9-22-08,
Dear Messrs. Schaecter, Eshet and CZ List members,
The issue is not about Miriam Taylor's leadership nor about the Popovici plaque itself.
Rather, the plaque is only a vehicle of the underlying issue of censorship and deceit, as may possibly be perpertrated by the CZ City administration.
Miriam had written to the List on 9/19/08 "I have been informed, that most likely they will not allow a Romanian inscrition. I am not sure what to do, if this turns out to be true. Is a plaque with a correct English text, a Ukranian text which refers to Popvici as leader, instead of mayor, better than no plaque at all? Please let me know what you think by Sept 23rd. I shall want to respond right away".
She has asked the members of this list for their opinions by 9/23 and she has received various replies in response to that request.
People, I say "NO", it is NOT better to capitulate than to have no plaque at all!
In my opinion, we cannot allow ourselves to compromise our principles in order to get the CZ City administration to "approve" the Popvichi plaque. We cannot allow them to use the plaque as a leverage vehicle to censor the truth of history (Popovici was the Mayor of CZ and he was Rumanian and spoke that language) and make us a complicit party to that censorship and deceit.
Miriam Taylor has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into the Popovici plaque undertaking. For her efforts, we are all grateful.
As is human, there is the temptation to "get it over with and done'. As is also human, one might like to see a monument erected to themselves for their own hard work and effort, albeit the monument honors someone else in name and to experience, both individually and as a group, the wonderful feeling of being able to say "I am the one who is responsible for that monument being there".
I hope that we will not "negotiate" away the truth in order to get a Popovici plaque put up in CZ. Truth is non-negotiable. It is what it is and cannot be changed, whether by any devise conjured up by mankind or otherwise.
If the CZ administration's preference is for a distortion of history, let us put up the plaque elsewhere or not at all!
I don't know why the question of whether Jews "are a governable people" was even raised by Mr. Schaecter. Jews are amongst the most independent, intelligent and intellectual of peoples. The definition of a "Jew" does not articulate that all Jews must think exactly alike and agree on everything. On the contrary. Imagine if Einstein were told by others to disregard the molecular structure of the atom which he envisioned in his mind, simply because they could not. I believe it was Hardy Breier who once stated on a post to the List, something like "ask 100 Jews what they just saw and you will get 100 different opinions". Hardy, forgive me if I have misquoted you in exchange for the essence of your wisdom.
Gary Rogovin
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Received on 2008-09-22 22:53:26
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