No, mask mandates are not the Nuremburg Race Laws
WHEN I EDITED my recent interview with Sharon Millstein for the end of year Tempo issue, featuring “Pandemic Predictions,” an annual, lighthearted look at the year ahead, I included Millstein’s comparison to “Jewish people” pre-Holocaust whose activities in society were curtailed by discrimination to the current situation of antimandate, anti-vaxxers being unable to participate in many things due to their decision not to get the jabs.
This is in no way my opinion, nor the opinion of the Taos News, rather I was merely attempting to give voice to the “other side,” believing as I do in freedom of speech. But as we went to press, I had second thoughts; the comparison, as some of our readers have pointed out, was too imprecise, and bound to be incendiary, as so many disagreements in our society have become in recent years. By the time I had attempted to remove the reference, it was too late. The damage was already done. Last week, due to the size of Tempo, I did not include this editorial, but the events of this past weekend in Colleyville TX, where several worshippers were held hostage for almost twelve hours in a synagogue, beg its inclusion this week. Jews are constantly, and rightly, alarmed by barely veiled antisemitism in the criticism of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Whether on social media or in conversation, we have heard far too many vaccine and mask opponents equate the policies keeping our communities safe to those of Nazi Germany.
Rejecting public health practices is not only dangerous, weaponizing the Holocaust to attack these policies is historically inaccurate. The genocide of more than 10 million people (including 6 million Jews), can’t be compared to measures that have been taken by WHO and individual nations, to combat a global pandemic.
All this does is encourage Holocaust denial, especially on unregulated social media. Denouncing precautionary measures to mitigate COVID-19 by invoking Hitler’s abominations just fuels more Holocaust denial and ultimately, more antisemitism.
Mask mandates (whether you agree with them or not), and proof of vaccination are not the Nuremberg Race Laws, which began the legal dehumanization of Europe’s Jewish population. In fact, Hitler and his henchmen, withheld vaccination from Jews and others to rid the world of “undesirable” and “inferior” people, and in the case of the Jews, race. When COVID-19 vaccination deniers and other people who refute sciencedriven public health policy, wrongly invoke the Holocaust, they not only pervert history but also trivialize the memories of victims and survivors of those terrible atrocities.
That said, I apologize to all I offended and to all who misunderstood Millstein’s intent. I know Sharon Millstein (who, like myself, is Jewish) would never make light of the monstrous genocide that occurred during WWII, but rather was trying to point out that in her opinion, forced government mandates that discriminate against parts of a population, invariably lead to more government control. In light of their recent ruling, apparently the Supreme Court agrees. Although Millstein is not pro-mandate, she is not against people choosing to be vaccinated, but rather urges us not to make pariahs out of our fellow citizens who make different choices. Whether you are vaccinated or not, please stay safe while Omicron spreads through our communities. Remember, we’re all in this together. The virus does not discriminate.