I am the son of Holocaust survivors. I am an unapologetic Jewish man who has consistently spoken up against anti-Semitism. I have often made a point of highlighting the dangers of over using Hitler and Nazi Germany as a comparison to the events of the day. So while you might find it surprising that I am using my platform to defend Gina Carano, I find it important that I do.
Carano, who until being fired a few days ago for comments described by representatives of her former employers Lucas Films as “abhorrent”, was let go after she posted the following tweet:
Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children.
Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?
In response, Lucasfilm fired her and said that it was based on “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities”
To address this matter as it needs to be addressed, I go back to my initial statements regarding the dangers of comparing Hitler and or Nazis to events and people of today. As a Jew and son of Holocaust survivors, it has not only been important to me to defend the Jewish people in whatever means available to me, but to understand history as well. The misrepresentation of history in order to make a political argument today, creates the risk of minimizing the events that took place in Europe between 1933 and 1945. It also muddies the waters in a way that brings people far closer to Holocaust denial than we may realize. It creates a spiral of thought that moves society’s away from an understanding of the horrors that really took place. Pedro Pascal, the Mandalorian himself, compared Trump supporters losing the election to the Nazis losing their power in 1945. While I do not have any reason to believe it was his intention, Pascal’s statements can be seen as not far removed from Holocaust denial. To compare the events of the last 4 years to the events that took place during the time of Nazi Germany does 2 things. It elevates evil behaviors of the previous American administration to inaccurate levels, while simultaneously lowering the understanding of the evil behaviors of Nazi Germany. This is not only wrong, but extremely harmful as well.
So then why am I defending the statement of Gina Carano? The truth is, I am not. I am defending her, not the tweet. Personally I find her post to have some important truth to it and far removed from “denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities”. I understand the point trying to be made and think it is a valid and moral one. I still think throwing around the Nazi comparisons have to stop and take some issue with her statement on that level alone. However, how is her tweet worse than that of Pedro Pascal’s and why should she lose her job for exercising what is an increasingly rapid death of her right to Freedom of Speech?
The truth is that she should not have lost her job any more than Pedro Pascal should have lost his. Which makes you wonder what truly took place here. Gina Carano has made no secret of her support for Donald Trump, while Pedro Pascal in his tweet makes it clear not only what he thinks of Donald Trump, but of his supporters as well. What is most fascinating to me is that when you read Carano’s tweet, there is no side taken in the argument. “Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”, doesn’t reveal any current political viewpoint, other than an opposition to fermenting Jew hatred. To which I say to Gina Carano, thank you. So with this in mind you have to wonder, was Carano fired because the powers that be truly found the statement to be “abhorrent”, or was it that they found her support of Donald Trump to be abhorrent?
If you are someone who is arguing in support of the firing of Gina Carano because you find her views to be anti-Semitic, I challenge you to make that argument. If you are someone who is misappropriating her tweet in order to further your agenda, then I insist you find another group’s history of persecution to manipulate to your benefit, and if you are doing this in the name of defending me and my fellow Jews I say the following. No thank you. I do not wish to have the memories of my family and 6 million Jews distorted in the name of your, at best misguided, at worst heinous and cynical approach towards Jewish history.
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