WWTCALD? (NTTCALR but sensitive topic)

HopingforChange

Okay, ladies, I am pretty upset with a friend of mine.  I know her through her husband.  He and I were BFFs in high school and are still close.  I love him.  She annoys me, normally, but I would never, ever indicate that--ever, under normal circumstances.  However, this is a new low.  She is visiting Poland and keeping a blog.  She visited Auschwitz and made a post about it that I thought was in terribly poor taste.  To begin, she titled it "I Survived Auschwitz."   I don't think I need to explain why that's gross.  The post also included these gems:

"There were so many people!  Ironically, on many parts of the tour, I felt like the prisoners must have felt, jammed up against each other in small spaces and herded like cows.  Still, it was a sobering experience,"

and 

"Also, we saw ...the standing cells...where four prisoners were shoved in for many nights in a row.  They were unable to sit down or move.

I got a small taste of what that may have been like on my way back to Krakow.  I took a bus, because I didn't have enough time to get back to the train station, but they let so many people on the bus that I...had to stand for the entire trip.  Was I ever happy to find [Husband's Name] back at the main station!  I had survived."

Would you girls say something about this?  It hurt my heart so much to hear her use terrible events and torture as transitions and to see her make light (IMO) of the suffering of others.  I get that she had a challenging tour and is making connections between that and the camp, but it's not okay to (even in jest) compare your tourism experiences to the Holocaust.  It's just not.  What do I do?  Do I pretend I never saw it or do I say something? 

bananers

Eh, I wouldn't get too worked up about it. Was it in poor taste? Sure. But maybe she was just deeply affected by what she saw and couldn't get it out if her mind while in similar but much less dire situations, like on the bus. Sort of like, "wow, this is so uncomfortable on the bus- I can't even imagine what it must be like to be imprisoned in conditions like this for any length of time." I would probably give her the side eye, but give her the benefit of the doubt, that maybe it didn't quite come out how she intended. 

HopingforChange

bananers:

Eh, I wouldn't get too worked up about it. Was it in poor taste? Sure. But maybe she was just deeply affected by what she saw and couldn't get it out if her mind while in similar but much less dire situations, like on the bus. Sort of like, "wow, this is so uncomfortable on the bus- I can't even imagine what it must be like to be imprisoned in conditions like this for any length of time." I would probably give her the side eye, but give her the benefit of the doubt, that maybe it didn't quite come out how she intended. 

That's good perspective.  Thanks.  I sincerely hope you are right and she is just being inarticulate.  She is kind of a selfish person, to be honest, so she may not have realized how her post sounded.  I don't know if she thinks about stuff like that????

emjo03

I agree with the others who said she poorly articulated her ideas.  I think it's common to imagine what it would be like to have been a prisoner as you walk through a place such as Auschwitz.  I definitely believe her delivery needed help to the point that it could be offensive so people who did actually survive it, but it seems she was trying to be reflective (though did so poorly) rather than flippant.

HopingforChange

Thanks for the perspective, everyone.  The blog has a very small readership, so I guess I'll just give her the benefit of the doubt and figure that, really, very few people are going to get offended/hurt.  I was just too irritated to get that far on my own.  Thanks for the calm viewpoints.

HopingforChange

ncchnat:

I would probably say something, but I have family that liberated Dachau (which as bad as it was, had nothing on Auschwitz.) and the pictures and stories he told me have made me very sensitive to the subject.

That being said, maybe bananers is right and she was just very moved by the experience, but just didn't no how to express it.

In any case, it's very poor taste. 

I can see why you would be sensitive, for sure.  I agree--it was in very poor taste. Some people need to run what they write through outside readers before hitting "post."

weaslewam

Yes, definitely in poor taste. I would try and leave it alone though, I'm sure anyone else reading it will think the same thing.