Marjorie Osheroff

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I have watched the View for many years and enjoyed the different points of view the hosts and guest hosts share. I still get annoyed when everyone talks at the same time- because then it is hard to hear what each person is saying. I wanted to make a comment on the Whoopi G. incident regarding race and the Holocaust. I am glad that the issue came to everyone's attention because so many folks are not knowledgeable about the time leading up to the Holocaust and how hate festers and can become lethal when you have someone like Hitler who can infect a country with fear of "The Other" and convince people that "The Other" is responsible for all that is going wrong in the world. It takes people who are struggling (both economically or with lack of resources) and provide them with a SCAPEGOAT to blame their woes on. Whoopi was corrected that Hitler made Jews that scapegoat by identifying them as a race that was inferior and needed to be exterminated by the pure German "Master Race". I believe that Whoopi has learned a valuable lesson- but I feel that she was ignorant of the facts, not an anti-Semite meaning to hurt anyone. I think this public shaming and 2 week suspension is over the top and my heart goes out to her. She gave a very heartfelt apology and has heard from Jonathan Greenblatt about why this is a racial issue. I worry that if we shame folks publicly when they erroneously make a statement like her's- we will shut down discourse about the very tricky conversations going on in our country about race and racial reckoning. We need to have these conversations in public and private so we can teach people about aspects of race they are unfamiliar with or have learned misinformation. I am Jewish so I fully understand how important it is to get the facts right - both on history of racial issues in this country but also how we can best move forward from here- understanding all perspectives and sensitivities before making policy.