Note: A truly brave and intrepid satirist would not ask you to check the tags before responding to this one, but in case it gets notice I do so to ensure that the title doesn't reflect badly on this site. Other abortion-related news is below the fold.
I am not saying that people do not have the legal right to discuss and memorialize the Holocaust in a building dedicated to that end; I merely question whether it is a good idea. No one can doubt, after today's shooting, that the existence of such a building is a provocation to segments of our society who do not believe that it is appropriate.
Indeed, we have to wonder whether it is right to ask people to guard such a Museum, thus securing the rights of people to teach and learn, in an environment where there is, clearly, a probability of their being killed. Isn't it, in a way, immoral to do so? Don't we contribute to their deaths?
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Our laws do not allow for Holocaust Studies to be banned altogether, but at least we can avoid the greatest provocations which foreseeably will lead to this sort of violence. The people, through this violent act, have spoken: we must reconcile ourselves to a future where public discussion of the Holocaust is deemed too dangerous to be allowed to continue.
For those who say that this entails "letting the terrorists win," I simply want to remind you: this is exactly what we are prepared to do, and for the same reason, when it comes to the provision of legal late-term abortion services. Surely that means that it must be all right elsewhere as well -- right?
Update: Several comments have made important points that should have been included in this diary, and are clearly in keeping with its spirit. I'll post some of the best ones here, slightly edited for typos, without noting each time I update:
"Clearly this is the fault of all those that keep insisting the Holocaust was real and want to expose it. It is infallible logic that if we just denied the Holocaust this would have never happened."
"I wouldn't say the museum is a provocation, but I will say that it is everything that our founding fathers would have decried, everything that our armed forces fought against, will enslave our children, ruin our nation, could not hurt our nation more if it were trying to destroy us all, and has got to be stopped somehow."
"Much as the American Museum of Natural History is a provocation to creationists. It should close immediately, if not sooner."
Other notes on abortion-related issues today:
(1) After trying to get Rep. Gary Miller's views on whether the murder of Dr. Tiller was an act of terrorism, I got the brushoff from the young woman answering his phone in D.C. They'll answer me by mail. I suppose that the onus is on journalists -- and bloggers and writers of LTEs -- now. If any of you have had better luck, please let me know.
(2) I included in my diary of yesterday (linked above) a statement from Operation Rescue President Troy Newman saying that he hoped that Tiller's Wichita clinic would not be closed "for this reason." He seems to have had a change of heart.
What Operation Rescue President Troy Newman said when he first heard of the murder of Dr. George Tiller:
Troy Newman, the leader of Operation Rescue, had said that closing the clinic now would send a worrisome message. "Good God, do not close this abortion clinic for this reason," he said in an interview with The New York Times. "Every kook in the world will get some notion."
What Troy Newman said yesterday:
"We are thankful that Tiller’s clinic will not reopen and thankful that Wichita is now abortion-free. It is our sincere prayer that threats to open another third-trimester abortion clinic in Kansas will not come to fruition so that the healing process for this state and community can begin," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.
"This is a bittersweet moment for us at Operation Rescue. We have worked very hard for this day, but we wish it would have come through the peaceful, legal channels that we were pursuing.
So, if you're keeping score, Operation Rescue is, after all, willing to succeed as a result of others' terrorism. It's "bitter," but it's also "sweet."
I think that not letting terrorists win, by pushing federal efforts to provide legal abortion services, including legal late-term abortion services, while we clamp down on domestic terrorism -- which begins by our political leaders and public figures calling it what it is -- would truly be sweet.