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Notes -
I think that there are two possible reactions to being found out something you were taught at school is incorrect:
Either is a legitimate reaction IMO and which one you lean towards is going to be influenced by your circumstances and world view.
I think the reason so many people are stroking their chins and hinting meaningfully at 2 is that on the one hand there is so much evidence of authorities lying about things (vivid masks, black deaths from police shootings, the hilariously biased history lessons I used to have about the founding of the British welfare state and women’s suffrage) and so much guilt tripping based directly or indirectly on the holocaust.
Politically, it would be very convenient for European conservatives if the Holocaust stopped being considered Europe’s Original Sin / evidence of the fundamental evil that lies underneath all nationalism. So it’s only natural for them to interpret ambiguities or historical exaggerations in that light. Of course, I’m a nationalist myself.
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