cyberdad wrote:
It's difficult to interpret what was going on in Whoopi's head? but I don't think her intent was to diminish the suffering caused by the holocaust or play some oppression Olympics. She was trying to make her point based on the prism of her world view based on New York where the descendants of European jews are effectively indistinguishable from Europeans so in her mind the oppression of jews in Europe was not about race but about religion/culture.
She made a massive blunder, in retrospect she knew and was self-evidently embarrassed by her stubbornness to not listen to her fellow panel members.
I pretty much agree with the above. She is two years older then me and grew up twenty miles from me. That is why I do not find the idea her remarks came from wokeness likely. Outside of possibly a tiny group of academics nobody was thinking like that. The Jews, The Italians, The Irish etc were considered
white ethnic groups.
At the time the Holocaust was just 25 years or so in the rear view mirror. We Jewish kids growing up had the Holocaust, what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and that it happened in an “advanced” country where the Jews were just as assimilated as in America drummed into us. Evidently in Whoopi’s neighborhood this did not happen.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman