I'll be damned if MSNBC "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann isn't getting a pass on his Hitler salute stunt at the TCA within the rarified air of the media world. Out in the real world, however, people are rightfully still angry. The Anti-Defamation League, for example, isn't about to wink and nudge and say "boys will be boys." Witness their recent letter to Olbermann, in part:
While we understand that your aim is to entertain your audience by taking pot shots at Mr. O'Reilly, your repeated use of the Nazi salute has resulted in many complaints from our constituents, including Holocaust survivors and their families who find the use of this gesture offensive and repugnant in any context.
The Nazi salute is more than just a remnant of history, but serves as a calling card for modern-day neo-Nazis and white supremacists. We believe that the use of gestures and imagery associated with the Nazis – even in jest – only serves to trivialize the Holocaust and denigrate the memory of the six million Jews and others who died as a result of Hitler's Final Solution.
Read the whole letter here.
