Final Solutions, Liberal Guilt and Candidate Don Gordon

Don Gordon faces Joe Moore in Chicago's 49th Ward aldermanic run-off election on April 17. Both Gordon and his campaign lieutenant Michael Harrington are being unfairly accused of intentionally using a Nazi phrase. The phrase is "final solution." In certain contexts, the phrase is incendiary. In others, it should not be. Today's attack against Gordon and Harrington by Tom Westgard is ludicrous. I will try to explain why. "Politically correct" people are tragic, tending to hallucinate, to hear things that don't necessarily make sound, to smell things that don't smell, to see things that are not there. Such is the case with attorney Thomas Westgard, a man whom I consider to be a friend. I like Tom Westgard, and it pains me to write this. Tom is basically a good man, but what I have to say must be said. Our communal sanity may depend upon it. Westgard, like many others, is infected with the Political Correctness Virus (PCV). This disease has among its symptoms delusional thoughts and hallucination. People who are PCV-positive often hear, smell and see things that are not there or do not exist. Perhaps we can work to finally solve this. Perhaps, together, we can find a final solution to the question of hypersensitivity brought on by PCV. Perhaps, finally, it will be solved. Thomas Westgard is hearing voices, and they are saying things to him that are not grounded in reality. They tend to take things out of context, pick them up, and move them into a context that either does not exist or will not properly accommodate. Context is everything. Oh, the White Liberal Guilt weighs heavy on Westgard’s German-American shoulders. Today Westgard pontificates on the phrase "final solution." It is a phrase that haunts his Teutonic memory, and in a fit of guilty, delusional pique he unfairly associates 49th Ward aldermanic candidate Don Gordon with Adolf Hitler. Again: Context is everything. We are not in Nuremberg. Gordon is not Hitler. Harrington is Rudolf Hess. "Something that has been bothering me for nearly a year,” Westgard writes, “is the misuse of the term, 'Final Solution.' It has a very specific meaning, and it's one that culturally literate people know. Everyone must learn it at some point, so I provide for those not already in the know the following explanation of the term, 'Final Solution.' "'Final Solution' is the standard English translation of Hitler's extermination plan for Jews and other groups," wrote Westgard. Westgard is wrong and right at the same time, as deluded victims of hallucination sometimes are. He is correct, of course, that Hitler called his program of extermination a "final solution." But he is absolutely wrong in saying that anybody who uses the phrase "final solution" in a sentence is implying that millions of people must be exterminated. “The Final Solution is the Holocaust,” writes Westgard. Not true. Rather, the Holocaust was a type of final solution. But not all final solutions are holocausts. A Holocaust survivors' group tell us this: “The phrase, ‘Final Solution,’ was just one of the euphemisms used by the Nazis to signify their program of murder. The Final Solution was a secret that had to be disguised in seemingly innocent sounding formulations. Other euphemisms for the mass murder were: ‘Liquidated’ ‘Finished Off’ ‘Special Treatment’ ‘Cleansing’ ‘Elimination’ ‘Resettlement’ ‘Treated Appropriately’ and ‘Made Free of Jews.’" Would Tom Westgard have a problem with somebody telling him that they have “finished off” a big lunch? Or a merchant advertising a “special treatment for the elimination of liquidated” sale items? How would Westgard react to a proposed “resettlement” of Section 8 residents? Or the “cleansing” of his toilet bowl? Or having Muslims “treated appropriately?” Context is everything. Why, then, would Westgard have a problem with Don Gordon calling for the “final solution” to a problem. Would any reasonable person take that to mean a Nazi-style extermination program? Westgard wrote today: “About eight months ago, I was one of a large group who received an email from Michael J. Harrington that emphatically demanded a ‘Final Solution’ to the Block Building problem. To be clear, I am not paraphrasing his words - MJH himself used the phrase ‘Final Solution’ to describe what he wanted to see. As many readers of this blog are aware, the Block Building is actually a pair of buildings bordered by Morse, Glenwood, and Lunt, where a constant drug dealing problem has existed for years. Many residents are Black. Most or all of the owners are Jewish.” Permit me a digression: As a conservative, I find it amusing that the non-Jewish Westgard has taken it upon himself to discuss matters of Jewish concern. Westgard and his fellow Liberals love to tell non-veterans that they should not discuss military issues, or white people that they have no understanding of and therefore no right to discuss issues about non-white people. Yet here is Westgard, as white as white can be, lecturing us about an issue which, by Liberal standards, should be left to Jews. It is also, I must admit, amusing to witness “progressive” Michael Harrington fall victim to PC police, of which he himself is an officer. But that’s enough digressing. Westgard’s final paragraph (sorry about the word “final” there) is a mash of unsubstantiated slander. He wrote: “But it is fair to set a certain standard for cultural awareness in our alderman. Don Gordon himself has exhibited a pattern of behavior that demonstrates a severe lack of cultural sensitivity, and his political advisors [sic] have added more problems to the pile. Don Gordon has personally, and in so many words, opposed compassion for the poor and mentally ill who are homeless. Under the circumstances, I believe that Don does not have the personal qualifications to adequately represent the cultural and economic variety of Rogers Park. Nor is there any reason to think that his team of advisors [sic] can guide him to learn the necessary background. Either one of these failings would be seriously detrimental to an aldermanic campaign; failing in both areas is essentially insurmountable.” “Severe lack of cultural sensitivity?” In what way? “Severe” is undefined here, and no example is given. Westgard alleges that Don Gordon has said he is opposed to compassion for, amongst other, homeless mentally ill people. (How compassionate is it of Westgard, et. al. to oppose institutionalizing the mentally ill rather than put them on the street like so many dogs?) Again, no substantiation, no example given. Westgard continues: “I believe that Don does not have the personal qualifications to adequately represent the cultural and economic variety of Rogers Park.” This is code from a guilt-ridden, Liberal German-American White Man for “Don Gordon is too white” to represent people who are not white. Ridiculous. This is racism on Westgard’s part, pure and simple, although I would say it is not intentional racism. (Remember, he suffers from PCV. Many of his actions and thoughts are adversely influenced by PCV.) As for the “economic variety of Rogers Park,” I’d like to know what that means. Seems to me that one of the problems of Rogers Park is its lack of economic variety. Again, no substantiation. No example. Westgard writes well, but tightly woven paragraphs do not always mean a tightly woven case. Is Westgard bothered by the use of the word “problem?” Surely that for which Hitler wanted a “final solution” was referred to as a “problem” by der Fuehrer. Surely, then, Westgard would have a problem with the use of the word “problem,” right? It is particularly troublesome that Westgard, as an attorney, has not passed the test of being reasonable. As an attorney, he knows better than most of us that if something cannot be reasonably taken to serious, as in the case of obvious satire or parody, it should be thrown out of court. The “case” he brings against Gordon for the use of the phrase “final solution” is frivolous and does not stand the test of reason. Not all “final solutions” are holocausts. Many things can have a final solution having nothing to do with genocide. Remember: Context uber alles. Before I continue, let me note that my father’s side is Jewish. Most Jews would not consider me to be a Jew, because Jewishness is passed from mother to child. My mother was Protestant. But make no mistake, by every rule and law of the Third Reich I would have been considered Jewish and sent off to a prison camp. Mr. Westgard, as far as I know, would not have been considered Jewish in the Germany of 1939. It is probably safe to assume that Adolf Hitler occasionally used the phrase “better road system,” or “road project.” Should we, then, cringe when we hear a politician suggest that we spend more money on a “better road system?” By the same token, when the headline “A final solution for tyre garbage?” was used for a story about disposing of old automobile tires in Australia, were the Tom Westgards of Australia up in arms over the use of the phrase “final solution?” How about this headline, from Good News India: “A final solution for waste?” An excerpt from that story read, “A company in the USA, Changing World Technologies [CWT] , NY has perfected a process to transform all manner of modern waste into crude oil and other useful products. The process ‘Thermal Depolymerisation’ [TDP] is nearly self sufficient in energy, has no polluting by-products and is highly scalable.” Hardly sounds Hitlerian. Doesn’t sound threatening, does it? There are more, of course. Do any of the following sound like they’re advocating genocide? I’m sure that we can all be certain that Westgard will attack the following few examples out of thousands more for their use of the phrase “final solution.” Caltech Authors - The general feedback theorem: a final solution ... Middlebrook, R. David (2006) The general feedback theorem: a final solution for feedback systems. IEEE Microwave Magazine The Hindu : Time for a final solution Time for a final solution. WITH THE TELECOM controversy becoming messier by the ... screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu. After 13 unresolved topics ... is there a final solution to THIS ... 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The Final Solution The phrase 'final solution' is simply being used in the context of the plans that are underway to address the land issue, rather selectively, ...