Just this past week when I was in New Orleans trying to take a break from the real world for a bit, I encountered antisemitism while having a drink in my hotel bar. The guy who very nearly caught a fist to his jaw was nice enough, and I actually doubt he had an inkling as to the ugliness of his words, yet he felt comfortable making a crack about Jews to someone he just met.
Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I think it's crucial to remember that a lack of understanding of people different from you — their collective experiences and culture — leads to desensitization, and ultimately dehumanization; dehumanization being just one of the tools which craven politicians use to fool people into accepting what should be the unacceptable, and as history has taught us, the unspeakable.
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