Re: [Leica] class action suit

["Bruce R. Slomovitz" <brslomo@erols.com>]

Carl,

Thanks for your reply, but to be honest, I don't care whether or not you
appreciate me and what I say or not.  However let me set you straight.

It does not matter that these kinds of topics have been hashed out once
before or hundreds of times before, here or anywhere else.  What matters is
when a person, whoever that may be, whatever his credentials may be, makes
statements that minimize the barbarity of the holocaust or denigrate the
suffering of its victims and when others then defend those statements.  It
matters because this is precisely how a modern, educated, cultured people
can become a criminal mob, through the ignorance and hatred of an ignorant
few.

Ignorance and stupidity have to be challenged everywhere and everytime.  As
has been stated already, the leadership of German firms has changed several
times since the war.  This is not what is at issue.  And since these
companies are modern firms in a great democratic society, it makes little
sense to deprive ourselves of their wonderful products.  This is not the
problem.  The problem comes when ignorant people make ridiculous statements
about historical events of which they obviously know nothing and others
rally to defend those statements.

So go buy a Mercedes or whatever else you want to drive but don't buy any
woof tickets.


Bruce S.

- -----Original Message-----
From: Carl Socolow <csocolow@microserve.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 11:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] class action suit


>Bruce,
>
>I appreciate your passion. I appreciate all who urge us not to forget
>the holocaust. Or, as Santayana said, those who fail to learn from
>history are doomed to repeat it. I lost great-uncles and aunts in the
>holocaust and I share similar passions.
>
>What I don't appreciate is your vitriol and attitude to members of this
>list. This is a perennial topic that comes up: Leitz's involvement with
>the Nazis during and preceeding the war. Marc Small, who is a valuable
>and knowledgeable contributor to this list, who has written numerous
>books on Zeiss and Leitz, and who  maintains no small degree of
>objectivity, is whom Eric has referenced.
>
>You may not have been a member during the last go-round on this topic
>but it really was hashed out quite a bit. You may want to go to the
>archives to see some of the history. In fact, all of you who are
>bringing this up again may want to revisit the archives.
>
>I don't want to go through this again on the LUG. It becomes a pissing
>contest of who's wrong and who's right and I don't think any of us favor
>the Holocaust, are revisionists or bear any complicity by using Leicas.
>Never Again means acting now to prevent present and future occurences.
>
>Finally, as a Jew, I have greater problems with fellow Jews who drive
>Mercedes and the like since that company was so helpful in developing
>some of the technologies that made the gas chambers so efficient.
>
>Bruce R. Slomovitz wrote:
>>
>> Well who the hell is Mark and what are his qualifications.  No I did not
see
>> his post.
>>
>> Bruce S.
>
>--
>Carl Socolow
>
>"Sometimes the wrong thing is exactly the thing you should do." Garrison
>Keillor.