Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

CNY students upset after being asked to defend Nazis, Holocaust for homework
Syracuse.com ^ | March 30, 2017 at 2:04 PM | Julie McMahon

Posted on 04/02/2017 5:00:49 AM PDT by Olog-hai

Archer Shurtliff and Jordan April, both 17, felt “weird” when in February they received an assignment asking students to argue for the extermination of Jewish people.

The words “TOP SECRET” were stamped across the top in red. The “memorandum,” first posted online and addressed to senior Nazi party members, asked students to put themselves in the shoes of Adolf Hitler’s top aides.

Archer and Jordan, who are not Jewish, wondered if they understood the assignment correctly. Did their teacher, Michael DeNobile, really mean for his students to argue in favor of the “Final Solution,” the Nazis’ justification for genocide?

During class the next day, DeNobile randomly assigned half the students to argue for, and half to argue against the extermination of Jews. Archer was assigned to be in favor of the Final Solution, and Jordan was picked to be against.

The students were “disturbed” by the assignment, which they viewed as encouraging anti-Semitism and fascist speech. …

(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: New York
KEYWORDS: antisemite; antisemitism; holocaust; liberalagenda; michaeldenobile; nazi; oswego
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last
To: Tax-chick

I am also of two minds about this


21 posted on 04/02/2017 6:53:57 AM PDT by brucedickinson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it


22 posted on 04/02/2017 7:01:14 AM PDT by Homer1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: faucetman

When you sup with the Devil you should bring a long spoon.
Dallying with evil to understand it is a bad idea for most people. Evil cannot be prevented by understanding.


23 posted on 04/02/2017 7:17:36 AM PDT by JayGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Homer1

I do not know your religious bent but the Catholic faith has martyrs who refused to denounce their G*d in the face of death & torture. To speak for genocide is not that far from denouncing G*d in my mind.

The understanding to be obtained from the Inquisition or Hitler’s reign is that there are evil people in the world and that by contamination and in fear weak people will stand with the evil ones. The lesson is that one stands against evil wherever one finds it and cherishes & nourishes good because otherwise truly horrible things happen. Good men must join together to resist evil and learn to recognize it by it’s quest of power for the self and the disregard for the rights & value of the others that are being trampled.

Evil is a possibility in each of us; it is a part of being human. Embrace it for whatever purpose at your peril.


24 posted on 04/02/2017 7:51:52 AM PDT by JayGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

A stopped clock. Kalifornia students woke up for a brief moment.


25 posted on 04/02/2017 8:15:06 AM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

I agree with the students. Imagine if these students decide to run for office in 15 years. Some lib would dig up these essays and destroy them.


26 posted on 04/02/2017 8:29:29 AM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

What’s next? Asking our young to ‘empathize’ with serial killers?

Fire the ‘teacher’ ...


27 posted on 04/02/2017 9:16:55 AM PDT by GOPJ (Tahitian Top Secret Hideout and Pacific HQ of the Deep State? What's up Grampa Dave)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
...encouraging anti-Semitism and fascist speech....

Isn't that the norm with Bolshekrats?

28 posted on 04/02/2017 11:06:09 AM PDT by depressed in 06 (60 in '18.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“So why not argue against the 13th Amendment or the 19th, then? “

They do. Education requires understanding points of view. Obviously, there were people that were against such 13th and 19th protections so it had to be passed to provide them.

Studying those points of view is not the same as adopting nor supporting them.

This is why college isn’t for everyone. Some people are just too stupid to teach.


29 posted on 04/02/2017 11:10:15 AM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement, I'd be unstoppable!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Next they can argue in favor of the child sex slave trade.


30 posted on 04/02/2017 11:13:08 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
Alas, there isn't anything like a neutral mental exercise left in academia, which is all this would be except for one thing: success is worse than failure.

On the one hand, it is very useful to understand how a certain group of people may be systematically dehumanized to the point where outright murder is no longer anathema, because it could happen to others: white males on the very same campuses, perhaps? "Whiteness" is, after all, as inescapable and indelible as "Jewness" used to be if one is to believe the neo-Aryan racial theories of the current crop of Social Justice Warriors.

On the other hand, the student incapable of producing such a paper due to profound moral convictions is a failure. One who produces a brilliant apologia is a success (with, as others pointed out, his or her name on the paper). I'm not sure that's a wise position for a teacher to place a student into, even if the intention is honorable.

31 posted on 04/02/2017 11:25:33 AM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad

Studying points of view is not the same as being forced to debate from that point of view, in essence selling it.
Some people obviously know little and understand less about understanding people & points of view as they relate to mass insanity.


32 posted on 04/02/2017 12:06:33 PM PDT by JayGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
For a University assignment, this may be going a mile or two too far.

I realize the teacher wants them to understand our enemies like Sun Tzu, puts them in a situation where they have to ration do I obey orders or risk being shot? What sort of morals did these people in the top nazi brass have ETC.

But for a University assignment, this is just going too far.

NEXT UP: An Assignment as a Democratic party senator to vote for euthanasia and eugenics

33 posted on 04/13/2017 6:15:40 AM PDT by mainestategop (DonÂ’t Let Freedom Slip Away! After America , There is No Place to Go)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson