Brain Fertilizer

Yes.

In case he deletes it:

Today marks the 60th year since the liberation of Auschwitz. Single day things like this always strike a bit false. Too organized; too formal. Everyone comes out, somber and stern, says the right things, but there's a sense when the ceremonies are all done there's some brushing off the hands and a, "Ok, that's done. Who wants nachos?"

Distilling it to one big day makes it, should it come up or need to be discussed, too tempting to toss aside with a, "Dude, didn't we just do that in January? Forget about it until then when we'll get all stern and somber again." "Never again" has fallen into the too-typical international relations false formulation to exaggerate some events (Jenin, Guantanamo) for political/PR gain while ignoring others (Darfur) where real risk and effort are required.

It is good that, for a time here, a higher focus is on what happened. It is good that there are big documentary specials on PBS (even if they came with Linda Ellerby hosted 'discussions' after each segment). But I just hope the Holocaust doesn't become a "couple days in January and only when the anniversary year ends in 5 or 0" type of thing.