(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Fox’s Gutfeld Trolls Jews, Says They Survived Camps By Being ‘Useful.’ Most Jews Didn’t Survive! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-27 The other day, after Florida published its new education standards deeming slavery a useful job-training program for African Americans, I posted the following on Facebook: “Real Headline: “Florida Schools Will Teach How Slavery Brought ‘Personal Benefit’ to Black People.” Future Headline: Florida schools will teach how concentration camps brought new skills benefitting survivors.” It didn’t take long for reality to catch up with fantasy. And Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld came in hot. According to the New Civil Rights Movement’s David Badash, “On the heels of Fox News hosts defending Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis‘ new education standards requiring children to be taught slavery was beneficial to slaves, one Fox News host is now saying Jews survived the Holocaust by being ‘useful.’” “Gutfield, who now has a 10 p.m. weeknight prime time slot after a programming shuffle at Fox News, has a history of controversial comments,” Forbes’ Mary Whitfill Roeloffs reported. “On his now-ended satirical talk show ‘Red Eye,’ which aired at 3 a.m., he regularly introduced guests with "absurd, sexually suggestive hypotheticals that were meant to be flattering," the New Yorkerreported. He also was forced to issue an apology to the Canadian military in 2009 after offending troops and their family members, and musician Dave Brockie called his tenure on the show "nauseating." In his excellent report, here’s how Badash described the situation on an episode of “The Five” talk show earlier this week (https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/07/ghouls-fox-news-host-blasted-for-declaring-jews-survived-the-holocaust-by-being-useful/): On Monday, the Fox News crew was back defending DeSantis’ new education standards, which specifically state that middle schools must teach that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Again, it was [panelist Jesse ]Watters coming to the defense of America’s system of slavery in a segment attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, who traveled to Florida to denounce DeSantis’ new education requirements. “This is well documented among historians,” said Watters, who has a history of racist rhetoric. “This is historical fact that slaves did develop skills while they were enslaved and then used those skills as blacksmiths, as in agriculture, tailoring, in the shipping business, to then use to benefit themselves and their families once they were freed. That’s not controversial,” he insisted. “It actually speaks to the resilience and the aptitude of the enslaved African Americans who were at the time, able to better themselves and able to improve their situation. Despite brutal, brutal conditions, horrific and abhorrent conditions.” Then, Fox News’ liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov weighed in. Mentioning that she is Jewish, she asked, “Would someone say about the Holocaust, for instance, that there were some benefits for Jews, right while they were hanging out in concentration camps, ‘you learned a strong work ethic, right? Maybe you learned a new skill.'” Co-host Greg Gutfeld essentially answered yes. “Did you ever read ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’?” he asked. “Viktor Frankl talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills. You had to be useful – utility – utility kept you alive,” he declared. Tarlov wasn’t having it. “I’m talking about middle schoolers here, and there’s a lot of concern about what age people are prepared to understand complex issues. I’m not sure that 12 is the right age to start hearing things like, ‘and when you were enslaved here in America…'” Gutfeld’s comments drew scads of criticism. Brynn Tannehill, author of “American Fascism: How the GOP is Subverting Democracy,” responded to Watters’ remarks by saying, “These freaking ghouls would defend the Holocaust as a job training program if Hitler had a ‘-R’ next to his name on the ballot in 1933.” Attorney, political commentator, and former South Carolina state lawmaker Bakari Sellers wrote: “If slavery was so good, why didn’t white folk volunteer. This is asinine.” Calling Watters’ remarks a “disgrace,” Sherrilyn Ifill, the former President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) blasted the Fox News host. “What really galls is behaving as though slavery existed from 1860-1865. As opposed to a system well over a hundred years in which you, your children, their children, & their children labored every day from ‘can’t see to can’t see’ subject to rape & abuse.Skills. Ugh.” Conservative commentator Bill Kristol said Gutfeld’s co-workers might consider boycotting their own show. “Everyone else at Fox fine with Gutfeld suggesting Jews sent to concentration camps could survive ‘by being useful?’ How can any of his fellow panelists show up tomorrow to sit there next to him?” CNN host W. Kamau Bell also blasted Gutfeld: “These people show us over & over again that they are the worst & least serious people. & yet there seems to be no mechanism for unplugging their microphones. There’s no justification for what he said here, other than courting hateful ideology fattens his bank account.” Political satirist Jeremy Newburger adds, “Two things anger me about Fox News’ @greggutfeld. One is that he suggested Useful Jews survived the Holocaust, as if 6 million Jews were not useful enough, and secondly that he said this in support of the racist argument that Blacks benefitted from slavery.” Officials at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland also responded: “While it is true that some Jews may have used their skills or usefulness to increase their chances of survival during the Holocaust, it is essential to contextualize this statement properly and understand that it does not represent the complex history of the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany.” “While it is accurate to acknowledge that some Jews may have survived temporarily due to their perceived usefulness, it is crucial to remember that the Holocaust was a systematic genocide with the ultimate aim of exterminating the entire Jewish population,” the memorial said in part. “It would be more appropriate to say that some Jews survived the Holocaust because they were considered temporarily useful, and the circumstances of the Nazi regime’s collapse prevented their murder.” Regardless of how “useful” some Jews may have been enabling them to survive the concentration camps, for most Jews, their usefulness was temporary. “While some of the ghettos seemed to have the goal of being productive and Jews were used as slave labor there, being ‘useful’ did not guarantee safety, as the Nazis eventually decided to liquidate them, leading to the murder of those considered valuable as well,” the Auschwitz-Birkenau statement read. 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