Whoopi & the Professor

Thoughtcrime can lead to thought experiments. All it takes is a willingness to go where others are loath to go. What is race? What is an atrocity? When is a racist atrocity neither racist nor an atrocity? The answers may not be as cut-and-dried as you may think.

In what seems like eons ago, what with the Ukraine kerfuffle that has since erupted, Whoopi Goldberg denied racism had anything to do with the Holocaust. She uttered this blasphemy on the Jan. 31, 2022, showing of The View. Cavalierly dismissing so monumental an atrocity with the "man's inhumanity to man" platitude fell woefully short of doing it justice. To make matters worse, she claimed both Jewish victims and Nazi victimizers were white. 

Sorry, Whoopi. When it comes to the Holocaust, we’re talking unparalleled evil. Nothing in history can hold a candle to it. With racism the deadliest of the Eight Deadly Sins, the Holocaust can't help but have oozed it. 

Every schoolboy knows the Jews are a tribe. Every schoolboy knows the Germans are a tribe. The Nazis, a subset of the German tribe, subjected the Jewish tribe to mass murder via gas chambers. Every schoolboy knows that, too. Inasmuch as "tribe" is just another word for race, the Nazis were racist against the Jews. Sure, the Nazis treated fellow Germans and other Europeans shabbily, too. They just weren't racist about it. 

Decent human beings do not conflate complexion and race. One tribe can in fact perpetrate a racist atrocity against another tribe even if the two tribes share the same skin color. Conversely, one tribe cannot fall victim to a racist atrocity, no matter the skin color of the other tribe. Ben Philippe, a black English instructor at Barnard College, has brought this peculiar phenomenon to the fore. In a segment of his book entitled Sure, I'll be your Black Friend, he matter-of-factly describes a scene in which he gasses white people: 

“When this race war hits its crescendo, I’ll gather you all into a beautifully decorated room under the pretense of unity. I’ll give a speech to civility and all the good times we share; I’ll smile as we raise glasses to your good, white health, while the detonator blinks under the table, knowing the exits are locked and the air vents filled with gas.” 

Philippe discusses his fantasized comeuppance in an interview with Canadian radio host Talia Schlanger. The impossibly telegenic Dutch political analyst Eva Vlaardingerbroek provides audio link to the interview and commentary on the exchange. In the link, you can hear Ms. Schlanger taken aback by the passage and asking him about it. He does not falter in his explanation: 

"I guess I was wrestling with the question that, isn't the result of that, all-out warfare, like, Game of Thrones-style warfare? And what does that look like? And I live in that sort of stray thought for a few pages. And it was disturbing to write, too. Because I'm not a violent person." Giggling, he hastens to add, "I love all my white friends." 

That's how we know he's not a violent person. He has a sense of humor and only wants to gas white people who are strangers. 

Ms. Schlanger informs Mr. Philippe her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. "I can't tell you how it felt to read that sentiment. And I wanted to say to you that I'm sorry that your experience of the world made you feel that way." 

She’s sorry he feels that way? Would Ms. Schlanger feel sorry for a present-day Nazi who fantasized about gassing Jews? Did the historical Nazis have an "experience of the world" that made them "feel that way" about gassing Jews? The exchange leaves Ms. Vlaardingerbroek dumbfounded. She seems to think the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors would push back against a black man who dreams of perpetrating such an act against white people. Maybe even push back hard. 

As if Jews are whites. Ms. Vlaardingerbroek, please report to your local Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE) re-education camp. Take two weeks off. Reflect on the hurt you have caused. 

Meanwhile, her insensitivity toward the Jewish people notwithstanding, it occurs to our Dutch correspondent that visceral hatred of whites has entered the mainstream. "Where are we headed?" she asks. Nowhere good, Ms. Vlaardingerbroek. At least not until our people embrace the same racial consciousness and solidarity long nurtured and taken for granted by our presumed betters. 

Let us not apologize for it. Self-preservation is the first instinct of the species.