[OFB Cafe] Chris's Politics...

[Derek Broughton]

On July 15, 2008 18:14:27 Donald R Spoon wrote:

> Inadequate Media even then... 
>
> Second, most of the US didn't really know about the Jewish extermination
> program of the Nazis until late in the war with Germany.  There were
> "rumors" that again were ignored by the media.  The discovery of the
> German concentration camps was quite a shock to the US troops.

Yes.  I've read many books, both fact and fiction, that seek to shame 
everybody because the people "should" have known what was happening.  I have 
no doubt that _some_ people did, and that _some_ people actually tried to 
publicize it, but you're right - the media was inadequate.  On our side of 
the 49th, there was Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, owning a vast amount of the 
British & Canadian media.  He was a member of Churchill's cabinet and almost 
certainly knew about the concentration camps, though perhaps not about the 
sheer numbers, but if he didn't actually support the murder of Jews, he 
certainly didn't believe in helping them.

> The bottom line for me is that the US citizens prefer "not to know" and
> the media eagerly supports this perspective unless the information
> supports their adgendas.  

Most people prefer not to know - some Americans just have a way of promoting 
that as a positive trait that makes it seem Americans are more that way than 
others. :-(

-- 
derek