale twitch of the really obsessed anti-Semite, an architectural deconstruction of the ovens and the chimneys to conclude that the whole thing was impossible -- a yarn, a myth concocted by those diabolically clever Jews to win sympathy, reparations and, of course, Israel itself.
It's clear that the
pope doesn't only travel in a bubble, he lives in one.
[??? Subtle! Bringing out the anti-Catholic fangs.] But that is no concern of mine -- or yours.
[Oh, really?] What should concern us more is the charade that continues. A Holocaust denier now pretends to sift through the evidence to see if such a thing happened. What shall we do with the results? What if Williamson says the Holocaust occurred, the ovens worked, the chimneys were big enough? Who cares? Should he be considered sincere? Can this graduate of Cambridge University suddenly be exonerated of his patent anti-Semitism? How can you doubt the Holocaust and not be a raving Jew-hater?
[And what does Cohen suggest be done? He should be careful since he himself is a raving Catholic-hater.]Still, the pope mulls the matter over.
What should he, a German,
[So, now it's ok for Cohen to throw in a little anti-German racism. What is the implication of Cohen's refering to the Pope as being German? Does the Pope being Germans make him an anti-Semite in Cohen's depraved mind?] do about this Holocaust denier? (The pope has dismayed much of Germany.) What should he, the pope, do after
eons of Vatican anti-Semitism [aeons? Let's not be rational anymore. Cohen unleashes his rabid anti-Catholicism more and more.] culminating in a
supine silence [Not only more DENIAL of facts by an anti-Catholic bigot, but Cohen seems to be suggesting that the Pope was collaborating in the Holocaust by supposed "silence." This is the implication of his word "culminating" after accusing the "Vatican" of anti-Semitism. Cohen completely disregards history to portray an anti-Catholic version of history. For example, he ignores the witness of Chief Rabbi Zolli of Rome (who took the name Eugenio for Pope Pius XII after his baptism) doesn't cut Cohen's anti-Catholic filter. He totally overlooks the many reputable authors who have debunked Rolf Hochhuth's (a defender of Holocaust denier David Irving) play which scapegoated Pope Pius XII. Anti-Catholic bigot Cohen totally ignores all the Catholics who risked their lives and safety to protect the persecuted Jews.] during the Holocaust itself? He dithers. He did not know. He demanded a retraction. He is waiting. He is being played for a fool.
Benedict XVI is a traditionalist, an organization man,
[??? Wow! This is disingenuous. Cohen earlier accused Benedict of "living in a bubble" and added that it was no concern of his. Yet, apparently he is concerned and he has set himself up as judge, jury, and executioner of the Pope.] and so he worries about a schism in the Church
[This is laughable. A schism cannot be "in" the Church since the word itself means "cut off."]-- the Pius X Society representing ultra-conservatives who
reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which pertinently included a strong repudiation of anti-Semitism.
[Another disingenuous attack. Cohen let's his anti-Catholic agenda no no limit. Since the SSPX rejects certain "reforms" they obviously are anti-Semites in his bigoted mind.] Never mind that the schism has existed since
1969 [1969? Again, why should Cohen let facts interrupt his anti-Catholic diatribe?] and does not matter much anyway. With his overture to Williamson and his subsequent dithering,
Benedict XVI has opened a much more consequential schism [Here is where Cohen is just another stupid anti-Catholic bigot who wants to determine Church teaching and define the nature of "schism."] -- between the church he heads and a worldwide community of appalled onlookers. It is one thing to deny the Holocaust. It is somehow worse to deny that doing so is anything other than an irreversible and disqualifying confession of anti-Semitism. No matter what he may come to say, Williamson must not be accepted by the pope.
[He has not been accepted!!! But, pretending that he has allows self-righteous bigots like Cohen to go on with anti-Catholic rants with the support of the mass media. Anti-Semitism is a grave evil which Cohen rightly condemns. Would that he, however, would not only condemn but also avoid anti-Catholicism in his own life!] History forbids it.
cohenr@washpost.com
