Genocide Blues

To his Hungarian Jewish village, Moses returned Atrocities were dismissed, his warnings spurned He described Jews buried in ditches, gave details to persuade: Agonized children, naked corpses, but the villagers were not swayed Moses was diagnosed by his listeners as mad He shouted, "Listen to me", but the wall was ironclad He asked, "where are all the people who went with me west"? But the Jews who listened, failed the "tolerance test." The "tolerance test" is, don't dismiss out of hand Don't blaze a trail if you don't scout the lay of the land Entertain the proposition, look for details to disconfirm Beware the snap judgement, ask, test, so you can learn. A man came to warn Swiss Jews of genocide They thought he was a propagandist, so he committed suicide There is an essay written by a bitter Jew, Koestler was his name He wote "we were dismissed as maniacs, we warned of the spreading flame" To get photos out of Poland, some people died But nine out of ten Americans thought witnesses lied. British intelligence too couldn't bring themselves to believe How could lazy heuristics so many deceive? Finding the truth is not always an arduous task. Sometimes it can be as easy as courage to ask. Evidence can be ready to be assembled in your mind Match up your clues and the answer you may find. Truthtellers may be dismissed as lunatics, others as extreme Some as paid-off liars, some as on the other team There may be too many assumptions that have to be overthrown Interpretations thought out of context, or overblown Sticking with what your already know might be too seductive Your logic might be good, but your model too reductive A puzzle with missing pieces might never make sense Unless you get off your chair and look for evidence. A false idea of virtue can override what's real Go by what you see, not just what you want to feel. Some of us live in bubbles, caused by years of indoctrination This makes it harder to trust sources, have a conversation Koestler said his recurrent dream was being murdered on the side of a lane Walkers talked and laughed, didn't hear his cries as he was slain There are many misdiagnoses, mistakes, some drastic, some mundane Let's make an effort to derail that deadly train.