Those kooky Asians are at it again, this time turning Hitler into a cartoon. All those folks who say Americans are arrogant, ignorant, and insensitive to other cultures are pleased to be sitting down and shutting up now. I'm all for making fun of Hitler, because it would've driven him mad in real life and I just like to think about that sort of torture. On the other hand, turning him into a toy or a cartoon with no conception of the reality of the man strikes me as dangerous. If we treated nuclear weapons as toys we would likely stop thinking of them as terrible. Hitler may be dead, but his ideas are very much alive and they are still a malignant threat to the world perhaps even more than Teller's deadly toys.

If this gets a bunch of ignorant Thai twits to learn about one of the most evil men in history, I guess it actually will serve a purpose. It also helps put paid to the idea that all brown people are virtuous victims to evil round-eyed white men forever and ever, which is a nice bonus. Unfortunately it comes uncomfortably close to painting a cartoon face on the Auschwitz gate.

I'm thinking it can be turned into a teaching opportunity for Israel and Thailand, but only if that opportunity is seized. I'm hoping the Israeli ambassador is deft enough to do some grabbing.