Politics PDF: Deleted post - The reason...

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So, why'd they go ahead and nuked my political comment?

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You really could have found the answer without starting an entirely new thread if you had just checked out the FAQ.

I recently shared some thoughts regarding Holocaust remembrance. I opened by stating my unwavering position: the Holocaust was an absolute horror and a profound disgrace for anyone who played even the slightest role in it, fueled by the desperate hope that such atrocities never occur again. I also made it clear that there is no room for excuses or attempts to downplay the guilt through "circumstances"; there is simply no mitigating this singular crime.

In the latter half of the post, I expressed skepticism toward the recollections of a former camp survivor—who was just an eleven-year-old child at Auschwitz—which were shared by Alexis.

The memories presented by an eleven-year-old are impossibly granular, delving into descriptions of events that children of that age lack the capacity to perceive, let alone comprehend, much less retain with such precision. The level of detail in those accounts is such that most adults would struggle to vividly recall even a minor occurrence from last month, making it highly improbable to reconstruct events from fifty or sixty years ago with such visceral clarity.

My contention was that these types of "memories" are ultimately counterproductive, as they provide convenient ammunition for those who still persist in claiming the Holocaust was fabricated.

-That post was removed, so I am reposting a condensed version here. I am doing so because I maintain that nothing in my writing violated any forum guidelines, and I believe its deletion was nothing more than blatant censorship.

The previous post was pulled from this thread again—I can certainly wrap my head around why that might happen—but I’m still struggling to grasp the reasoning behind the initial removal. It would be genuinely helpful if someone could shed some light on the rationale behind such censorship, which, from my perspective, remains entirely inexplicable.

redhawk76 said:The previous post was taken down again (I think I get why this time), but I still don't grasp the reasoning behind the very first removal. It would be nice if someone could explain the logic behind—in my opinion, totally baseless—censorship.

I have crystal clear memories of certain traumatic events from my childhood (like when my grandfather passed away) that go back much further than the age you're mentioning. Trauma leaves deep scars. You don't need a PhD in psychology to understand that. How much time spent in an Auschwitz death camp can cause trauma is something the two of us will never truly know. Nor can we know how much it forces a child to grow up too fast. It isn't fair, nor is it particularly humane, to sit here in a thread about the Holocaust and debate whether some eleven-year-old was exaggerating the horrors they endured. We shouldn't be dissecting their deadly daily reality, let alone drawing conclusions about how such discussions are "counterproductive."

Ryan Vaughn7 said:I have crystal clear memories of certain traumatic events from my childhood—like when my grandfather passed away—that predated even the age you’re mentioning. Trauma leaves deep scars and those moments stay with you; you don't need a PhD in psychology to realize that.

Since we are touching upon psychology, the field actually suggests the exact opposite: children often "forget" traumatic experiences, when in reality, they are merely suppressing them into the deepest layers of the subconscious.

I, too, recall many instances from my childhood—both the beautiful and the bitter—and I can see specific details and "snapshots" of events with the same crystalline clarity you describe. However, what I possess is not a compact, seamless, and chronologically organized memory of an entire multi-month period, such as the one currently under discussion. Such a thing is typically only possible if one maintains a diary, whether you admitted that to me here or not.

How much trauma a stay in an Auschwitz death camp can inflict on a person is something the two of us will never truly know. Nor can we know how much it forces a child to mature prematurely. It isn't fair, nor is it particularly humane, for us to debate whether an eleven-year-old has somewhat exaggerated the horrors he endured while discussing the Holocaust; it is certainly not right to dissect his life-threatening daily existence, let alone draw conclusions about how such discussions might be counterproductive.

The notion that this is "unfair" or "inhumane" doesn't constitute a valid argument for deleting my post. This feels like censorship designed to prevent anything "uncomfortable" from being mentioned on certain topics. (On other subjects, none that are any less "sacred," uncomfortable opinions and stances are never prohibited, and occasionally, outright insults even manage to slip through...)

Everything you’ve written to me here could have been posted as a direct reply to my comment within the thread itself. I still fail to see why deletion was necessary or what purpose it serves.🤷

Had I been more stubborn, I would have insisted on a legitimate forum-sanctioned reason for the removal and a precise citation of which rule I supposedly violated, or alternatively, demanded the post be restored to the thread.
As it stands, since I am not pursuing that route, I find myself visiting this forum with decreasing enthusiasm. This little incident has certainly contributed to my growing skepticism regarding the value of my future participation and visits...

redhawk76 said:I have plenty of childhood memories too—some wonderful, some pretty grim—and I can recall specific little snapshots with total clarity, just like you described. But those aren't cohesive, continuous, or chronologically organized blocks of memory covering several months at a time, like the scenario we’re looking at here. Something like that only happens if you're keeping a diary. You can tell me I'm wrong, but that's my take.

Do you actually have memories from Auschwitz? How does that kind of experience even compare to anything else you've lived through? From what I've gathered, there wasn't much in the way of free time there—no ice skating, no swimming, no gym class, no cartoons, no trips to the movies, no playing Angry Birds, and certainly no cute puppies. I've also heard the food was anything but diverse. I don't know. Maybe life is easier to remember when it's boiled down to months of wandering between barracks? Perhaps testimonies about extermination stick more precisely in the mind? Or maybe you remember exactly what you ate because you were stuck eating the same watery soup for six months straight?

redhawk76 said:Everything you just told me could have been posted as a reply to my thread, and all five of them. I still don't get why you're deleting things. It doesn't make sense to me.🤷

Because it would drag this debate into a thread specifically dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance Day. And that isn't fair. It isn't decent, either. That topic deserves reverence, not nonsense.

redhawk76 said:It's just censorship that prevents anyone from mentioning anything "uncomfortable" on certain topics.

In my world, we just call that moderation.

redhawk76 said:I get it—I’ve got plenty of childhood memories too, some great, some pretty lousy. Certain little snapshots or random bits hit me with total clarity, just like you said. But it’s not like I have this seamless, perfectly chronological timeline of an entire several-month stretch laid out in my head, like we're talking about here. The only way someone pulls that off is if they were actually keeping a journal. You can tell me I didn't, but let's be real.

If we're talking about that guy who made the news one day, he's the one who claimed he was keeping a diary while he was stuck there 😕.

At the end of the day, why couldn't an 11-year-old boy keep a diary? He certainly wouldn't be the first one to do so.
1: Simon Wiesenthal - Nazi hunter
2. Anne Frank
Regarding repressed memories in kids—that usually happens during acute psychological trauma. But as more time passes, they actually process it and tend to remember things quite vividly.
We can never forget the Holocaust or anything like it, and we shouldn't trivialize it, but we also shouldn't let a whole nation be saddled with collective guilt because of something like Auschwitz.
It’s also worth noting that the Nazis weren't the only ones persecuting Jewish people. Stalin killed more of them than Hitler did, and antisemitism was widespread across Western Europe too.