How important are historians in achieving historical reconciliation? [THREAD] #History #historian #politics

On this day in 1945 Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was the largest concentration and death camp. 1.1 million people, 90% of them Jews, were murdered there. Today it is an international day of commemoration, to honor the memory of all victims of Nazi extermination.

A few things to keep in mind on International Holocaust Remembrance Day:

1) The Soviet liberation of Auschwitz is a deeply symbolic event, but it is worth noting that allied forces were liberating Nazi camps until May of 1945. Unspeakable suffering and death continued for months

I bring this up because the popular perception of events is informed by primary school practices which present them with clean start and stop dates. Useful for repeating dates, but less useful for having an understanding of what forces you unleash and what it takes to unwind them

When we talk about the lessons of the Holocaust, too many fall into the trap of "if it's not identical to Auschwitz, it's not worth invoking the Holocaust."

The seeds for the Holocaust were laid long before Auschwitz was opened, and the Holocaust continued after its liberation.

2) Every year on this date you can reliably expect a debate on what it is we are commemorating. A small but loud group of people use this date as an opportunity to play suffering olympics. Resist the urge to engage with these fools.

THREAD: Meditations on marriage metaphors in Ruth

The book of Ruth is, of course, a story about a beautiful marriage. But even before the courtship and the wedding and the important genealogy at the end, we find interesting language that is strikingly reminiscent of Genesis 2:24

That important verse reads:

'Therefore a man shall leave [יַֽעֲזָב] his father and his mother and hold fast [וְדָבַ֣ק] to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.'

The verb עזב can be quite strong in force. For example, Joseph leaves behind [וַיַּעֲזֹ֤ב] his garment as he flees from Pharaoh's wife's sexual advances. Countless times, Israel is depicted abandoning the LORD, for example in Judg 2:12 [וַיַּעַזְב֞וּ], and going after other gods.

Likewise, the verb דבק is rather striking. Lot is mortified of disaster overtaking him [תִּדְבָּקַ֥נִי] as he flees from Sodom. Israel is commanded in Deut 10:20 to cling fast [תִדְבָּ֔ק] to the LORD and serve him and swear by his name.

Together they illustrate how radical God designed marriage to be. Marriage is a real severing of family relations in order to form a new, permanent bond with another human being.

Something very similar to this takes places in Ruth's life.

Here is my collective thread on Aurangzeb, the Mughal.

will elaborate in this thread how aurangzeb committed mass murders, destroyed temples, imposed jaziya on hindus, publicly ban study of vedic literature and forced hindu women to marry muslims.

Source : Maasir-i- Alamgiri

Page 53, Shikan khan, faujdar of mathura was sent to demolish a temple in malarna.

Page 55 - Aurangzeb ordered his officers to demolish the Kashi Vishvanath temple.

page 106 - Great temple of Kahndela at rajasthan was demolish by Darab khan and Tahawwar khan while a group of rajputs was executed by the mughal army.

Page 60 - The temple of Kesho rai was demolished on the order of aurangzeb and a mosque was built over there in the holy onth of ramzan.

The temple was built by a Bundela Rajput chief and the ruler of the kingdom of Orchha, birsingh devo bundela.

Page 108 - Gwalior, Aurangzeb ordered to issue the law of islam and to collect the jaziya from the infidels or non-muslims.

Here I share what I witnessed about the uproar concerning the remarks of Rajinikanth on Periyar.The new film 'Darbar' by Rajinikanth washed out in Hindi, but that does not mean that on Twitter or national politics he can not trend. The new uproar is over his remarks at the .

50th anniversary celebration of Thuglaq, a Tamil political newspaper, about Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy.Referring to how Thuglak wrote about the intellectual patriarch of Tamil Nadu political parties such as DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra

Kazhagam), Rajinikanth, who floated his own political party, when he organised a rally in Salem in 1971 where Hindu holy deities were allegedly displayed in a lewd way.This is how the actor mentioned the incident at the Thuglak event when he was speaking:
"In 1971, in Salem,

Periyar organised a rally featuring the undressed images of Lord Sriramachandramoorthy and Sita with a sandal garland. No other source wrote something about the protest, but Cho printed it on the front page of the paper and denounced it vehemently.Because of the publicity, the

ruling DMK government at the time got a bad reputation. DMK confiscated these copies of Thuglaq because they did not want others to hear about the protest."Many Dravidian groups staged protests and filed complaints with the police against Rajinikanth saying he "insulted Periyar."

1) A generation of students were ruined by communist propaganda in the 1960s and 1970s. They went on to become naxals, and communist ideologues. Most of their lives were ruined, and with little support system in place, most of their families were also ruined completely.

2) Now, a few naxals/ideologues did manage to go abroad, secure nice, cushy positions for themselves, and become anti-India/anti-Hindu bigots from their overseas sinecures. But these were the exception, not the norm. Most naxals faced police ruthlessness and were ruined.

3) Is this a career to recommend to kids? That they can be the lucky 1 in a thousand who will catch the eye of some politically powerful figure in the west, who can/will sponsor their entry into the western system? Western humanities graduates are themselves without jobs now!

4) It is like claiming that someone should drop out of college and become Bill Gates! Sure, there have been Bill Gateses who became multi-billionaires after dropping out of college. But most college drop outs went on to become ruined, or are working low paying jobs today!

5) For those dreaming that they will find a western sponsor who will facilitate their entry into the western system, wake up, please! There isn't a lot of hope for you getting lucky, when western humanities graduates themselves have few skills and fewer jobs.