{"id":12453,"date":"2022-11-02T17:22:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T06:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=12453"},"modified":"2022-11-03T14:09:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T03:09:06","slug":"how-hitler-conspiracies-and-other-holocaust-disinformation-undermine-democratic-institutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/02\/how-hitler-conspiracies-and-other-holocaust-disinformation-undermine-democratic-institutions\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hitler conspiracies and other Holocaust disinformation undermine democratic institutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Godwin\u2019s Law posits that any online argument, if it continues long enough, will\u00a0inevitably invoke a comparison to Hitler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps there should be an updated version: If you examine any given conspiracy theory, even seemingly innocuous ones, it won\u2019t be long until you find coded and explicit antisemitism.<\/p>\n

Some cases are obvious. Remember how far-right US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene embraced the ‘Jewish space lasers’<\/a> theory after the California wildfires in 2018? Other conspiracy theories, such as those that claim\u00a09\/11 was an inside job<\/a>, require a little more deciphering.<\/p>\n

More recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin spread an outlandish conspiracy theory to justify his military invasion of Ukraine. Nothing less than the\u00a0de-nazification of Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0was required, Putin bizarrely claimed, while neglecting the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish\u00a0and lost family members in the Holocaust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All too often, such theories and disinformation are rooted in\u00a0antisemitic tropes<\/a>. These promote false claims of Jewish control over institutions and even the outcome of specific events.<\/p>\n

While it might be easy to dismiss such disinformation as harmless or too bizarre to be believable, in reality disinformation and conspiracy theorising often spreads harmful antisemitic messages and also undermines our democratic institutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the longest lasting conspiracy theories \u2014 even though it has been repeatedly proven false \u2014 is the narrative of a Jewish world conspiracy presented in\u00a0The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

British historian\u00a0Richard Evans<\/a> is set to explore the longevity of the Protocols<\/em> and how they are seen within the framework of Nazi ideology, in Toronto on November 2, opening Holocaust Education Week 2022<\/a>. Evans\u2019s book\u00a0The Hitler Conspiracies<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is an important reminder of the perennial fascination with and longevity of the inherently antisemitic conspiracy theory that historian\u00a0Norman Cohn famously described as a \u201cwarrant for genocide.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

As Yehuda Bauer, honorary chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, stated, \u201ca half truth is worse than a full lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myths and disinformation about the Holocaust<\/a>\u00a0continue to permeate social media and increasingly, political discourse, even while the\u00a0Holocaust is one<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0most thoroughly documented events<\/a>\u00a0in history.<\/p>\n

Whether intentional or not, disinformation breathes new life into old, often violence-inducing antisemitic narratives. The power of distortion and misinformation is its seemingly immutable ability to defy the historical truth.<\/p>\n

Dangerous narratives found in the\u00a0Protocols<\/em>\u00a0continue to inform attempts to deny and distort the Holocaust. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum calls it the\u00a0most notorious and widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Born out of fear and hatred, Holocaust conspiracy theories have enormous longevity and regain traction in times of uncertainty and societal unease.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0distortion and disinformation attempts to erode our belief<\/a> in the historical record and cast aspersions on Jews, it simultaneously nourishes conspiracy theories that encourage extreme nationalism, and not infrequently antisemitism. Antisemitism is inherently conspiratorial. In the 20th century, it became\u00a0deeply enmeshed in western antidemocratic and fascist politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Born out of fear and hatred, Holocaust conspiracy theories have enormous longevity and regain traction in times of uncertainty and societal unease.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Visions of shadowy Jewish cabals pulling the strings behind world events and orchestrating disasters, both macro and personal, continue to hold sway in our political imagination.<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-lockdown protesters around the world frequently\u00a0appropriated the yellow star<\/a>\u00a0that was forced upon Jews during the Holocaust. Others invoked visuals of the\u00a0notorious death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau<\/a> in a misguided attempt to compare their supposed victimisation to the genocide of European Jewry.<\/p>\n

Holocaust distortion and conspiracism are equally dangerous: both open the door to entertaining fantasies and ideas that have historically led to mass murder of Jews.<\/p>\n

This is the case whether it is the intentionally hateful kind espoused by infamous neo-Nazis\u00a0like Ernst Zundel<\/a>, or misguided appropriations by anti-lockdown protesters\u00a0during the pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One result of this phenomenon is\u00a0the weakening of our democratic institutions<\/a>, which are the foundation of western democracy itself.<\/p>\n

Just as the spread of this disinformation and false equivalencies instrumentalise history, they also weaken public trust in<\/a>\u00a0the bodies\u00a0that determine public health guidelines<\/a>\u00a0and oversee public safety\u00a0and economic policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Characteristically, conspiracy theories, disinformation and misinformation don\u2019t need to prove their claims. They need only to cause doubt and undermine the agencies and departments that function as part of the democratic process.<\/p>\n

We are living in conspiratorial times. The concerning prevalence of Holocaust distortion and denial material online today poses a serious challenge to educators. Even when debunked, disinformation can remain accessible through online platforms influencing new generations unaware of how this information has been discredited.<\/p>\n

A recent UNESCO study reported that\u00a0nearly half of the Holocaust content on the app Telegram<\/a>\u00a0contained denial and disinformation.\u00a0Educational programs have been developed<\/a>\u00a0that target the specific challenges posed by this proliferation of falsehoods and disinformation.<\/p>\n

It will require however, prioritising teaching digital literacy and robust Holocaust education \u2014 and repeatedly equipping learners with tools to critically analyse what they encounter in online forums<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Holocaust distortion and conspiracism are only one form of ugly disinformation swirling our polluted media ecosystems and social networks, but they are a particularly venomous and dangerous one.<\/p>\n

Addressing this problem will not be easy. It requires a collaborative response that must include international co-operation from all levels of governments, leaders and international organisations devoted to nurturing and protecting civil society. When a celebrity such as Ye, formerly known as Kanye West<\/a>, can espouse\u00a0antisemitic conspiracy theories<\/a>\u00a0and still have a business partnership with Adidas \u2014\u00a0now ended after mounting public pressure<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 there is indeed a lot of work to do. To their credit,\u00a0sponsor Balenciaga severed ties<\/a>\u00a0with him after his\u00a0antisemitic outbursts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To effect real change, education, collective responsibility and action are essential for success.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published in <\/strong><\/em>The Conversation<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by William Warby<\/a> on Unsplash.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Godwin\u2019s Law posits that any online argument, if it continues long enough, will\u00a0inevitably invoke a comparison to Hitler. Perhaps there<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":12463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[321,366,504,468],"coauthors":[505],"class_list":["post-12453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-conspiracy-theories","tag-disinformation","tag-holocaust","tag-judaism"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12453"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12458,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12453\/revisions\/12458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12453"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}