[percy-l] "...to the gas chamber..."

James Piat piat1 at bellsouth.net
Thu Mar 6 17:15:35 EST 2003


>
> The rare times I'm in the mall, two words go through my mind: kitsch and
> despair (of course, kitsch and sentimentality go hand-in-hand). Gil Bailie
> refers to shopping malls as museums of nihilism.
> -DB

Well I'll take the kitsch of a shopping mall over the sentimental nostalgia
of another good ole anti-Semitic Christian Crusade any day.  First the Arabs
in the middle ages, then the Hebrews in WWII and now it's back to the Arabs
again.  That's the trouble I have with Percy and O'Connor's example of the
holocaust as an argument for Christianity or moral absolutism  -- it's not
only ironic and in poor taste to say the least  -- it's a shell game.  The
problem is not moral relativism, shopping malls, Arabs, Jews or even
Christian anti-Semitism -- it's us: or in my case,  me, always blaming the
other in the hope that this somehow absolves, protects or elevates myself.

Best wishes,
Jim Piat



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