Twin City Observer

THE FIRST REACTION was stunning, unbelieving dismay.

There had been no hint, at least on the surface that was discernible to the average person, that there would be a resurgence of the type of hatred that finds expression in such symbols as the swastika and such phrases as "death to Jews" or "Jews, go home."

An isolated instance, or two, of the spirit of Nazism in a scattered section of Germany would have been understandable because the year of defeat and surrender is less than two decades past. And in isolated areas of our own south, the waves of anti-Negro sentiment quite understandably can spread to Jews and Catholics.

But to hear of instances of anti-Semitic utterances and even vandalism in quite a number of countries almost simultaneously is dismaying. It is also more than a bit discouraging. Will man never learn that he moves toward his own destruction when he nourishes hatred to his fellows because of racial or religious or color differences?

Are the painful lessons of history of no value at all? Are people generally either opposed to the great principles of Christianity and other great religions, or are they merely indifferent unthinking?

That is what is most disturbing of all in the recent outbreaks of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and in America.

The few who give vent to their spleen through childish scrawls or adolescent types of vandalism in places of worship are not important. They are ignorant, they are immature, and they are mentally and emotionally sick.

But the fact that there has been no public outcry against such manifestations, no spontaneous demonstrations of popular indignation and outrage - this is both alarming and dismaying.

Oh, there are some who are outraged and indignant, of course, and they voice their convictions with emphasis. But so many people, who might be termed good, solid citizens don't seem to care. They shrug their shoulders. Even some of the official governmental reactions appear to be flat. The statements deploring the resurgence of hate-mongering are correct enough, but there is a curious ring about them, as though the statements are issued because it is the correct and the accepted thing to do.

The resurgence of the swastika and anti-Semitism is more than a bad thing, it is evil. Do so many fail to resent it as such, or to recognize it as such, because they simply do not know or do not care, or do they feel that this is a situation to be handled by law enforcement agencies and other governmental action on local, state or national level?

There are so many questions to be asked and remain unanswered. But perhaps someone can answer this one: What has happened to the individual human conscience?