Saturday, July 03, 2010

Faytene apologizes for the "Hitler Youth" quote

[Originally posted at Bene Diction Blogs On, June 10, 2010]

According to a statement on her 4MyCanada website, Faytene Kryskow has apologized for citing the "Hitler Youth" as a historical example for youth, but hopefully only in a good way this time.

I'll quote her entire statement in case it vanishes, but as I was the first in the blogsophere to note all this, I wanted to join Bene D in noting her apology as well.

She writes:
I would like to publicly apologize for my choice in referencing this historical example. I will not use this example again and will seek to be much more sensitive to the impact my comments could have on a wider audience. I, of course, abhor the Holocaust and do not want any young people to follow Hitler's example.

I wouldn't agree that her remarks were intended as a talk to a "small group of young people" when they were made at Toronto's huge missions conference. [If they are like Vancouver's Missionsfest, that is where hundreds, if not thousands of people attend even youth events.]

I wonder if she sent this as a letter to the National Post, as she replies to Don Martin's citation of her quote?

That said, however, when she does the right thing, I want to report on that as well. Faytene Kryskow's apology is the appropriate thing to do.

UPDATE: Her statement...

[The full text of her apology. I've taken the liberty of correcting a couple of spelling mistakes...]

RE: Don Martin: Author warns of growing influence of religious right in Canadian politics

In recent days the national media has be buzzing with their coverage of Marci McDonald’s book, “The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada”.

It has stirred a great deal of controversy, as McDonald presents her perspective regarding the political influence the “Christian Right” in Canada.

As this controversy has been unfolding it appears that one of the more popular quotes from McDonald’s book, which was making some headlines, is from a speech I gave a few years ago to a small group of youth where the main point of the message was to encourage them to become responsibly engaged citizens.

In the speech I described youth movements of the past – one of which was during Hitler’s time. I posed the question, “If these young people could use their focus and passion for such evil, what could our generation accomplish with the same kind of focus but for ‘good’?” I was referring to combating things like human trafficking, poverty, life issues etc.

At the time, my content and intent was to inpsire my audience to engage in the democratic process – showing them that they could make a difference for ‘good’ today. However, now I can see how using this example was inappropriate.

I would like to publicly apologize for my choice in referencing this historical example. I will not use this example again and will seek to be much more sensitive to the impact my comments could have on a wider audience. I, of course, abhor the Holocaust and do not want any young people to follow Hitler’s example.

Faytene Kryskow