# Florida Principal says he "can't say the Holocaust was real" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709 "2019-07-08T13:51:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/1 "2019-07-08T13:51:36Z")
This is seriously fucked up. I _think_ the principal is claimed that he doesn’t want to say this, but is forced to by policies. Which are seriously fucked up, if that’s true. > [@](#): > > **Florida Principal: ‘Not Everyone Believes The Holocaust Happened’** > > The high school principal had to defend himself after reportedly telling a parent that he “can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event.” > A Florida high school principal appeared to defend Holocaust deniers when he was reportedly asked by a parent how his school teaches about the World War II atrocity and wrote that “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened.” > > The surprising response was revealed in emails between the parent and principal at Boca Raton’s Spanish River Community High School sent in April of 2018, The Palm Beach Post reported Friday, citing the results of a public records request. > The parent, who did not want her name published, told the Post that she had reached out to Principal William Latson about how his school prioritizes that part of world history. The mother mentioned a 1994 Florida mandate that requires Holocaust education in public schools. Oregon most recently passed its own such mandate. > Latson replied by saying that the school offers a one-day lesson to 10th graders but he said it’s not mandatory as some parents “don’t want their children to participate.” > > “The Holocaust is a factual, historical event,” the mother reportedly responded to him. “It is not a right or a belief.” > > Latson, however, protested. > > “Not everyone believes the Holocaust happened and you have your thoughts but we are a public school and not all of our parents have the same beliefs so they will react differently,” he reportedly replied. “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.” Just when you’ve digested that, you get the second punch: > [@](#): > > He added that the school presents information about the Holocaust to the students and allows them to make their own decisions about it. He said it does the same when it comes to slavery. But, as I say, he doesn’t seem to agree with the policy, although he still seems too comfortable with it: > [@](#): > > Latson, in a statement to the Post, apologized, saying the views he expressed in his emails “did not accurately reflect my professional and personal commitment to educating all students about the atrocities of the Holocaust.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/2 "2019-07-08T13:54:09Z")
:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/3 "2019-07-08T14:05:35Z")
Looking at the photos, I’m surprised that it’s a black guy who is saying this. I would have expected it to be a Caucasian white supremacist. So - Holocaust and slavery - what other views, on other issues, does he hold? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/4 "2019-07-08T14:36:02Z")
> [@](#): > > “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.” He is mistaken. He is in such a position, because it is a factual historical event. So you can say that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/5 "2019-07-08T14:41:09Z")
So no field trips to the Holocaust museum by this school, I guess. That’s one hell of an education those kids are getting in Florida. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/6 "2019-07-08T14:41:37Z")
We’re in the post-fact world. Reality is whatever you believe. Feelings shape reality. hmm, maybe the anthropomorphic quantum theory people are actually correct. Thought and belief does shape reality. Maybe the principal should teach that? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/7 "2019-07-08T14:50:06Z")
Since I’m feeling masochistic today, I thought I’d see what the [Yahoos had to say](https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/florida-principal-holocaust-teaching-224913515.html). Here’s are a couple of examples: > [@](#): > > They died from typhus and starvation CAUSED BY ALLIED BOMBING OF CLEARLY MARKED RED CROSS TRAINS delivering food and medicine to German occupied areas. You don’t need laws to defend the Holocaust if it weren’t almost entirely fabricated stories and grotesque exaggerations. Six million did NOT die. The number was closer to 50,000 and was not caused by ovens or gassing or any other nonsense. > [@](#): > > …i visited dachau…and there was not a single body…same in buchenwald…and auschwitz…these were just movie sets…built as propaganda… > [@](#): > > If the Holocaust wasn’t 99 percent myths and outright lies, it wouldn’t require laws to force its narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/8 "2019-07-08T15:07:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Looking at the photos, I’m surprised that it’s a black guy who is saying this. I would have expected it to be a Caucasian white supremacist. So it’s not a personal racist thing, it’s an institutional racist thing. Which is so much worse. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/9 "2019-07-08T15:31:06Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > So it’s not a personal racist thing, it’s an institutional racist thing. Which is so much worse. Honestly, I don’t think it’s even that. I think it’s a guy who is completely confused about what he’s allowed to say without getting “political” and is over-correcting, just in case. It doesn’t mean he believes the Holocaust didn’t happen. It means he believes that if he says “the Holocaust didn’t happen” and someone complains about him making a “political statement” or “indoctrinating students”, he will be called on the carpet for inciting controversy. Now, obviously, this backfired horribly. But this is a pretty normal policy for schools: don’t say evolution is a fact; don’t say slavery was a cause of the civil war; don’t say the earth is getting warmer. Say 'Experts think" and “here is their evidence”. I mean, maybe this guy is a holocaust denier, but the evidence isn’t really strong here. It’s much more like he’s got really poor political skills. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/10 "2019-07-08T15:39:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Since I’m feeling masochistic today, I thought I’d see what the [Yahoos had to say](https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/florida-principal-holocaust-teaching-224913515.html). Here’s are a couple of examples: The ones I don’t get are the deniers that say it never happened but on the other hand hate Jews so much that they seem to wish it did. What’s up with that logic? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/11 "2019-07-08T16:43:34Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The ones I don’t get are the deniers that say it never happened but on the other hand hate Jews so much that they seem to wish it did. What’s up with that logic? But they also love Israel, because end times and rapture. You were expecting maybe reason and logic? Internal consistency? It is to laugh. eta: I want to start a petition to change the name of that state to match the presumed typo in the thread title. It would be pronounced “Fucklorida.” ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/12 "2019-07-08T16:45:24Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The ones I don’t get are the deniers that say it never happened but on the other hand hate Jews so much that they seem to wish it did. What’s up with that logic? There was somebody out there–half wish I could remember who it was, but maybe it’s just as well that the name is no longer in my memory bank–who on the one hand insisted that the Holocaust was a myth but on the other got off on shouting SIX MILLION MORE! at white supremacist rallies and such. Six million more than the six million who didn’t die, I suppose. My thinking about the cause of this is roughly the same as **Manda JO** ’s. School administrators do try to walk a very fine line, and sometimes that leads to ridiculousness. But it’s also fair to say that issues such as the Holocaust and slavery can be very slippery in some places. I write textbooks and the like, and I got into some hot water once (at least a dozen years before Trump) when I was writing a social studies text about a state where slavery had been legal. I needed to begin each chapter with a little vignette, which I was told could either be a primary source quote or something I made up. For one chapter, dealing with the history of the state during the nineteenth century, I wrote a short piece from the perspective of an enslaved man, which included a line that was something like “It wasn’t fair, he thought, that he did all the work and Mr. Cole got all the money. It wasn’t right.” Something that seemed to be, from my perspective, not only perfectly reasonable as a description of what a slave might have thought, but if anything rather understated. But it was given the kibosh because “slavery is a very controversial topic in parts of [state], and we don’t want to say something that’s going to create hard feelings.” I pushed back, and so did my editor, but the client wanted to sell a lot of textbooks without attracting negative attention, and so that was that. (They did include information about slavery, so it was not as though the whole topic had been deep-sixed, but that slight bit of moralizing apparently was a bridge too far.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/13 "2019-07-08T17:09:01Z")
> [@](#): > > He added that the school presents information about the Holocaust to the students and allows them to make their own decisions about it. He said it does the same when it comes to slavery. Any bets they do the same with climate change? Gotta be fair to the deniers, after all. Or evolution. Back in 2002, the Atlanta school system required a sticker in high school biology textbooks stating that evolution was “a theory, not a fact”, managing in just five words to create a generation of idiots who not only denied evolution, but didn’t understand what a scientific theory was. One thing we all understand now, though, is where Trump voters come from. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/14 "2019-07-08T19:43:54Z")
So, the Holocaust did not happen. I should tell my mom’s friend Helga that she imagined the whole death camp thing. Let’s say for the sake of argument, the principal is not a denier- just avoiding a controversial stance. I say fire him anyway. If he doesn’t have the guts to stand up for what’s right he doesn’t deserve a job helping mold our kids. In Good News- Remember that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was invented by a Florida public school teacher in response to being told he must ‘teach that the big bang was just a theory and share alternate theories’. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/15 "2019-07-08T20:05:45Z")
> [@Just Asking Questions](#): > > The ones I don’t get are the deniers that say it never happened but on the other hand hate Jews so much that they seem to wish it did. What’s up with that logic? > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > But they also love Israel, because end times and rapture. You were expecting maybe reason and logic? Internal consistency? It is to laugh. Actually you’d be hard pressed to find Holocaust deniers who “love Israel”. There _are_ big-time supporters of Israel who are devout Christians and think Jews are going to hell, though. It’s a biblical thing. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/16 "2019-07-08T20:15:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Actually you’d be hard pressed to find Holocaust deniers who “love Israel”. > > There _are_ big-time supporters of Israel who are devout Christians and think Jews are going to hell, though. It’s a biblical thing. :dubious: I guess you could support Israel and hate the people there…? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/17 "2019-07-08T20:21:06Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Honestly, I don’t think it’s even that. I think it’s a guy who is completely confused about what he’s allowed to say without getting “political” and is over-correcting, just in case. It doesn’t mean he believes the Holocaust didn’t happen. It means he believes that if he says “the Holocaust didn’t happen” and someone complains about him making a “political statement” or “indoctrinating students”, he will be called on the carpet for inciting controversy. Now, obviously, this backfired horribly. But this is a pretty normal policy for schools: don’t say evolution is a fact; don’t say slavery was a cause of the civil war; don’t say the earth is getting warmer. Say 'Experts think" and “here is their evidence”. > > I mean, maybe this guy is a holocaust denier, but the evidence isn’t really strong here. It’s much more like he’s got really poor political skills. I wouldn’t be exactly shocked to learn that he’s tried to take a firmer stance on this sort of stuff before, and got slapped down by his district for upsetting parents. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/18 "2019-07-08T20:21:19Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I guess you could support Israel and hate the people there…? Depends on what you mean by ‘support’. There’s a not insignificant number of evangelicals who believe a war sparked in or around Israel will usher in the end times. Their support for Israel is support for regional instability that will lead to the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/19 "2019-07-08T20:31:11Z")
Why would a principal be involved in the delivery of curriculum in the first place? That’s the teacher’s job. The principal supervises the teachers but doesn’t actually teach the vast majority of the time. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709/20 "2019-07-08T20:48:12Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > So, the Holocaust did not happen. > > I should tell my mom’s friend Helga that she imagined the whole death camp thing. > > Let’s say for the sake of argument, the principal is not a denier- just avoiding a controversial stance. I say fire him anyway. If he doesn’t have the guts to stand up for what’s right he doesn’t deserve a job helping mold our kids. Where’s the line? He’s not allowed to contradict students and parents who say “the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery”. But now you think he should not be not allowed to take an unambiguous stance on the Holocaust? That’s a pretty damn narrow needle to thread. I don’t disagree with you–it’s appalling that even for a second he’d feel uncomfortable asserting the existence of an simple fact. But, I mean, fuck, we made truth “political” long ago. It’s not this guy’s fault the world is that fucked up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-principal-says-he-cant-say-the-holocaust-was-real/836709.md?page=2)